Turkish Coffee Trivia
There is a Turkish proverb that says, “A single cup of coffee is remembered for fourty years”. In the Turkish culture, coffee is always offered at the start of any visit. No true conversations begin until kahve is served. The discussions and the brew are remembered together. No wonder that Turkish coffee is unforgettable.
There is no ritual more important in any culture than marriage. It is a way to improve ones standing and situation in society after all. Every prospective bride is tested by the way she makes coffee. Some brides are known to have substituted salt for the sugar in order to avoid an unwanted marriage.
It was also considered an insult to spill the coffee, even just a little on to the saucer so a reluctant bride would sometimes find a way to spill coffee, not just on the saucer but on the guests. That usually ended the marriage talks.
The foam on Turkish coffee is very important. It is made as the brew sits on the stove without being stirred. A few people will tell you that it is okay to stir after the first two boiling, in fact some will say it is a must but never is it stirred once it is placed on the heat for the last time. In fact, it is said that the host who serves coffee with no foam loses face.
For those of us who’ve always wanted our future read with coffee, Turkish coffee is the brew you must try. It is the remains from this brew or fal that is used to read ones possible fututre or destiny. In fact it is still a favorite pastime in Turkey today, especially among the women.
Make yourself a cup of Turkish coffee or go find a place that makes good Turkish coffee. Enjoy the experience for yourself. Don’t forget to check if there’s someone around who can read fal.
Coffee House History: Seattle’s Best
My local mall gives me a basic choice of 3 coffee houses(or is it shops in a mall?) -The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Starbucks (duh), and Seattles Best. And the one I always inadvertantly pick is Seattles Best. Yes, the coffee is much more my “cup of tea”, and there dont seem to be too many noisy teenagers as there are in Starbucks or bored housewives as the Bean…..
Seattle’s Best
Seattle hasn’t always been the center of the coffee universe, in fact the city once served as much bad coffee as the rest of the country. That changed in the early 70’s when a group of passionate coffee lovers started a revolution.
The founders of Seattle’s Best were some of these early coffee pioneers, and in the beginning the coffee was roasted in an old peanut roaster down on the Seattle waterfront. These guys used the finest beans and roasted to achieve a bold and full flavored cup that was also smooth and mellow.
In those days, the Northwest was such a hotbed of competing coffee styles that a local restaurant held a taste-off to crown “the best cup of coffee in Seattle.” Much to the founders delight, their little coffee company took first place.
To celebrate the occasion, they officially re-named the company “Seattle’s Best Coffee” and the rest is coffee history. Today, the coffee revolution has spread across America and now good coffee is fashionable everywhere. There are many great coffees roasted in Seattle, but only one offers the bold flavor and smooth taste that is Seattle’s Best.
Coffee grade: Above Average
Good Points: Breve superb, great organic beans, yummy macaroons
Bad Points: Counter foodoften tasteless ,vanilla latte cloyingly sweet
Coffee House History: The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
For those of us not named Paul Basset, a good up of coffee is more often than not found at the coffee house at the nearest mall, around the corner, or at an airport if you’re travelling (the photo by the way is of the CBTL at Singapore’s Changi airport) – and not at home, although we’ll put up with the home brew just to get up in the morning.
So I’ve decided to clue you in on a little background info about these institutions we so heavily rely on on provide a decent cup of java.
The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf
Herbert B. Hyman started The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in 1963 with a dedication to excellence and quality, and his efforts made him the founding father of gourmet coffee in California.
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has since grown into one of the largest privately- owned, family-run coffee and tea companies in the world.
The endurance and popularity of The Bean, as it is affectionately referred to by devotees, can be attributed to the high standards that were established from the beginning. From trend-setting drinks like the World Famous Ice Blended, to the employees who become a part of the communities they work in, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has discovered the formula for a successful coffee and tea company.
Coffee grade: Decent Brew
Good Points: Good variety of other things to eat, hot breakfasts, chai tea, vanilla lovers should be happy.
Bad Points: Drinks tend to be too much on the sweet side
Coffee House History: Starbucks
Hate or love the mermaid from Seattle, Starbucks undoubtedly is the most famous coffee brand in the world (if not universe? I hear they’ve opened a branch on the moon).
If you’re wondering if the larger-than-life chain is indeed part of Dr.Evil’s empire, read on!
Starbucks
Starbucks was named after a character in Moby Dick, and the story
began in 1971 when the first Starbucks opened in America’s oldest Farmer’s Market, the Pike Place Market.
Then, the company was a local coffee roasting facility until 1982 when Howard Schulz joined the company and turned their marketing strategy around.
On a trip to Italy, Schulz was inspired to the coffee bar tradition and sold his idea to the Starbucks founders. In 1985, the first coffee bar opened, and true to Italian style, they called it “Il Giornale” and it was a smashing success.
In 1987, together with new investors, Schulz bought Starbucks and opened new cafes in Vancouver and Chicago, rising to 17 that same year.
With 165 cafes by 1992, the company went public and now trades at the NASDAQ.
On March 7th, 2001 Starbucks opened their first cafe in Europe – in Zurich, Switzerland. Today, Starbucks is found in 30 countries around the world, with 9,000 cafes and counting. The company also donates a lot to charitable organizations.
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.
