Umberto Eco
“American coffee can be a pale solution served at a temperature of 100
degrees centigrade in plastic thermos cups, usually obligatory in railroad
stations for purposes of genocide, whereas coffee made with an American
percolator, such as you find in private houses or in humble luncheonettes,
served with eggs and bacon, is delicious, fragrant, goes down like pure
spring water, and afterwards causes severe palpitations, because one cup
contains more caffeine than four espressos.”
― Umberto Eco, How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays
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Small and Early
Coffee People
“Coffee is a lot like people. In many ways, it’s deceiving. The sweetness that you smell as it brews is more often than not a fallacy. The scent of a dark roasted coffee bean promises you rich flavors with hints of chocolate and hazelnut, but if you’re not used to coffee’s deceptiveness, you’re left with a bitter aftertaste dangling at the back of your throat. To those of us who are used to it- we’ve grown a fondness for that bitter taste. It’s complex. It’s teasing. It reminds us that most things in life are not consistently sweet with every sip. One morning, your coffee might brew mild with just a flirtation of nutty undertones, And the next morning, it might be pelting you in the face with those same nuts, leaving little stinging marks with each sip. It’s moody. It’s not easy to perfect. But when you get the perfect brew, it’s rewarding. And that same perfection is not guaranteed tomorrow just because you managed it today.”
― Katana Collins, Soul Stripper
Sun’s Up, Coffee’s Hot
Sun is up, coffee’s hot,
a roll and fruit just hits the spot.
I read the paper, check the mail
then I’m off to the shower
before I ever set sail on life’s big open sea;
whisper a prayer,
‘O Lord please be with me.’
Not much time
in these long busy days
of decisions and deadlines
all lost in a haze.
Out in the world,
reality screams
and simply drowns out
my gauzy thin dreams.
I drag myself home
at the end of the day,
in a sigh of relief
that at last I can stay
here in my castle,
my little retreat,
kick off my shoes
and put up my feet.
And I wonder…
Will this all wash away
in a fresh morning shower,
can I hope to recover
youthful dreams and power
when every tomorrow
brings age and sorrow;
when the sun is up, coffee’s hot,
a roll and fruit just hits the spot?
– Carolyn Brunelle
Saving the World…
“The philosopher Sir James Mackintosh had said that the powers of a man’s mind were proportionate to the quantity of coffee he drank, and Voltaire had knocked back fifty cups of it a day, so Ianto reckoned there had to be something in it. And saving Cardiff from the kinds of things that came through the Rift called for quick, inspired thinking, so Ianto took it upon himself to make sure the coffee was good. Ianto Jones, saving the world with a dark roast.”
– Phil Ford
The Way of Tea
A friend presented me With tender leaves of Oolong tea,
For which I chose a kettle Of ivory-mounted gold,
A mixing-bowl of snow-white earth.
With its clear bright froth and fragrance,
It was like the nectar of Immortals.
The first bowl washed the cobwebs from my mind –
The whole world seemed to sparkle.
A second cleansed my spirit
Like purifying showers of rain,
A third and I was one of the Immortals –
What need now for austerities
To purge our human sorrows?
Worldly people, by going in for wine,
Sadly deceive themselves.
For now I know the Way of Tea is real.
– Chio Jen (Tang Dynasty)
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Why does the coffee plant contain caffeine?
We all know that coffee contains caffeine – but why?
It is, after all, poisonous to most common insects and slugs.
It turns out the caffeine is actually good for bees! Scientists believe that caffeine helps bees to remember specific plants so that they can keep returning to the same type of plant.
So, although people and bees are very different, caffeine has a similar effect on our neurological activities.
Tea Time!
I’ve taken tea on Bahrain’s isle, Sri Lanka and Hong-Kong,
Where desert sands run mile on mile
And sunlight’s powerful strong;
Tea from the gallery in our plane
Gave ease when flights were long.
In tropic heat, in freezing rain
The tea-cup came along.
Tea in Japan, tea in Malay,
Tea in Aden’s heat.
At cricket on a summer’s day
A tea is hard to beat.
And I remember taking tea in the land of Lorna Doone
With Devon cream – just you and me
Whilst on our honeymoon.
– “Tea, Please” (Jasper Miles)
Tea to coffee
Did you know that…
The heavy tax on tea imposed on the American colonies by the English in 1773, which caused the ‘Boston Tea Party’, resulted in America switching from tea to coffee?
Colonists objected to paying enormous taxes, imposed by the British parliament in which they had no representation.
Drinking coffee was, at the time, seen as an expression of freedom.
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The Coffee Bean in Africa
The Coffee Bean in Africa
It will come as no surprise that coffee comes from the coffee bean, which is actually the seed of the coffee plant – strictly speaking a fruit. Coffee plants can, of course, grow wild, but world demand for coffee means that it has become a popular cash crop. The seeds of the coffee plant are processed and eventually brewed into the drink that we all enjoy so much.
However, it is more complicated than that – there is a large variety of coffee plants, and hence coffee bean, out there. For the most part, coffee plants are defined by the region in which they are grown. Nations with high, cool regions tend to have the best conditions for growing coffee, and the most expensive coffees are often those grown in volcanic soils – such as parts of Hawaii.
More than 75% of coffee beans sold worldwide are variants of Arabica, while most of the remainder are variants of Robusta. Countries in Africa produce a large proportion of the world’s coffee, and this article will attempt to describe some of the better known varieties of African coffee.
Ethiopia
Sidamo: This is coffee grown in the large southern region of Ethiopia named after the Sidamo, or Sidama, people. Before 1995, Sidamo was a province, but has since been broken into smaller regions – but the whole area is still designated as Sidamo. Coffee grown in this region is sold as Yirgacheffe, named after the village of Yirga Ch/’efe.
The best of this coffee is gown on the higher slopes of the region, and is water processed. Yirgacheffe is generally considered the best type of Ethiopian coffee.
Harar: This coffee is aromatic and often is characterised by its blueberry like aroma and after taste. Harar comes in either shortberry or longberry form – longberry being physically longer than most other forms of coffee beans.
It is widely believed that Ethiopa was the country where coffee was first consumed and grown by farmers, but interestingly other, neighbouring African nations did not start cultivating coffee until the 1800’s.
Zimbabwe
Chipinge: This coffee is named after the town of Chipinga, on the mountainous slopes of the Eastern Highlands. These mountains are on the border of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The almost perfect conditions and elevation allow the production of fine coffees, with a rich flavour and superb after taste. This coffee is often brought to market under the name of Zimbabwean Salimba, and is considered the best of the coffees grown in this country.
Political tensions have affected the production of this style of coffee, but it is a revenue source for the people, so is still available.
Uganda
Fine Robusta coffees, usually used to make instant coffee, is grown in the Mount Elgon region of Uganda, which is close to Kenya – it can often be confused with Kenyan coffees due to its taste and appearance. This coffee is known as Bugisa Coffee.
Tanzania
Also grown on the high regions of central Africa is Arusha Coffee, named after the region of Tanzania at the foot of MountMeru. Tanzania produces what is widely regarded as some of the world’s best Arabica coffees.
Kenya
Kenya is very well known for its coffee production. Most of the coffee produced in this region is mild Arabica, and exported world wide.
What makes Kenyan coffee special is the way in which it is produced – most of the coffee is grown by small, independent farmers, working in a successful co-op style. Over 70% of the coffee beans sold in Kenya come through this system. Over six million citizens of Kenya are employed directly or indirectly in the coffee industry, making it a major employer in the country, and a significant contributor to the country’s GDP.
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