Caribbean Coffee Adventure

I’m back from a long break! So a little info on why I haven’t had a blog update in so long. Back in July I started working a new job…this job happens to be on a cruise ship! It isn’t always so easy to keep up on my blog entries. Of course that doesn’t mean I stopped drinking coffee nor does it mean I don’t have lots to share with you!

My ship cruised between Miami and the Caribbean islands. It was amazing to experience the culture and meet a lot of nice people from the Caribbean! It was also great to drink some amazing coffee while being there and I can’t wait to share it with you all.

Café Trinité is a very popular Caribbean coffee brand. This Caribbean Coffee House was originally started as OK Coffee in Trinidad in 1931 by the Melizans, coffee plantation owners, and by José Perez a Cuban coffee connoisseur and roast master.

On each package of coffee they display a colorful historical background picture of the Caribbean. The artwork is an extensive collection of Dermott Louison's. He was born and raised in Trinidad around the second world war. Each of his works of art display a variety of characters and customs of what life in those days were like. I think it is really special that they showcase the artwork and it adds a little history to the coffee.

I brought home some packages of this coffee to give as gifts for my friends and family. They have a wide variety of flavored coffee’s such as mocha, coconut and of course just original coffee. I haven’t tried all the flavors yet…but from tasting just the original I really liked it! I have to admit it is a really strong coffee…I lived up to my name Coffee Buzzed after drinking this coffee! The friends who have tried it so far has really enjoyed it as well. I hope to try the other flavors soon.

Another coffee that I brought home with me was from the Tortuga Rum company. This brand is also very well know in the Caribbean. It is also a very popular gift in the cruise ship industry. I also brought home some of the Tortuga Rum Coffee for my friends and I to try. A little taste of the islands! I have some friends who are big fans of rum and I just knew they would love to try this. They have a variety of flavors of the rum coffee. I brought home just the original rum coffee. I got to try it a couple weeks ago and was presently surprised on how good it tasted!

Now of course you know I visited a few Starbucks on my travels. I was happy to see that they had a Starbucks in Nassau, Bahamas! It was fun to see how they do things a little different then they do in the States. I know a lot of cruise passengers were very happy to see a Starbucks too! It felt nice to have a familiar site in the Bahamas. Now like I was saying they do things a little different…they are a bit more behind on their drink choices. For example I would go into a store in Miami and they would have some of the new drinks choices out and then I would go that some week thinking I could get that same drink in Nassau…but nope! I really noticed it during Christmas time. They were really late on the holiday drinks and didn’t even have the same ones! I’m not complaining it was just something that I found interesting. Another thing I noticed was that the Miami Starbucks stores offered Cuban or Spanish drink choices. I didn’t try them…and now I’m kicking myself for that!

I really enjoyed learning and observing the Caribbean culture in the Bahamas. Coffee was just a bonus in the culture. I was really happy to take a little of the islands back to my friends and my family. My next ship goes between New Orleans and Mexico. It will also head up the West Coast and then to Seattle and Alaska! I can’t wait to write my next blog on all the coffee experiences from all these regions!