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.

What College Viewbooks Don't Tell You

There are some real gems in here!


reprinted from
http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/6174/h--colle.html


1. Quarters are like gold.
2. Be creative in the dining hall.
3. Flip flops become as important as soap, shampoo, etc.
4. You will never find so many excuses for a bucket.
5. Asleep by 2:30 am is an early night.
6. New additions to the food groups: Mountain Dew, Doritos, Ben & Jerry's, Ho-Hos and Oreos.
7. Make sure your alarm clock has back-up batteries.
8. Showers become less important.
9. Sleep becomes more important.
10. Two meals a day are standard.
11. Recycling becomes synonymous with laundry ("Oh, my jeans can last until Christmas...there's only a *little* bit of mud on them...").
12. You can never make too many meals in a crock pot or hot plate.
13. 10 minutes is more than enough time to get ready for your first class.
14. Going to the mailbox was never an ego booster/breaker before.
15. It takes more than one person to carry your laundry, books, trash, etc...
16. You begin to nap again.
17. Your bill in the bookstore will almost equal tuition.
18. Isn't it amazing that the book your professor wrote is always required for his class?
19. Labs used to be fun.
20. T.A. used to stand for teaching assistant, now, for terribly articulated.
21. Squirt guns = stress relief.
22. E-mail becomes your second language.
23. Frat parties are exactly like they are in the movies.
24. Ten-page papers used to sound impossible, now they're a Godsend.
25. You never realized so many people are smarter than you.
26. You never realized so many people are dumber than you.
27. Professors are like celebrities: you see them, but they never see you.
28. Western Europe could be wiped out by a horrible plague and you'd never know, but you could recite last week's episode of "Friends" verbatim.
29. See every movie under $3 that your campus provides; it's actually proportional to the amount of money you have.
30. Road trip whenever possible.
31. Pick up all new lingo.
32. Plain pasta never constituted a complete meal before.
33. The health service attendants are there because they couldn't make it in a real hospital, never ever forget that.
34. Forget putting the toilet seat down, you just pray that they flush.
35. Frisbee becomes a contact sport.
36. Care packages rank up there with birthdays.
37. College girls are the same as high school girls, just with more freedom...and no curfew.
38. It never sucked so much to get sick.
39. Pop a vitamin and breakfast is covered.
40. Learn to love your roommate, especially when he leaves you the room.
41. You always thought that worshipping the porcelain god was just an expression...it's not!
42. You'll learn more about male genitalia than you ever thought necessary, guys talk more about that than women and sex put together.
43. Beware the freshman 15, or in some cases, the freshman cup size.
44. Even though the beds are long, they are also extra narrow.
45. Things that were a huge deal in high school are now commonplace.
46. You never thought you would share so much about yourself with people you have known for such a short time.
47. Computer games go in and out faster than the latest fashions.
48. Any game can be made into a drinking game.
49. Disney movies are more than just classics.
50. Find one thing you like in the dining hall and go with it.
51. You will hear more stupid nicknames than you ever thought possible.
52. Phone calls almost never happen and when they do, you just don't get the messages.
53. Cereal makes a meal any time of day.
54. Keep your high school term papers; nowadays, everything is recycled.
55. ATMs are the devil's advocate.
56. Beware the boy in the Care Bear toga.
57. You almost forget how to drive.
58. You'll drink anything if it's free.
59. People still cheat, it's just more technologically advanced.
60. You get really good with excuses for skipping class.
61. The girl you're going to marry may live right next door, so keep your stereo down.
62. Ordering food at 1 am is a common occurrence.
63. You never realized how cool you can be.
64. TV becomes a bigger time sucker than ever before.
65. You realize how great your hell summer job was once you get to work study.
66. Keys have never been so important, yet you seem to lose them more than ever before.
67. You meet the type of people you only thought existed in the movies.
68. You learn to sleep with light, noise, extreme , and roommates snoring.
69. You don't have to cover your textbooks anymore.
70. You become a juggler with the balance between school, friends, girls, activities, work, parties...
71. You live for chicken finger day at the cafeteria.
72. People that were geeks in high school seem okay now.
73. You begin to realize that college is about the ideal lifestyle, except for those pesky classes.
74. You get good at rationalizing on whether to do homework or not.
75. Procrastination becomes an art.
76. Jeans may be worn as many times as the wearer desires (for example, see # 12).
77. The only reason you ever dress up is when everything else is dirty.
78. Your parents start to tell you stories about their college days.
79. With all the wealth of knowledge around you, you start to feel like you're on intellectual welfare.
80. Going to the mini-mart is a major treat.
81. You have two kinds of shoes: everyday shoes and party shoes.
82. Classes: the later the better.
83. The cute girls actually talk to you now.
84. The longer you're there, the less you talk about home.
85. Always wear your safety goggles, they're not kidding.
86. You just don't learn last names.
87. Card games never lasted for hours before.
88. Boys will dance in college.
89. People who never talked to you in high school are now your best friends when you come home.
90. You are NEVER alone.
91. It's amazing how late you can stay up doing absolutely nothing, yet falling asleep in class or in the library takes an average of two seconds.
92. You spend a ridiculous amount of time pondering the mystery of whether the cafeteria Lucky Charms are the real thing.
93. People magazine is your deep philosophical reading material.
94. You begin to subdivide your room into sections such as den, library, etc. to make it sound like a house.
95. All you have to do to make new friends is have mom send up some cookies.
96. You never realized how quiet your house was.
97. Dishes aren't dirty enough to wash until they have bugs and/or mold in them.
98. Printers only break down when you desperately need them.
99. You get along so much better with your family now that you never see any of them.
100. You become an expert at space optimization.
101. Anything can be cooked in a microwave.
102. Girls are almost as messy as guys. Girls just hide it better.
103. A trip to the grocery store requires 3 hours, in order to price check everything.
104. You can't study when it is too quiet.
105. Your cherished CD collection will never be intact again.
106. Going out to a restaurant to eat, only happens when your parents come to visit.
107. You become a really good pen-pal when you have a boring class.
108. There is such a thing as a blow-off course.
109. You actually rationalize staying home and watching Ricki Lake to going to class.
110. The first sign of spring and classes become even less of a priority.
111. If an 8:00 am class is required for your major, change your major.
112. Clever margin manipulation can turn a 4-page outline into a 100-page senior essay.

