littleindia15c

Ethiopia, the place where coffee was born. I had no idea that every sip of coffee I take is because of Africa. I went to the place that is considered the birthplace of coffee (Kaffa) and the place that has all the diversity we will need to keep the crop going. AND I got infested by fleas (me, a human). AND the got infected (gross). AND it was the most humbling, incredible place of all my journeys.

LOL. FANTASTIC. Corona. With lots and lots and lots and lots of lime.

Absolutely and so sorry I am so slow! I am a lousy typer. Look, with wine, get out of the box of varieties you are familiar with - break the Merlot/ Chardonnay mold and try a grape that is unfamiliar. With chocolate, look for bars that actually bother to list an origin - I love chocolate sourced in Madagascar which has this nice fruity acidity and from Venezuela which is insanely smooth and inherently caramelly. Beer - look for and support beers using diverse hops. Bread, wow. There is this super-cool place in Washington called the Bread Lab breeding great local stuff. Ditto in NC. I suggest taking a look at what chef Dan Barber's up to, as well. The gist is, go to your local farmers markets and ask what is in season. A curious mind and palate are the very first steps.

What a beautiful question, PennyPenny1010. This was actually the most surprising part of my journey. I found myself in Lima, Peru about a year ago crying over a plate of octopus. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it was that good. It had been cooked over fire and I could taste both the wood and sea.

At first all I tasted was coffee. And then, over weeks, I started to find all these other flavors. It was INSANE. Coffee expert Peter Giuliano (who did an AMA not too long ago) had said to me that all the flavors you could find in coffees from all over the world could be found in Ethiopian coffees. So I started there. The first one was such a surprise I thought the milk was maybe off. There are an abundance of hidden flavors in our foods and drinks - as long as they haven't been bred out.