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.
Changing The World Through Coffee
In the recent years, awareness about the environment and the harm that is coming to it has increased more than tenfold. People from different sectors are doing what they can to contribute to the conservation and preservation of our environment. The coffee industry is one of the forerunners of this movement.
I have to admit, though, that I had not heard of the company called Peace Coffee. They are based in Minneapolis and operate under the premise of fair trade. The issue about fair trade coffee and shade grown coffee. As opposed to coffee that is grown under the sun, shade coffee, as the name implies, is not exposed to direct sunlight. The result is that the coffee plants are healthier and cleaner – simply because they have less need for chemicals such as pesticides. Naturally, this kind of coffee is better for consumption, both for taste and health reasons. More so, the farmers and the environment where the shade coffee is grown are better off for it as well.
This is the whole premise behind Peace Coffee. Aside from the focus on shade coffee, however, they also engage in other practices that are environmentally conscious. This includes a large batch roaster which has a 150 batch capacity. As opposed to the average 50 batch roaster, their new roaster has to be in operation much less and saves on a lot of energy. Their delivery people either use bicycles or green trucks. More than helping the environment, though, Peace Coffee also helps the small farmers who have less chances of making a profit against the big coffee growers.
If you want to purchase Peace Coffee, just visit their online store and you can get your hands on some.
Tale Of The Gourmet Coffee Beans
I love to read a good story anytime. It is not everyday that you find a good one about coffee, though. A reader of ours brought a web site to our attention, where a nice tale about gourmet coffee beans is being featured.
Happy Bean Coffee is a web site which sells the best gourmet coffee beans from all over the world. Just like any other online store, Happy Bean Coffee delivers its products to a wide variety of locations. More than showcasing various gourmet coffee beans, though, they also provide other information on coffee.
Back to the tale of gourmet coffee beans. Here is the first paragraph of the tale:
In the dreamy hours of the morning, the coffee bean begins anew to draw energy from dark, rich, volcanic soil and sunlight filtered through the remains of the previous night. The coffee bean stirs within and, to the first sounds of birds and the morning rituals of nearby inhabitants, the rain forest awakens around it.
Doesn’t that just stir up your senses? If you want to read more, I encourage you to head on over to the Happy Bean Coffee web site. I am sure that after reading the story, you would feel a craving to buy some new beans that you have never tried before. It never hurts to expand your horizons, does it?
The New Complete Coffee Book: A Gourmet Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Cooking
I am almost done with the book I have been reading for the past week so I thought it was time to search for some new interesting reads. I ran across this book on Google Book Search (as usual – I just love this Book Search!) and from what I have read in the preview, it looks like a good buy.
The book is quite short – a little over a hundred pages – and has 5 main chapters (introduction not included). The chapters are:
History
The Bean
The Roast
The Brew
Recipes
I think that The New Complete Coffee Book: A Gourmet Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Cooking would be perfect for your coffee table – something to browse through on a lazy Sunday morning as you sip your cup of joe while watching TV or whatever else it is that you do on lazy Sunday mornings. There is a lot of information on coffee within the pages of the book and you can get a lot of ideas for unique meals using coffee.
On the other hand, I felt that something was lacking. Sorely missing were the most basic of information, like, how to make cappuccino, latter, and the like. I know, perhaps the authors purposely left information out in order to focus on the more advanced aspects of coffee but it would have been nice to have it in the book as well.
Anyhow, I am still thinking of whether or not to buy the book – we’ll see this weekend.
The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
We’re all familiar with the English tea ceremony but have you heard of the Ethiopian coffee ceremony? You probably already know that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. Naturally, they have some sort of ceremony to celebrate the wonders of this brew.
The Ethiopian coffee ceremony is part of their culture. In fact, whenever they entertain visitors, the ceremony is required. So how does it go?
Emily Doyle explains the ceremony:
The ceremony is usually conducted by one young woman, dressed in the traditional Ethiopian costume of a white dress with coloured woven borders. The long involved process starts with the ceremonial apparatus being arranged upon a bed of long scented grasses. The roasting of the coffee beans is done in a flat pan over a tiny charcoal stove, the pungent smell mingling with the heady scent of incense that is always burned during the ceremony. The lady who is conducting the ceremony gently washes a handful of coffee beans on the heated pan, then stirs and shakes the husks away.
When the coffee beans have turned black and shining and the aromatic oil is coaxed out of them, they are ground by a pestle and a long handled mortar. The ground coffee is slowly stirred into the black clay coffee pot locally known as ‘jebena’, which is round at the bottom with a straw lid. Due to the archaic method used by Ethiopians, the ground result can be called anything but even, so the coffee is strained through a fine sieve several times.
The youngest child is then sent out to announce when it is to be served and stands ready to bring a cup of coffee first to the eldest in the room and then to the others, connecting all the generations. The lady finally serves the coffee in tiny china cups to her family, friends and neighbours who have waited and watched the procedure for the past half-hour.
I have never experienced such a ceremony but just the thought of being part of one makes me want to go to Ethiopia.