Musing #3

Don’t Fight It...

Just the word change makes some people nervous. Why is that? What is it about change that causes us to fight it? Change is inevitable. Not one of us can truly prevent change no matter how hard we fight, Change happens. There is just something about change, which we equate with bad things. Change can be good.

I can look back in my life and some of the worst things (I thought at the time) I can remember about changes in my life actually became some of the high moments. Going to a new school –very traumatic at the time, yet after the hating the uniforms and having school on Saturday, I soon learned that my new school had it good points as well. After all having those Saturday classes made the school year shorter. The smaller class size get me a better chance of getting the extra help I needed in my weak areas. APS (Aiken Prep School) even had a “Sports day” where we all competed against each other. My ninth grade year, the Sports Day was the single proudest moment of my childhood. I had never been a super athlete as a child(heck, I was usually the "Last Picked for Kickball") but that day I actually won. My name is forever on the halls of APS as the senior champion for 1985. The school and the winners list goes all the way back to 1919.

Other changes I have readily accepted, even embraced – getting married, getting divorced 9 years later, getting married again, joining the Navy etc. (Speaking of joining the Navy; now that is just asking for change and lots of it!) From boot camp, to the fact that you are transferred from duty station to duty station, every three to five years. If you did not want change then the military is not for you.

Conversely, if you take a closer look at the military as a whole, the structure and schedule you keep is very indicative of a lack of change. Some people embrace the military for just that reason. The traditions and heritage of the Navy are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to rigidity (used here to refer to lack of change).

Change is constant and well “ever-changing” (pun-intended). We need to learn to accept change and evolve with the changes, to appreciate the changes we experience every day. Some days we don’t want to change and wish that our little bubble would remain exactly the same but once we have accepted the changes that will inevitability happen in our lives, our lives become richer and more fulfilling all the time. There is no reason to fight the change. We should all embrace change and find out how we can use the changes to enrich and better our own lives.