BajaNomad

taking ground coffee over the border

funkynassau - 10-18-2011 at 06:27 AM

Hi,
I'm a Canadian going to Ensenada in a month :bounce: I'd like to know if it's ok to take some ground coffee back over the border into California (walking and doing the trolley thing) and then if it's ok to take it on the plane back to Ontario, Canada.

Thanks,
Funkynassau

windgrrl - 10-18-2011 at 06:43 AM

Here ya go...

USDA
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=IMPORTING...

CBSA
http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/fpa-apa/menu-eng.html

We have never been asked about coffee at any border and brought beans and ground back into Canada from Cuba, Costa Rica, Mexico and the US.

Always wise to check the regs, as they can change from time to time.

Have a good trip,
w

castaway$ - 10-18-2011 at 08:55 AM

Kinda curious I have never found mexican coffee to be all that great that I would consider importing some, am I missing some special mexican brew?

Bajajorge - 10-18-2011 at 09:13 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by castaway$
Kinda curious I have never found mexican coffee to be all that great that I would consider importing some, am I missing some special mexican brew?


Yeah, Mexican Coffee, over priced and just so so.

bajaguy - 10-18-2011 at 09:22 AM

I bring my coffee south!!!!

BajaBlanca - 10-18-2011 at 09:25 AM

we had some delicious Mexican coffee on the mainlnad ... Oaxacan coffee beans were wonderful... I gave all we had away so I don't have the name brand any more ....

that being said, costco folgers is sooooo good.

and to get back on topic - I have no idea if one can take coffee over the border.

rob - 10-18-2011 at 09:36 AM

Castaway$ - think you just started something . . . I don't particularly care for "Mexican" (that is, as served for the typical Mexican customer) coffee either - but it's all about the roast. Mexican coffee (esp Oaxacan) is rated as pretty darn good by the gurus.

I like my coffee roasted dark - Italian/expresso or French roast style. After 10 years, we finally found a place in La Paz that sells decent dark-roasted Italian-style coffee beans.

Our final link to Costco Chula Vista has been broken.

J.P. - 10-18-2011 at 09:41 AM

We like the Mexican Coffee Beans. When we cross the borded which we frequently do we take our Coffee with us. It has never been a problem. They always ask about our fat dogs and why we dont have any food for them.:lol::lol:

DENNIS - 10-18-2011 at 10:02 AM

Coffee in Mexico has forever been called "delicately flavored." That's their euphemism for just plain weak.
Recently, there have been a few brands of Rain Forrest blends available in the super markets, and it isn't bad. Pretty good, in fact.

Mexico does the same classification nonsense with their Cinnamon. What I call weak, they call delicate.

Woooosh - 10-18-2011 at 10:10 AM

I roast and grind my own beans and Mexican beans are just fine, but I don't have a source in Mexico to buy the green "beans"...

* Coffee "beans" are not beans at all, they are the pits- the center stone of the fruit. More like a peach pit than a bean.

[Edited on 10-18-2011 by Woooosh]

Dave - 10-18-2011 at 10:12 AM

Mexico grows some of the finest coffee beans on the planet.

Then roasts, grinds and packages it into some of the worst coffee I've ever tasted.

Go figure. :rolleyes:

jamesbeck - 10-18-2011 at 10:56 AM

never been bugged about coffee and almost always searched. La Choya roasts Mexican beans in their shop on Colima in La Paz a couple blocks on the Malecon side of Fajadores and has excellent coffee.

MitchMan - 10-18-2011 at 12:02 PM

It would be great if there was a 'Cafe du Monde' in La Paz. Love that chickory coffee and beignets.

motoged - 10-18-2011 at 12:19 PM

Some folks say that a good dog will smell through the beans to your concealed stash.:rolleyes:


I prefer a dark roast for my French press, but the oily beans can gum up the burr grinder sometimes...:(

Not Ground Coffee, Whole Beans

Gypsy Jan - 10-18-2011 at 01:02 PM

Cafe Punta del Cielo
El Gran Cafe de Mexico

(Roughly translated from the printing on the can), "This coffee is strictly from the highlands. 100% Arabica, the beans are taken from the best plantations in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz. The beans are processed using the highest standards of quality to bring out the best body, acid, aroma and flavor to give you the best cup of coffee."

The coffee beans are packaged in a very good quality, distinctive silver/red label, 250 gram-size can with a good-quality, red plastic lid to keep the beans fresh after you open it.

The can has a "Sniff Aroma" dimple on the top.

We buy this coffee at the Mega Comercial Mexicana (the Pelican) superstore in Rosarito.

Here is a link to the company's website: http://www.puntadelcielo.com.mex

DENNIS - 10-18-2011 at 01:06 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
(Roughly translated from the printing on the can), "This coffee is strictly from the highlands.



Ahhhh yesss....the ol' Juan Valdez line of baloney...."Mountain Grown."
What Juan doesn't tell us is that all coffee is mountain grown. :lol:

Dennis

Gypsy Jan - 10-18-2011 at 01:36 PM

Here ya go... :P

DENNIS - 10-18-2011 at 02:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gypsy Jan
Here ya go... :P



Hey....I'se jes reportin'whad I saws, but thanks anyway. :biggrin:

Rathackman80 - 10-18-2011 at 02:47 PM

I buy my green coffee beans through Café Justo and they ship to anywhere from Douglas, AZ. It is a grower owned cooperative in Chiapas, fair trade, organically raised and quite good.

http://www.justcoffee.org/

I don't know if they have outlets in Mexico but it could be researched...

I pay $4 a pound for green beans plus shipping....

