Coffee Exhibit At The Burke Museum
The best thing to do with coffee is to drink it, right? So what’s the next best thing? I dunno, but going to an exhibit all about coffee sounds pretty good to me and this is what’s in store for coffee lovers at The Burke Museum.
This museum is also known as The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture and is found at the University of Washington in Seattle. It has been the Washington State Museum since 1899. This year, they have something new to offer visitors. From the 24th of January to the 7th of June 2009, they will be holding an exhibit all about our favorite bean, or drink, if you wish.
Dubbed Coffee: The World In Your Cup, the exhibit aims to welcome everyone to the wonderful world of coffee – from the beans to the brew. This is what the museum has to say about the exhibit:
Coffee: The World in Your Cup presents the story of one of the world’s most widely traded commodities and how it has affected cultures, economies, and environments across the globe. Coffee explores the environmental and social impacts of the coffee industry and recommends ways for consumers to make socially and environmentally responsible coffee purchases at the grocery store or in a coffee shop. Learn about the impacts of caffeine, the world’s most commonly-used drug, on your body, discover coffee’s early controversial reputation as a “revolutionary drink,” and consider the culture that surrounds coffee in the twenty-first century. Photos, maps, text, selected artifacts, audiovisual presentations, and hands-on demonstrations help visitors explore the fascinating world behind the coffee we drink.
There is plenty of time to go and visit. For further information, visit the museum’s web site or call them at 206- 543-7907.
Chinese Coffee Beans?!
Um, I am really iffy about this piece of news. I mean, I love the fact that there are a lot of good but cheap stuff that comes from China but when it comes to food products, I am sorry to say that I would really rather not buy them. I may be politically incorrect in saying that but I would really rather be safe than sorry – wouldn’t you?
Anyhow, I read an article announcing that Starbucks has launched a type of coffee made from beans grown in China:
The South of the Clouds Blend is made with coffee grown by farmers in the southwestern province of Yunnan and will be sold in Starbucks stores here until February 19, said a statement posted on the company’s website Wednesday.
“We are proud to offer our customers the opportunity to experience a truly world-class coffee from China,” Martin Coles, president of Starbucks Coffee International, said in the statement.
“We believe our success and China’s growth are inextricably linked. The constant, stable growth China has achieved … has reinforced our confidence in the long-term potential for our sustained growth in this market.”
“Here” in the first paragraph means China – this coffee will be initially offered in the country but it is said that Starbucks is planning to offer this coffee to other countries as well. As of this writing, only Malaysia and Singapore have been mentioned.
All I can say is that I learned something new today – coffee beans are grown in China. I didn’t know that before! Oh, and the name is quite beautiful, isn’t it?
DIY Brewing
Talking to a colleague the other day, I realized that I have been taking making my own coffee for granted. I have always thought that it was a simple, brainless thing. I guess it’s because I have been brewing my own joe for the longest time. This friend of mine, however, has only recently started to get her act together in making her coffee. Her reason? Going to Starbucks on a regular basis is just too expensive. I think that this is a trend – gone are the days when a Starbucks a day was affordable.
So anyway, I thought I’d share the same things I told my friend about brewing your own pot of coffee. Here are some of the most important points.
Get it right from the outset – start with excellent beans.
The beans make up the essence of your drink. Get sucky beans and you’ll get sucky coffee. I do not like buying beans from the supermarket because there is no telling how long they have been there. Experts say that beans that are roasted 2 to 10 days before brewing are the best. I have to be practical, though. I cannot go get beans every 10 days so I have to make do with several weeks’ worth of whole beans.
Next up – get a grinder.
I know, it is a pain in the butt. Who the heck wants to measure out whole coffee beans into the grinder, press the button, and then transfer the grounds into the coffee machine – all within 5 minutes of waking up? But hey, you can really taste the difference.
Last, find out the grounds-water proportion that suits you best.
I have to be honest and say that I do not know the exact measurements that I use but it should be roundabouts 2 or 3 tablespoons of grounds for every cup.
That’s it – that’s all I do for my daily cup of joe made from the basic drip coffee machine.
Topless Coffee Shop???
And I thought that I had heard of everything! A small motel in Maine is reported to be asking for a permit to operate a topless coffee shop on Route 3, known for its high volume of traffic. The town – lucky or unlucky, depending on your point of view – is called Vassalboro. It’s a small rural town (I could have guessed by the name) and I suppose that this proposal is raising quite a few eyebrows. The Associated Press has this story:
A one-time motel in a small central Maine town could soon be offering an eye-opening way to start the day — topless coffee shop waitresses. The Vassalboro Planning Board on Tuesday will consider a business permit request for a topless coffee shop on busy Route 3.
The one-story building has also been the home to several other business ventures, most recently Mac Daddy’s Pub at the Fat Cat Grille, which closed three or four years ago.
Neighbors have mixed opinions. Some say Vassalboro is a rural town and that a topless coffee shop would bring the wrong crowd. But others say they’d like to see a business make a go of it there.
They are still waiting for the board to meet so there is nothing definite yet. For the life of me, though, I cannot understand why I would want to go to a topless coffee shop. Maybe it’s because I am a woman and not a man? You tell me! Would the idea of having a topless coffee shop appeal to you?
