As a 12-year-old, Jasmine Villalobos Collins loved to paint and write in her journal, and she loved a good coffee.
In Costa Rica, being 12 and loving coffee isn’t so unusual.
One day in her room, Collins dipped a small paint brush into her coffee and began doodling flowers, hearts and other small drawings alongside her written words.
She instantly liked the hues the coffee made – the light and dark browns – so she began to experiment. She used thicker coffees, aged coffees, coffee formulas. Soon her art evolved from the pages of her manuscripts to the easel.
“Coffee has a thick texture and a unique shine to it,” says Collins, now a 38-year-old architect and art tutor for the Boys & Girls Club of Lee County. “It has a strong smell, and despite what some may think, it doesn’t mold or go bad. It’s the perfect paint. It’s very beautiful, but it requires a lot of patience.”
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