Brian

fishingmako - 10-18-2011 at 02:52 PM

Yea Dennis,

Folgers says it's Coffee is mountain Grown, like you said all coffee is mountain grown.

Or like Arrowhead Springwater said it is all spring water, by law they only have to bring a truck or so from the Mountains and call it spring water, when the real thing is Reverse Osmosis from tap water, then bottled for your consumtion.

mtgoat666 - 10-18-2011 at 03:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by castaway$
Kinda curious I have never found mexican coffee to be all that great that I would consider importing some, am I missing some special mexican brew?


you'll find better coffee and coffee joints in bigger cities. in most of baja, you get country fare. you can find some OK baristas in ensenada and TJ.

for you san diegans, if you like to shop locally (and avoid evils of corporate coffee), try ryan bros coffee, located in the old (original) chuy's restraunt location in barrio logan.

Hi, mtgoat666

Gypsy Jan - 10-18-2011 at 03:49 PM

Thanks.

I want to check it out!

Cypress - 10-18-2011 at 04:06 PM

Quit drinking coffee a year or so ago. Don't miss it. Tea is better. Water is more better, and it's free.;D

Sello Rojo is the good stuff - Rincon Colombiano, Rosarito Beach

Ken Cooke - 10-18-2011 at 05:13 PM



Kalypso - 10-18-2011 at 06:08 PM

You can definitely bring coffee back into the U.S., beans or ground. I just brought about 5 kilos of it back from Veracruz.

There is a growing specialty coffee scene in Tijuana, brewing and serving more than just Mexican grown beans. Check out Caffe Sospeso in TJ. You pick it (the variety you want, not the actual bean), they brew it

[Edited on 10-19-2011 by Kalypso]

Kalypso - 10-18-2011 at 06:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mtgoat666
for you san diegans, if you like to shop locally (and avoid evils of corporate coffee), try ryan bros coffee, located in the old (original) chuy's restraunt location in barrio logan.


Big thumbs up for Ryan Brothers. Excellent well, sourced and well roasted coffee

tripledigitken - 10-18-2011 at 07:02 PM

I'd like to throw in Cafe Moto as an excellent supplier of coffee and teas in the San Diego area.

2619 National Ave
San Diego , CA 92113

Founded by Bob Sinclair, some of you will know of the Pannikin coffee shops in town. He was the one responsible for those stores, well before Starbucks and others.

He was an avid traveler to Mexico and Latin America and collected folk art, and Native American art as well. His collection of antique Motorcycles required several buildings in downtown San Diego to house. I am proud to have had the honor of knowing him.

He tragically died this year in a Motorcycle accident in Taos, NM.

Eli - 10-19-2011 at 05:54 AM

I buy 50 kilos at a time of a Dark Roast Organic Oaxacan Coffee bean produced by a little company called Maravilla, and I sell it pretty fast. I have tested about 20 different coffee's in Coatepec Vera Cruz, (capital of coffee in Mexico), I have never found a coffee to compare with the quality of Maravilla.

Mexitron - 10-19-2011 at 06:37 AM

We always bring Trader Jose's French Roast on camping trips---works great, especially with a little salt flavor from washing the coffee cups in the ocean. never been asked about coffee north or southbound.

Hi Ken

Gypsy Jan - 10-19-2011 at 07:32 PM

Just exactly where is Rincon Columbiano? Drove the Popotla Blvd. today and must have missed it. The only thing new that I saw was a very big sign for a wine tasting store.

[Edited on 10-20-2011 by Gypsy Jan]

Barry A. - 10-19-2011 at 10:13 PM

A tip---------

Buy your coffee soon------I heard tonight that the coffee crop was hurt bad in Central America by rains, thus the prices are going to soar. Same for peanuts and peanut butter------crop all but wiped out in the south by the drought.

Your welcome.

Barry

motoged - 10-20-2011 at 12:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Eli
I buy 50 kilos at a time of a Dark Roast Organic Oaxacan Coffee bean produced by a little company called Maravilla, and I sell it pretty fast. I have tested about 20 different coffee's in Coatepec Vera Cruz, (capital of coffee in Mexico), I have never found a coffee to compare with the quality of Maravilla.



Eli,
I have imported coffee from Costa Rica as well as Mexico (Oaxaca)...my Google search for Maravilla only pops up for Nicaraguan and Guatemalan coffee....is that your source?

Eli - 10-20-2011 at 06:27 AM

Nope, this Maravilla is Oaxcan coffee grown near to coast, the company is family based, so tiny, I am not surpised they don't show up on Goggle. My 50 kilo order is their big one for the year.

Sweetwater - 10-20-2011 at 07:28 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Barry A.
A tip---------

Buy your coffee soon------I heard tonight that the coffee crop was hurt bad in Central America by rains, thus the prices are going to soar. Same for peanuts and peanut butter------crop all but wiped out in the south by the drought.

Your welcome.

Barry


Great idea but older news....coffee prices here started climbing 3-4 months ago....haven't checked out the peanut butter yet but expect the same....funny how once they go up on a crisis, those prices stay stubbornly high.......kinda like gasoline/diesel....

[Edited on 10-20-2011 by Sweetwater]

funkynassau - 10-20-2011 at 02:26 PM

Wow this is a hot topic, glad I started it!

I dont like coffee at all, I am a tea drinker. I was thinking of bringing back coffee for my grown kids. It seems like there's a 50/50 split on this topic.

What's the thoughts on tea? I like it strong and flavourful, not like dishwater that you get in many restaurants here in Ontario, Canada.

Thanks for the replies! :bounce: