.
Upon arriving at Sunburry Coffee Plantation, my Cairns buddy Brad and I signed us up for the plantation tour. Fun fact of the day: each coffee tree requires 15-20 liters of water … PER DAY!!!! (Woooh! That’s a lot of water!) It’s not surprising, then, that nearly 100 years ago the farmers in this farmland area constructed a series of naturally-fed waterways to ensure their land was moist enough to produce their crops.
Following our brief tour of the plantation, and a step-by-step explanation of the bean harvesting process (** go to a plantation if you are a coffee-lover, it’s neat stuff) we were lead into the plantation’s welcome center building for a roast tasting.
Hmm … what to do on a lazy, Sunday afternoon now that most of my major sightseeing around the area was done? After asking around for some suggestions, the answer became clear: go to one of the area’s largest coffee plantations!
Perhaps I’m alone; however the thought of where my coffee beans come from generally doesn’t occur to me. My brain naively assumes that some Mexican / South American / African / … farmer is growing and roasting my beans before exporting them to Coffee Maker XYZ for my consumption. It never occurred to me that coffee beans might actually have been produced locally in rural farmland Queensland.
Indeed, I was wrong.
Nor did I know what coffee beans would look like on their tree … or what the tree would look like for that matter. ("Now I know ...")
Perhaps I’m alone; however the thought of where my coffee beans come from generally doesn’t occur to me. My brain naively assumes that some Mexican / South American / African / … farmer is growing and roasting my beans before exporting them to Coffee Maker XYZ for my consumption. It never occurred to me that coffee beans might actually have been produced locally in rural farmland Queensland.
Indeed, I was wrong.
Nor did I know what coffee beans would look like on their tree … or what the tree would look like for that matter. ("Now I know ...")
Upon arriving at Sunburry Coffee Plantation, my Cairns buddy Brad and I signed us up for the plantation tour. Fun fact of the day: each coffee tree requires 15-20 liters of water … PER DAY!!!! (Woooh! That’s a lot of water!) It’s not surprising, then, that nearly 100 years ago the farmers in this farmland area constructed a series of naturally-fed waterways to ensure their land was moist enough to produce their crops.
Following our brief tour of the plantation, and a step-by-step explanation of the bean harvesting process (** go to a plantation if you are a coffee-lover, it’s neat stuff) we were lead into the plantation’s welcome center building for a roast tasting.
At the end of the hour-long experience, we sat on the balcony, taking in the amazing vista before us, sipping on flat whites and downing a few shortbread cookies I’d made the night before.
My mom’s (grandmother’s?) recipe, below, for shortbread cookies. I’ve yet to find their equal, though many have tried. USE BUTTER! (Don’t skimp)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup butter(must be soft - NOT hard or melted)
Method:
Using a pastry cutter, “cut together” all ingredients.
Roll out dough onto clean, dry, floured surface.
Cut out cookies (round, pattern, etc …).
Bake 300 degrees oven on ungreased cookie sheet.
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