PHOTO TAKEN 26FEB02- It's not very appetizing. A single roasted coffee bean, when bitten between...

-PHOTO TAKEN 26FEB02- It\'s not very appetizing. A single roasted coffee bean, when bitten between the teeth, is a gritty, bitter thing. But for Josue Ruiz, head of Cafe Ruiz, Panama\'s largest specialty coffee producer, the taste of the bean is proof enough of whether the coffee has been roasted well -- or badly, as the case may be. In the art of roasting coffee, Ruiz is one of the country\'s pioneers. Most of the coffee producers sell their freshly picked coffee cherries to companies who have installed processing equipment, or at best, sell processed green beans to buyers. Josue Ruiz speaks to Reuters from his coffee plantation in Boquete, Panama February 26, 2002.