Book Review: The Joy Of Coffee
How does one even begin to describe the joys associated with this bean, this brew? I honestly don’t know! Perhaps the best way would to be go ahead and concoct your own brew and share it with friends as you lounge around on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Or maybe, you can get this book by Corby Kummer and give it as a gift!
The Joy Of Coffee: The Essential Guide to Buying, Brewing, and Enjoying has been around for quite some time now. It has been recently updated and revised, though, to keep up with the changing landscape of the world of coffee. This book is an easy read with roundabouts 300 pages. From the growing of the beans to buying to roasting, storing, and brewing – all of these things are presented by Kummer.
I like how Kummer pays attention to the minutest details in his book as he recounts his experiences over the past several decades. I think it is his unique and authentic experience and knowledge that gives his book an edge over the countless other printed materials on coffee available in the market today. In the book, Kummer also shares tons of recipes which the average person – like you and me – can try out at home. For me, that is one of the best aspects of The Joy of Coffee.
So what are you waiting for? You can get a copy on Amazon for only about $10. Alternatively, if you want a preview before getting your own copy, you can check out Google Book Search.
Fight Dementia With Coffee
Coffee is good for you – why can’t people seem to get that? Though coffee does have its adverse effects, it does have good benefits! Yeah, I am biased, but this new research adds more proof to the concept that coffee can be good for the health.
According to research carried out by scientists from the North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, a coffee a day keeps dementia away. The findings of the research were published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation and showed that daily doses of caffeine prevents the destructive effects of high cholesterol levels, which have been linked to occurrences of dementia, of which Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form.
The scientists used rabbits in their study and gave the little critters 3 mg of caffeine daily. This is roundabouts a cup of coffee. The rabbits were also given a very rich cholesterol diet during the course of the study. The indicator used was the blood brain barrier – which was more significantly intact in the rabbits that were dosed with caffeine.
According to the report published by the Press Assocation:
Jonathan Geiger, of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said: “For the first time we have shown that chronic ingestion of caffeine protects the blood brain barrier from cholesterol-induced leakage.”
He added: “Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilise the blood-brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders.”
The research confirms earlier studies showing that caffeine intake protects against memory loss in ageing and in Alzheimer’s disease.
I have always thought that coffee was good for my sanity – and I was right all along!
Coffee Fest in Washington DC
Here’s a piece of news for (professional) coffee lovers out there. I discovered this through Chris O’Brien’s blog, Bean Activist.
From February 15 to February 17, the Washington DC Coffee Fest will be held in the Convention Center. Mind you, before you get too excited, Chris was quick to point out that the event is targeted towards “coffee professionals and not just casual coffee drinkers.” Hmm, I don’t think I can qualify.
Still, there are quite a lot of free informational classes that I think would be interesting – at least from a professional’s point of view. You never know, you just might want to open a coffee shop of your own! Tickets come at $30 a piece and will entitle you to enter the trade show premises wherein you will find a hundred exhibits featuring all sorts of tea and coffee – even hot chocolate! Of course, as it’s a trade show, you’ll find a lot of commercial machinery and supplies as well as trade magazines.
From the Coffee Fest web site itself:
Coffee Fest is dedicated to the growth and proliferation of the specialty coffee, gourmet tea and alternative beverage industries. With a strong emphasis on independent retail, Coffee Fest features a complete industry wide trade show, invaluable educational programming, Free-Pour Latte Art Competition, New Product Showcase, Opening Night Reception, incredible Special Attractions and tremendous Networking Opportunities.
I think the competition alone would be worth a visit. Shall we go?
Gourmet Coffee Secrets: Soil and Altitude
Gourmet coffee beans originate from proper care and selection in the harvesting process. The secret behind their fine quality manufacturing lies heavily in their environmental surroundings. It has been proven that the processing of such fine coffee beans owe it a lot towards where it comes from, that of which is usually in the slopes of volcanic mountains that offer high elevation and fertile and rich soil.
The high elevations is good for coffee beans since it offers a more moist surrounding coming from the cloudy attributes that the atmosphere provides at such elevated levels. This also minimized the need for excessive sunlight rays that may ruin the quality of the coffee beans if they are not placed in the right amount of temperature.
The fertile soil where coffee beans are laid comes from the hot lave that are emitted from the earth�s core, full of nutrients from centuries before being brought to the surface. If there is one thing that should be taken into consideration, it is the fact that quality does have a price. In this case, having to harvest them from steep slopes of volcanic structures is a hard effort on the part of the people who would have to farm them out of their locations.
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Preserving the Quality of Coffee Beans
The quality of coffee beans depends on how people would store them and be sensitive to the various forces that would allow it to lose its fine quality after harvesting. A good thing to note is that exposing these beans to open air contributes to losing its actual quality. This is why it has been a practice to keep coffee in tightly sealed containers so that people can consume them at any time they would wish.
Storing them as well in cold temperatures, help retain its level of freshness. Freezing them is a good practice especially for coffee beans that are not immediately consumed and are meant for storing. This allows people to consume them at any time they wish wherever they are.
It should also be good to note not to place them beside aromatic food such as garlic and onions. Coffee beans absorb odors and once placed beside high aromatic elements, chances are that the coffee beans would solicit their smell.
