Musing #7

The History Of Coffee (well my speech on it at least!)



Once upon a time, Kaldi, an East African goat herder, was tending to his herd when he noticed that one goat was missing. Kaldi being a good goat herder, of course went in search of it. When he happened upon his goat, he found it eating the berries from a strange plant. Then to Kaldi’s wonder and amazement, the goat stood up on his hind legs and started dancing… This is the legend of how Coffee was discovered.

Through my obsession with coffee and the research I have done, I want to take all of you on a journey through out history. We will travel the globe and learn how coffee has had a long and sometimes tumultuous voyage from those humble beginnings to what we drink today.

Now, Let us revisit Kaldi. It was somewhere between the year 600 and 800AD when Kaldi saw his now dancing goat; he decided to try some of the berries himself. In no time at all Kaldi was dancing right along with his goat! The legend continues and it is said that a local monk happened by while they were dancing and inquired about what was going on. Well he took the berries back to the monastery to share with his fellow monks. At first, the other monks thought they the berries were evil; that was until they realized how they could stay awake during prayers and that they had more energy when doing the chores. The monks started drying the coffee cherries and crushed them to make a tea-like drink. Now there is no concrete evidence of the validity of this story and. we really don’t know how coffee was first discovered.

The early accounts we do have of coffee from “The History of Coffee” at TELLUSPLANET.NET, Originally the coffee plant grew naturally in Ethiopia, but once it was transplanted in Arabia [Yemen] coffee was monopolized by the Arabs.

Who first roasted it is debated, but the accepted belief is that the Arabs started boiling the beans (calling the drink “qahwa” literal translation is that which prevents sleep) and from there someone started roasting.

Coffee moved with the spread of Islam according to National Geographic for almost 200 years Transplant of the coffee plants was forbidden by the government. That was until a young Indian, Baba Budan smuggled out seven coffee cherries on his belly to Mysore, India and started a farm - descendents from those plants are still growing and producing coffee today!

Mark Schapiro stated in “muddy waters” that Coffee started spreading like wild fire from there and in 1453; the Ottoman Turks brought Coffee to Constantinople and there the first coffee shop “Kiva Han” opened in 1475. A new law goes into effect in Turkey making it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he fails to provide her with her daily quota of coffee.

Continuing on in “Muddy Waters” in 1511 the corrupt governor of Mecca was threatened by the spread of coffee through out the Muslim world tried to ban coffee, He was promptly executed! Even at this early stage of coffee was just that important. People would kill for their coffee.

Around 1600 Coffee was brought before the Pope his advisors urged him to ban coffee because it was the Infidels drink. It only took him one sip for his blessing and shortly thereafter coffee started spreading throughout Europe.

The Dutch being entrepreneurs wanted in on the coffee growing business, they were not content to just be a consumer. National Geographic recounts how the first coffee plants were covertly acquired by the Dutch in 1690 and in 1696, the first European owned Coffee Estate was born on Java. And yes, this is where the Nickname Java for Coffee came from.

Now the Dutch trying to improve relations with Louis XVI (fourteenth ) of France reluctantly gave him what became one of his most cherished possessions a Coffee plant for Paris’ Botanical Garden in 1713.

Following the bush so to speak, Mark Schapiro tells us that, a seedling from the botanical garden was stolen in a midnight raid by a young French naval officer after being refused when he asked for one and in 1723 that seedling traveled to the tiny island of Martinique and shortly there after was producing more coffee than Java.

Now the final illicit step for coffee was to Brazil in 1727. Lieutenant Colonel Palheta originally sent to settle a border dispute between the French and Dutch colonies. Well he fell in love with the Governor’s wife and they plotted to become rich by spreading coffee again. Both the French and the Dutch wanted to like the Arabs before them keep coffee firmly in their control. The Governess hid coffee cuttings in a bouquet of flowers that she gave to him as a farewell gift, when he departed for Brazil.

National Geographic reports from then to the 20th century Brazil has been the single largest supplier of coffee in the world. From Brazil Coffee spread the world over through out the “coffee belt.” (The area between the tropic of Capricorn on the bottom and the tropic of Cancer on top) And in 1998, Brazil alone exported over 22 million 60-kilogram bags.

One last item of note according to “Real coffee” on December 16 1773 there was the now infamous “Boston Tea Party” and after the Tea Party, it became very unpatriotic to drink tea and ever since then (even before the birth of our country), coffee has been the single most popular drink in America.

In Conclusion, I hope that I have educated you on the travels and tribulations of the truly exciting journey that coffee has taken. You can all see Coffee has had a very vibrant and lively trip from those early days of Kaldi and his goats, to the wonderful drink that is enjoyed around the world today.

