Saturday, October 10, 2009

Coffee Roads that Cross to the Future and Rome

B. "Coffee roads that cross, to the future and to Rome. (On the Continent).(Coffee, coffeehouses and European history and culture)." Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. Lockwood Trade Journal Co., Inc. 2002. Retrieved October 10, 2009 from HighBeam Research: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-86876710.html

Coffee's Road to the Future Raising Coffee From the Dead
However one chooses to believe that coffee came to Europe -- abandoned by fleeing Turks at the walls of Vienna after their unsuccessful siege, shipped in by Venetian galleys as prizes of war -- it is indisputable that the stimulating drink caused a revolution in Western Culture. Coffee house quickly spread from Vienna and Venice to Paris and London.
The "cafes," as they came to be known, were far more than our espresso bars. They became the collective depository of those supercmharged explosives of culture -- political thought and radical art.
The European cafe became something of a common man's parliament of free speech and thought. This is why the geniuses of the ages have adored them, from Bach to Voltaire. Far before the advent of the Euro or the bureaucratic corridors of power at the EU in Brussels, they existed in all European nations and were a nexus of thought and energy -- a pan European stimulation by the dark and aromatic bean.
How many revolutions were plotted over cups of cafe coffee; how many schools of art found their beginning at those wobbly, wet tables and on such uncomfortable chairs? It is not hyperbolic to suggest that the cafe and coffee were perhaps second only to the University and the book in bringing enlightenment and a commonality of shared ideals to play in the rapid advancement of Western culture from the 17th century well into the past century.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

African Origins of Coffee


Did an Ethiopian
goatherd discover coffee?



AFRICAN ORIGINS
(Circa A.D. 800)

Goats will eat anything. Just ask Kaldi the legendary Ethiopian (map) goatherd. Kaldi, the story goes, noticed his herd dancing from one coffee shrub to another, grazing on the cherry-red berries containing the beans. He copped a few himself and was soon frolicking with his flock.

Witnessing Kaldi’s goatly gambol, a monk plucked berries for his brothers. That night they were uncannily alert to divine inspiration.

History tells us other Africans of the same era fueled up on protein-rich coffee-and-animal-fat balls—primitive PowerBars—and unwound with wine made from coffee-berry pulp. Coffee later crossed the Red Sea to Arabia, where things really got cooking...

© 1999 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.

Indian filter coffee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Indian filter coffee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Culture

Coffee is something of a cultural icon in Andhra, Kannada and Tamil cultures. It is customary to offer a cup of coffee to any visitor. Coffee was originally introduced by Baba Buden to South India in 16th century and became very popular under the British Rule. Until the middle of the 20th century traditional households would not use granulated sugar but used jaggery instead in coffee."