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The traditional supplier to the
Vatican, Puerto Rico grows coffee considered by some experts to be
one of the world's best growths. The problem is finding any to
taste. Both industrialization and the development of other food
crops have been strongly encouraged by the USA, and the diminishing
amount of land available for coffee plantations and the relatively
high standard of living - compared to that on other Caribbean
islands - have sounded the death knell for coffee-growing. Almost
all that is grown is drunk locally, and must be augmented by
imported coffees, particularly as tourism and urbanization mean that
a lot of people need coffee to drink. Most of the growth is
wet-processed Arabica, although a small amount of excelsa is
cultivated. The preferred roast is very dark, which seems a shame,
as the sweet richness of the large bluish-grey beans must surely
suffer from the naturally bitter tones brought out in a dark roast. |
