The fight for coffee

In a small town far from a populous city, there was the best coffee in the country. The aroma, flavor and texture were of superlative quality. The inhabitants of the town had their own coffee plants and went through the whole process until they had it ground and ready to prepare it every morning. The people of the town used to drink a cup of coffee in the morning and another one in the afternoon.

Since it was a very remote town, no one from the city dared to travel to that distant town, so they were unaware of the existence of that exquisite coffee of indescribable quality. In that remote town there were many vegetable crops and as they were on the banks of a mighty river, the harvests were abundant. The families of that distant village lived happily, harvested their food and moved to a spring in search of pure water. They lived happily, until one day a wealthy inhabitant of the nearest city tasted the exquisite coffee that was given in the town.

A young man named Germán went to the city to buy salt and matches. That day he did not have time for breakfast, so his mother put a piece of cassava in a bag and filled a flask of coffee for him to eat on the way. When he reached the city, which was six hours away by boat, he went to a market to buy the groceries. Until that moment he had not eaten, so he took advantage of the opportunity and took out of his backpack the cassava and coffee that his mother had given him. When he uncorked the jar of coffee, the store was impregnated with that magical smell never perceived by the inhabitants of the city.

Eugenio was the owner of the market. He was an ambitious and despotic man. Upon perceiving the smell of coffee he was delighted by that exquisite fragrance, he approached Germán and asked him where he had bought such a prodigy. Germán told him about his town and immediately Eugenio set out on a long journey to the town. His desire was to find coffee in large quantities and sell it in the city. He was so interested that he gave Germán what he needed from the market plus other expensive supplies and in his private boat he enlisted with Germán to reach the cradle of that incomparable coffee.

Upon arriving at the town, he tried to do business with the inhabitants so that they would sell him all the coffee they produced, but they did not agree because the coffee they produced was only for the consumption of the town. This made Eugenio too angry and he went to the city and devised an evil plan. As he was a man with a bad heart, he said: "Since they did not want to sell it to me, I will finish with all their coffee. If it doesn't become my business, it won't be anyone's".

So he arrived at the city hospital feigning severe stomach pain, screaming from the supposed pain. When the doctors attended to him, Eugenio said that his pain was due to a coffee he had drunk in town. He began to spread lies about the town, the doctors and government officials did not believe him, but in order not to lose face with this rich man, they allowed themselves to be bribed.

It took only hours for the authorities to besiege the town and destroy all the coffee plants, alleging that they were contaminated. The authorities forbade the planting of coffee plants because they could trigger a large-scale epidemic. This saddened the people, however, it did not weaken them.They were determined to continue producing their coffee, it took them time to have new plants and although they were threatened with death if they found anything related to coffee, they were brave of heart and did not allow themselves to be intimidated. They continued planting in a very discreet way in the most remote parts of the village and protected the plants with branches of other fruits, so they remained hidden.

Eugenio would go to the village from time to time to see if they were obeying and he would always find cassava and other vegetable crops but no coffee. To this day the villagers continue to consume their exquisite coffee without anyone from the city knowing about it. Eugenio's selfishness and ambition could not put an end to the strong and determined heart of a people. For generations, that town has continued to harvest the best coffee in the world in a prudent and discreet manner.

I extend a cordial invitation to my friend @cajiro to make a great story for this contest.