Dominican Coffee

Escott

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Jan 14, 2002
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It was brought up on another thread about how it is not spoken about or given the credit is should get. This person said it was the best coffee in the world. I don't agree with that as I have found Panama coffee to be tastier but I do enjoy it.

I bring back as much coffee as I can fit in my bag every trip. I usually purchase Santiago Coffee brand as opposed to Santo Domingo Coffee which I don't care for.

Anyone else have any thoughts on brand?
 

Pib

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Jan 1, 2002
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I don't care about the taste, I drink it for the caffeine.

Having said that... I find Santo Domingo brand tastes ok to me. But of course after drinking that particular brand of coffee for over 2 decades one gets used to the taste. I have found that the best ones are the ones that you can buy from small, independent producers.
 

kjdrga

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Mar 25, 2002
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On the conde there is a small coffee shop, I'm sure most of you have been there, I find it to be the best coffee in the DR. The coffee is from Barahona (sun coffee, not shade) and is dark roast. Last time i was there I bought 3 pounds to bring back to the U.S. with me. It was 45 pesos a pound. You freshly grind it in the morning and use the greca....it brings back many memories of the DR. It is simply the best.
 

MommC

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Mar 2, 2002
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I buy the Santo Domingo Espresso Coffee

Altho the best I've had was "rough" brewed at a coffee plantation...sun dried, unroasted!
The SD coffee is great for espresso- no bitter oils when brewed but I do not like it for regular "drip" or "perculator" coffee. It is too dark and "heavy"
 

MrBean

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Mar 24, 2002
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one of the things I'm going to miss...

Well, I'm planning to ship 40 pounds of Santo Domingo coffee to Tokyo to use over the next few years. I like it way better than all the expensive stuff we used to get in Canada.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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I came late to coffee, I think I know why...

Probably two reasons:
1) On a flight from Syracuse to Newark-long ago and far away-there were 37 people on the old Convair twin engine plane. I felt really bad, but drank the coffee that they gave me with lots of sugar and cream. By the time I got home to Long Island, I was burning up in fever. Seems I had the chicken pox or measels or some other childhood illness. The "funny " part of the story was that the other 34 passengers on that plane (apart from me, my sister and my father, were 17 newly wed couples off on a trip to the Jersey Shore!!!...
2) Coffee in the US really just sux. It is like dirty dish water.

In the DR, coffee is strong and heavy, perhaps an influence from our Arabic immigrants. Served in small cups, it is part of daily life.
Santiago is the brand currently in use in our house, but we often get some special stuff from Jarabacoa....

HB
 

MommC

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MrBean......

Do you drink it Dominican style? Brewed in the "cafeteria"?
That's how we drink it however that is what the Italians call "accelerato" and we use more coffee that normal in the DR. and voila! you have espresso.....mmmmmmmmm.
I like mine so thick the spoon stands up. HB is right about the dishwater that is normally drank as coffee in Canada and the US.
I was never a coffee drinker until I had my first cup of rich, dark espresso.
I bring back 24 cans of the SD espresso grind everytime I come home and pass out 12-14 to friends. I find the canned coffee stays fresher then the vacuum bags!
 

arroyodmb

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Mar 13, 2002
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Europeans and North Americans tend to drink coffee in a big cup or a mug and sit and enjoy the brew. If you go to a Dominican house and are served coffee the hostess usually returns to collect the little cup before you have gotten over savouring the first sips.

I was told that the reason Dominicans drink their coffee, heavily fortified with sugar, so fast goes back to, and in many cases is still true today, to when many Dominicans worked on the plantations, fincas etc. They, like farmers else where in the world, get up early to work before breakfast and the wifes brew the coffee to take out to where they were working. A quick drink and back to work again.

We are stuck in the mold of Cafe Santo Domigo, but the best coffee I tasted was made by an old woman who used to stay next to us. She roasted the beans over a wood fire with sugar until they were very dark and ground them herself. Very strong flavour.
 

mkohn

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Jan 1, 2002
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I usually don't take caffeine. But when in the DR, I just can't resist a little coffee. When I was a kid, we called the coffee pot a "greca".
Regarding American coffee, my mother-in-law brews some that is very flavorful. I've heard from German visitors that when coming to America, they pack "coffee blackner" ...
I'll stick to my occassional small de-caf capuccino and a shot of DR espresso once in a while.
Good luck MrBean. There's a Starbucks in Shibuya, (near Aoyama) and many other train station neighborhoods. The August heat usually cools by Sept... Keep in touch!
 

