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.
The Story Of The Coffee Cake
Have you ever wondered where the coffee cake came from? Today, coffee cakes are commonly eaten together with coffee – or any other drink, for that matter. In the old days, though, did they already have coffee cakes?
Rob Carlton tells the tale of the coffee cake:
Like most foods, coffee cake is an item that evolved over hundreds of years and across continents. People had been preparing honey cakes since biblical times. Gradually the French came up with galettes, the forerunner of the ubiquitous Christmas fruitcake. Galettes also lead to the invention of sweet yeast rolls that eventually resulted in Danish coffee cakes, which really did contain coffee, by the way.
For some reason, the Dutch and Germans in New York, New Jersey and Delaware became particularly famous for their coffee cakes. Their recipes from the colonial times are very similar to those used today. Meanwhile Scandinavians had introduced their versions as well as the concept of the coffee break — for which we are all ever grateful. The British have their own version that includes toffee.
By 1879, coffee cakes were well-known in America and there were already countless recipes for crumb cakes, streusel cakes and streusel/crumb-cake combinations. Streusel cakes have that swirl of cinnamon/brown sugar throughout the center while crumb cakes have a topping of crumbly flour, sugar and butter and cinnamon. However, food purists know that most Americans have these terms confused. Streusel (pronounced STROI-zuhl in German) means “granules” and actually refers to the crumb topping, not the swirl. Whichever way you pronounce it, the effect is still the same — delicious.
So there you have it, the story of how coffee cakes came to be the popular cake that we like today. Now I don’t know about you but I suddenly have this urge to get me some coffee cake!
Coffee @ National Geographic
You know me, anything about coffee, I find interesting. Another thing that you may not know about me is this – I just adore National Geographic. I suppose growing up reading old and new issues of the magazine just left an imprint in me that I can never get rid off. So anyway, when I discovered National Geographic’s feature on coffee, I was way beyond excited.
Obviously, I cannot share everything in their feature here in this post, so I just picked out some of the most interesting tidbits I found. You can read the rest of the feature for yourself.
Ever heard of Kaldi? He’s the legendary Ethiopian goatherd who supposedly discovered coffee. According to the legend, he saw his goats munching on some coffee beans and followed suit. Pretty soon, he was skipping and hopping – thanks to the caffeine, I suppose.
How about Baba Budan? He is credited with the feat of smuggling fertile coffee beans out of Mecca. Supposedly, he strapped the beans onto his belly and introduced coffee to European colonies.
Did you know that Louis XIV was given a coffee tree as a gift by the Dutch? This was coveted by Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu, a young naval officer from Martinique. So he asked the King for some clippings – only to have his request denied. Not to be deterred, he went on a midnight adventure to get a clipping from the tree – and succeeded.
Who ever thought that coffee’s history would be this interesting, huh? Head on over to Nat Geo’s web site for more treats.
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.
Technorati Tags: gourmet, coffee, blends, brewed coffee
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.
Technorati Tags: coffee, storage, aroma, quality
Coffee at the Right Time
Drowsy eyes, tired minds and fatigued body are normal for people who work their butt off trying to finish the never ending duties and responsibilities that they should finish to meet deadlines and such. Sleep is something that will naturally suffer but the recourse to stay awake always points to the good old fashioned coffee to keep the eyes open but the mind slowly sinking fast.
Coffee has earned this distinction, a lot of which has to do with the caffeine that they contain that stimulates the body in keeping it awake. Most doctors would say that excessive intake of caffeine is bad for the body since it affects the blood stream and is really a form of abusing the body in its regular working clock.
But in these times, such has been a choice. Either to sleep and be content or work until you can to be able to maintain their level of proficiency. Some would call it unfair but looking at todays people, such has been a common picture of people wanting to save their name in the face of efficiency and reliability.
Technorati Tags: coffee, caffeine, brews, work, overtime
How People Brew Their Coffee
There are various ways to which coffee drinkers all over the world prepare their favorite hot coffee drink. Some would use the traditional autodrip where the proper coffee machine maker will spell the difference between a good coffee brew and plain coffee as acceptable.
There is also the known use of percolating where continuous brewing of ground coffee beans are placed in boiling water which becomes the boiling coffee brew those coffee lovers would usually order in food establishments and coffee shops.
The Turkish or Greek manner of preparation entails boiling the finely grounded coffee beans that are brewed. In this type of preparation, sugar can be added once boiled or not, depending on the preference of the one making the actual brew.
Finally there is also the concentrated way of brewing where coffee preparation calls for large amounts of coffee brewed into small amounts of water brewed to make concentrated coffee. People who would want to drink a cup simply have to add some hot water to enjoy their coffee drink which can be hot or cold.
Technorati Tags: coffee, caffeine, coffee preparation, coffee beans
Drinking That HOT Irish Coffee
Irish coffee is a familiar item that people would see in the menu list of coffee shops and has been among the preference for people since it mixes coffee, sugar, cream and whisky in one good hot drink for the body. Originally invented at Foynes by Mr. Joseph Sheridan it was conceived to be a warmer drink for the travelers who would find themselves in colder climates like that of the United States and Europe. Irish coffee was believed to hit the spot and has been brought out until today regardless of weather conditions for its unique mixture and blend.
Whiskey and wine may arouse the curiosity of minds, but surely, it has been a preferred coffee mixture today. Noticeable is that the cream would usually float above the coffee but due to its warmth, it melts and maintain its position on the upper part of the drink. A lot of manufacturers have taken up Irish coffee concoctions today such as Baileys and Kentucky coffee and has been common tag towards coffee to this day.
Technorati Tags: irish coffee, coffee brew, whiskey, baileys
Coffee in the Afternoon Meeting
Busy people would usually find themselves headed to the nearest available coffee shop to meet up with business associates or acquaintances to discuss matters regarding business or compare notes. Coffee has been known to be an identified factor with regards to ambiance and business since it is always present in offices and business meetings for important matters for anyone.
Coffee with meetings has become a tradition for people. Some consume if because they have inherited it or actually see it from big-time executives. Individually, a person can resort to juice, tea or soda, but coffee has the distinct taste that people have identified as of late. And so in most coffee shops, this has been the sight.
Business professionals meeting up and talking, or even some doing paper work as they prefer to garner that tag of being a businessman at work aiming for the top and higher positions of the organization he is in.
Technorati Tags: coffee, caffeine, business meeting, ambiance, coffee shop
The Coffee Genome Project
Science is now being used on everything we see. It has come a long way from the classrooms. It is now very much an everyday living thing that, thanks to television and some great teachers (and writers) most everyone understands. Thanks to the show CSI, everyone knows how important DNA is. Who would have thought though that it would also be important for coffee growers?
In Brazil, they have what is known as the Coffee Genome project. Begun in 2004, various institutions and universities throughout the country are engaged in finding solutions to improving the growth of coffee. They look to find ways to make the fruits hardier and better able to withstand pests without destroying the quality of the bean or harming the plant. It makes quite a change from the times when the farmers used arsenic to get rid of the pests. Then the pests may be killed but the farmers to would be poisoned. Not the ideal solution.
Currently, Brazil now has the largest coffee data bank, thanks to all the organizations involved in the research. It now has over 200,000 DNA sequences stored. They note that there are over a hundred kind of coffee but only Arabica and Robusta are grown commercially. The rest will now be utilized to genetically improve the two chosen kinds.
