Tamarindo does not have a Starbucks, although it has several independent coffee shops and coffee counters. This coffee shop is actually located in a village just outside of town on the main road to and from Tamarindo.I do not drink coffee, but people who love coffee rave about the coffee in Costa Rica. Coffee is the number two crop, after bananas. My mother-in-law, who goes to Starbucks on most days, said to me that the best coffee she has ever had is the coffee she made at our condo from grounds purchased at the local convenience market.
When we return from Costa Rica to the U.S., we usually will bring back some bags of coffee as gifts for friends. I have heard that people who smuggle drugs into the U.S. will at times use coffee to create an odor that will fool drug sniffing dogs. In fact, I think that there is a scene in the movie Beverly Hills Cop that showed coffee being used by drug smugglers.
I sometimes think that bags of coffee in my suitcase might cause U.S. Customs to think that there are drugs, but I have never had a problem. The Customs agents must be used to people coming back to the U.S. who simply love Costa Rican coffee.
6 comments:
We don't have Starbucks in Brattleboro either. We've bought many bags of Costa Rica coffee at our local food co-op where they offer only fair trade beans. BTW, we get a glimpse of you taking this shot, a reflection in the window that I first thought was a customer and then realized was the photographer instead.
This is one I'll have to leave to the experts. I don't drink coffee either.
I adore coffee, esp.if it's a latte, and this place looks so very inviting. Great story about coffee and drugs...hadn't heard it before. Since I take Starbucks into Mexico with me, it's good to know!!
We love coffee and will have to try the Costa Rica kind. Looks like a nice coffee shop for a morning cup.
Brattcat,
I had not noticed the reflection in the window. Usually I try to avoid that. I took this photo rather quickly while driving out of town and heading back to the airport. The people who run the coffee shop had just closed it for the day, and had walked out of view.
Sometimes I feel a little uneasy about taking photos that are intended for my Daily Photo website and that are not photos that I, or a normal American in Costa Rica, would take. Sometimes I take the photo quickly, and sometimes I tell the proprietor what I am doing.
I assume that other Daily Photo bloggers have this same dilemma.
I do drink coffee and I tell you that Costa Rican coffee is a good thing. Prized amount the coffee clique in the U.S. I am not a fan of Starbucks, though I have drank a lot of it. They do one thing really well -- they make really hot coffee. Just yesterday I was drinking some Kona coffee and I realized that was the flavor that Starbucks resembles. I like Kona but find it overbearing. I alway thought that Starbuck tasted over roasted.
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