Coffee/Cafe

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Chileans drink instant coffee. Specifically, Chileans drink Nescafe. I thought, initially, that this was some sort of strange cultural tick, that really, they save the good stuff for special occasions or something. Nope. It turns out that Nescafe is the ONLY sort of coffee-esque drink readily available here. It's so popular that there was even a Nescafe promotional trailer at my university for a week.

I am NOT a coffee snob. Really. I just became addicted/accustomed to daily shots of espresso from working at my former job, where we have a fancy, professional-grade espresso machine at the office. The instant stuff just wasn't going to cut it. Three weeks without a decent cup of coffee drove me a bit mad this past weekend. In fact, it drove me to Starbucks. I caved. I'm not proud to admit it.

Obviously I can't afford to rely on Starbucks for my daily fix, so I set out to buy a French Press. The ONLY one I found anywhere was...at Starbucks....for $50. Ouch. I decided to keep looking. A trip to the Jumbo (think Walmart) to buy pillows led me to another exciting discovery: the Moka Pot, a.k.a. Macchinetta/Stovetop Espresso Machine/Italian Coffee Pot - only $10 USD!!! I'd never seen one before, but apparently they're quite popular. I call it my little stovetop percolator. It reminds me of this really old coffee maker my parents took on camping trips.

After this awesome find, I continued through the Jumbo to the coffee aisle, only to discover the "coffee aisle" is actually the "instant coffee aisle." WHY there are so many different types of bad instant coffee, I do not know. There were, I kid you not, TWO brands of real coffee. One cheap, one expensive. Needless to say, I picked the cheap one, which is not good, but it's what I've got, and I'm thrilled.

Anyway, this thing has single-handidly improved my Chile-quality-of-life by leaps and bounds.

This is how it works:

There are two parts, a lower and an upper. Water goes into the lower part, then a little filter thing fits neatly on top of the water, filled with ground coffee. The top is then screwed on. Then the pot goes on the stove. As the water in the bottom compartment heats, it is forced up through the coffee grounds into the upper chamber.

A few minutes later - VIOLA! There is coffee!
I've been told that this particular method of preparation actually yields espresso, not coffee, but I'm skeptical. It doesn't seem as strong as the real stuff, though it's definitely stronger than drip coffee. Anyway, I'm QUITE pleased with this little wonder. I've been heating up some milk and mixing the two together. It's a wonderful way to start the day.

You may be wondering why I went to all the trouble. You may be thinking "Geez, Jamie, it's ONLY a year, surely you could have given up drinking coffee for a YEAR." Sure. I could have. But I'm living in a massive metropolitan city, and finding a solution to my coffee-less problem wasn't that difficult. Living as an ex-pat certainly requires sacrifices, but in this particular situation, I didn't have to succumb to doing without. I've already accepted the fact that there are no chocolate chips here, I can't bake here (the oven has no temperature setting, just "high" and "low"), I can't buy bagels here, I can't see my family, etc. etc. etc. But I feel sort of...empowered that at the very least, I can have my coffee.

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Photos

The Nescafe Promotion
Nescafe set up this huge display booth at my university and distributed free coffee for an entire week.

Comments

[Eduardo]

Coffee
You're right about the coffee here in Chile. It's cheap and tastes not so good but you get used to. I have to say that i found interesting the Moka Pot, i think that i'll buy one in my next trip to Jumbo.