Janice

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Jan 12, 2002
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The comments on "small" coffee cups brought back memories of my trip to the DR in March, trying to get a "full" cup of coffee. It seems that a "large" cup of coffee with cream or milk is almost impossible to obtain in the DR. The waiter (who finally understood what we were trying to order) called it something like a "half monkey" (Of course he could have been referring to us :0

As for drinking unroasted coffee, that makes no sense!! Unroasted coffee does not release the essential oils that allow coffee to impart it's distinctive flavors, it would be akin to drinking herbs, but each to her own. I suppose some people like to sit
amongst the daiseys and drink "herbs"

Janice

http://www.lucidcafe.com/homeroast1.html
 

Tony C

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Jan 1, 2002
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When I am in the DR I usually don't care for the coffee. It has kind of a "in-Between taste" to me. To strong to drink it american style and too weak compared to my Cuban Coffee.
In Miami there are literaly 100's of little Cuban Cafes that you can walk up to and have your Cafecito or Cordadito and discuss the politicas and news of the day with other coffee drinkers. It is quite the Cuban tradition. It nver seem to catch on in the DR!

Tony C.
 

rrwells

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Mar 19, 2002
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I do miss my gigantic cup of coffee. I thought people at the office only drank a thimble-full because we aren't allowed to have coffee cups at our desks...

run into the kitchen, down a tiny communion cup full of coffee (mostly sugar), run back to your desk

It's like a triathlon. :dead:
 

Diana

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Jan 1, 2002
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When I was down there to visit my friend from Canada she asked me to bring the instant coffee because she didn't have a "cafeteria" to brew coffee. She liked that cappucino flavour stuff, it was so sweet though. By the end of the first week, I felt so deprived of my coffee. Then when I went to a Dominican household my friends grandmother offered me a cup of coffee...it was so good...a little sweet but it tasted like the espresso coffee we make back home. Hence I used to visit her everyday.
 

Bugsey34

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Feb 15, 2002
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I love Dominican coffee in the little cups, too. Probably mostly for the sugar! But I'd have to say the best coffee I had was in Italy. Being a barista (coffee bar guy or girl) is a very serious job there... not just any average joe on the street can do it! Coffee in Spain is pretty good, but I miss my cafe lattes. Hence the Starbucks addiction when back in the US. (way to expensive for the student budget, but I try to keep it to a minimum)

By the way, strange note, there is a Starbucks here in Madrid now, too. Globalization, I tell you. I went in there and felt like I had been transported magically back to Boston. The menu isnt even translated into Spanish and everything down to the furniture is the same. I was intending to go for a Caramel Macchiato (para llevar, to go, which you can never do in a Spanish cafe!) but it freaked me out too much how American it was and I had to leave .:confused:

Santo Domingo is probably next!
 

Escott

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Jan 14, 2002
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My question is does anyone have a brand from the DR that tastes better than Santiago Coffee drinking it American style?

Comon Guys, I drink minimum of 6 cups before I leave my house in the morning and sometimes 8 Cups.

:confused:


:mad:


:alien:
 

MommC

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Mar 2, 2002
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Jazz.....

Have you tried the Mama Inez regular grind coffee? I have a friend who makes it in the Dominican/Spanish/Italian "cafeteria" using less coffee with lots of water, so it's much lighter than either the Dominican or Italian versions. Mixed with lots of milk (preferably pre-heated) and sugar it's a gentler,more coffee flavoured version of the Dominican cafe con leche (which I drink at the coffee shop if the cappuchino steamer is "out of order" or at the resorts when we stay in one).

For those who don't know much about coffee or coffee processing, the "sun-dried, natural" coffee is indeed "roasted". Just sit out in the bright,tropical sun all day in the DR and you'll be roasted also. The coffee bean (which is dried with it's "flesh" intact) is then pounded into grounds in a wooden pestal and mortar made out of a tree trunk and tossed in a pot over hot burning coals of an open fire. After a few minutes boiling water is poured on and the coffee is boiled (yes boiled) for several minutes. It's absolutely delicious and no sugar need be added (since I normally go way overboard with the sugar in my coffee I was truly impressed by the ease with which this coffee went down -so much so that I asked for another cup!) Served in regular sized cups this was the closest to American or Canadian coffee I've had and I didn't even miss the milk!!
 

Escott

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Jan 14, 2002
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I use the big cups that are actually 2 cups

When I say I drink 6-8 cups a day that is how much I make in the coffee pot not size of cup

Mommc... I have a bag of that coffee in the fridge now to try. I drink my coffee black with NO sugar so hence the need for good coffee instead of crap

Thanks for the responces but I was wondering if I should look for any other brands to take with me when I come back the next time.

Escott