Flowers with a Kick

Coffee Flowers, Mae Salong, Thailand  Spring 2010

At Sweet Mae Salong Cafe this morning I had a great surprise: sometime over the past two days, the hills all around us had all blossomed with white flowers.  Now while I'm not usually the kind of girl who gushes about flowers, these white ones are special.

They're coffee flowers, and they last only a few days before turning into glistening cherries and eventually after roasting and grinding, are transformed into the stimulating drink we know and love.

Northern Thailand has an ideal climate for growing coffee and tea, and these products have - mostly - replaced the opium poppies that you'd have seen around here some years ago.

More about coffee flowers at Illy Caffe's website.