You Can Get ANYTHING in Tabora…if you know the right people

It’s good to know the right people in Tanzania, like Mike. We like Mike. That’s not Mike. That’s Paneesh who runs the Oryx petrol station in town. Mike’s NGO gives him a lot of business with their gas gussling landrovers that take them out into the bush to catch illegal poachers. And that means that when Mike needs a favor, like say purchasing and transporting Tanzanian coffee from Arusha to Tabora while he lived in the bush, favors come through.

However, once we had the world’s most delicious coffee (a description I’d keep even if we hadn’t deprived for 11 weeks of drinkable java), we weren’t sure how we could brew it. It’s not like we had a myriad of modern appliances like a coffee maker. How could we recreate a french press or even a coffee filter?

How about we cut a bottle, line it with a piece of clean window screen, rest it nossle down and let the coffee brew in hot water for a few minutes before we pour it into a cup. Simple enough right?

 Wait, how do we open the cap without the boiling coffee going everywhere?

 That’s me being burned.

Ok, so what about pouring the coffee and hot water into a bottle (in tact) and then pouring through the screen after a few minutes? Oh right, plastic bottles melt. On to plan C.

What if you put coffee and hot water in a thermos, let it brew, and then filter it through a tea strainer into a coffee cup?

 

Wow that was easy. Third time’s a coffee charm.