The first day in El Salvador I asked Carlos Batres, the owner of Montecarlos, about his coffee drinking habits. I’m always curious to learn about how people eat and drink.

He told me he fills an insulated pot every morning and then takes 2 hours to drink 6 cups. 6 cups!! His wife confirmed. And she said he doesn’t like to talk to anybody until he’s finished this ritual.

I was trying to get my head around this. Carlos then casually mentioned he has another 6 cups in the afternoon. Wow!

So the first morning when I woke I went to find Carlos. Sure enough he was drinking his 6 cups. I asked to taste one. It was sweet sugar, super sweet. So how does this work?

#1 he pours his coffee much weaker than we pour ours

#2 his cups are small

So I suspect 1 cup of coffee at Clover (10.5 ounces) has the same coffee as 3-5 of Carlos’ cups.

George and I started talking about this. He suggests that in an ideal world we would serve a customer a cup of coffee at full concentration and alongside that coffee serve hot water. And then each customer would dilute their coffee with the hot water.

I’ve been sort of stuck on this idea now. Next time you’re at a Clover restaurant ask the person at the coffee counter to pour you a sample with 1/2 brewed coffee and 1/2 water. Taste it. What do you think?

I sort of love this coffee. And you know what’s funny? It tastes better when brewed with our current method THEN adding water after. If you just halve the coffee and pour the cup it doesn’t taste as good.