Musing #5

I have heard numerous words to describe how I view coffee. Some say I’m fanatical, while others will say I am just plain nuts. I have been called everything from a drug dealer to the coffee man. Then there are some, a very select few, which call me a connoisseur. Even though there are many different opinions about me and my coffee the one universal opinion is that I have the best coffee on the ship.
I am sure you are wondering what about my coffee is different. I roast my own coffee beans, every week. Yes onboard the ship. I have over 30 pounds of green coffee beans onboard from every different coffee growing region on the face of the earth. I can tell you the difference in coffees by country and region.
If you simply tell me what you like about coffee I can give you three or four recommendations on the spot. Chances are I have at least one of them onboard and can roast you some the next time I am roasting.
Do I have your attention yet? Did you know that coffee is not supposed to be bitter or sour? Not fresh coffee, fresh roasted coffee that is! I have sailors from all over the ship that come by weekly just to get a bag of coffee from me. The best part, I think, is that the finest coffee in the world can be bought for a fraction of the price of roasted coffee. On average I spend around 5 dollars a pound for coffee. The same coffee from a gourmet shop would cost around $30.00 to $40.00 per pound.
Am I obsessed? I don’t think so, I believe that I just enjoy some of the finer things and I am willing to go the extra mile to get them. Do I mind the name calling and the kidding? Not at all, I know that deep down every coffee drinker onboard wishes they had my “True Brew” coffee in their cup everyday.

Guest writer

A friend of mine Steven, wrote a review of one of my favorite Coffees the IMV or Idido Misty Valley. I just had to share this with all of you! Thanks Steve!!!

It was an early fall day, rainy and colder than one would expect at this time of year. After coming back from a work trip that took a lot out of me I was looking forward to a wonderful pot of coffee. I had just the thing. Dennis had roasted up a batch of IMV, and this man has remarkable skill. He seems to know the bean, to understand what it wants in a roast. For we all know that taking a roast a touch too far may bring us a good cup of coffee, but some of the flavors will be gone or will have a faint taste of being burned - very faint, but there, affecting the entire cup. Should the roast run a bit too short and some flavors don't have the chance to introduce themselves to the other flavors in the roast and to the cup one is about to drink. Dennis knows how to get them all to the party.

The first sip is a bit of a trick, for it tastes like a simple cup of quality coffee - the flavor is full, the "coffee" flavor present, a bit of an earthy tone is front and center. But, on the second and slower sip one can taste a multitude of soft flavors that by themselves are very good, but together make up a coffee that is like none other one will have tasted. There is the treasured chocolate flavor of many very good coffees, which in and of itself can be hard to bring out in a coffee, especially one as complex as IMV. And, sitting next to the chocolate is the true taste of a floral bouquet - how is that possible. And, it wouldn't seem they would go together, but they do. I believe it is the other flavors that bring them all together, for a fraction of a second after the floral flavor is a more citrus one, not sour, but the zest of a citrus fruit in a chocolate background.

It doesn't stop there. This roast is not a particularly dark one, and I believe this allows many flavors to come out without one dominating the experience for the taster. As the chocolate subsides I was surprised to taste a true hint of vanilla, another flavor not come by easily in a roast, but here it is in Dennis brew. While not overpowering, there is a sharpness to them, they cut through the "coffee" and earthy tastes, along with a sample of cherry, almost as an afterthought it hides among the other flavors.

I also live in Costa Rica and the coffee reminds me of that, not in the actual coffee, but in the tropical nature of the combined flavors, much like the cornucopia of fruits one would find in our yard down there. The taste lingers sweetly and dissipates with no aftertaste, the palate is cleared for the next sip.

My goal is to work at roasting this coffee to the point where Dennis, himself, would say, "well done." Care goes into this roast, that is obvious. For it would take very little to miss the true "sweet spot." I imagine that there are a number of places to "pull" the roast that would give one a very good cup of coffee, but there is a very small window which would allow so many varied flavors all to have their say without any of them taking command of the cup. This coffee, every sip, is a gift to the senses. Drink on, drink on ...

So let’s talk about Coffee…

Coffee is my passion my obsession if you will. I roast my own coffee at home using different methods. My first method was using a stainless steel dog bowl and a heat gun. Roasting your own coffee is easy and fun. Now I use a special drum inside a propane grill and I can roast up to 6 pounds at one time. Having Fresh coffee every day is such a treat I used to be a -6 shot grande-heavy whipping cream-4 Splenda-Latte at the mermaid. I was spending almost 7 dollars a day on coffee and that was if I didn’t get one in the afternoon as well so lets do some math since I was a customer for 4 years there I was spending 49 per/week that comes out to over 2500 per year. For the four years I went daily I spend over 10 thousand dollars there so what can I do to reduce that figure and have even better coffee? Well I started reading, learning, and found that I could roast my own do it better and cheaper.