Coffee Break

There's nothing like a good cup of joe. No matter how you have it - as a fancy latte or just a cup of straight black java, it's our security blanket. We can relax with it, take it to the beach or enjoy it with jazz. It's the perfect drink - year round.

I bet a lot of coffee fanatics out there don't their drink's history. Legend has it that around the year 850 AD,an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi noticed his flock becoming friskier after they ate red berries. He too tried them and basically discovered the first caffeine high. Later around the 1100's a the plants spread to the Arabian peninsula where it was refined into a brewed drink. It was called "quahwa" (possibly a variation of the name coffee) By 1475 Turks were enjoying it from coffee houses throughout Constantinople and then in 1600, it reached Venice. This is the start of a still present love affair all Italians have with coffee. Early Americans were drinking, it thanks to Captain John Smith bringing it over. (you've got to wonder if the early colonists had to have their first coffee and tobacco break )Coffee also made it's way to Vienna thanks to the Turks invading it in 1675. The invasion failed but they left behind sacks of java beans. The French were not to be left out. In 1672 the first coffee house opened up in Paris and was regularly served at the French court. Like the Italians, the French still have a passionate love for the stuff.

It is the English however that made coffee a national drink. The first coffee house opened up in 1652 in London. It was there that the word tips were coined, it standing for "to insure proper service". If you wanted a good seat and hot joe, then you had to immediately put coins into a cup to insure service. The great writers of English literature hung out in these hubs of intellectual and philosophical debating. Every great writer from Pepys to Johnson enjoyed sharing their ideas over a good cup of coffee. They bounced everything from barbs to bon mots at each other while downing endless but soothing cups. Thanks to Washington State's contribution to the coffee world , Starbucks, we can relive those coffee house days with our own updated version.


Nowadays there are so many different kinds. What to choose? You can go for the everyday like Chock Full of Nuts which is superb and my favorite to the ultra fancy high end Jamaican and Sumatra blends. To be honest coffee is a matter of taste. What's one man's ambrosia is another man's dish water. Myself I'm pretty much brand loyal, sticking to the pedestrian Chock Full or Dunkin Donuts. They're just as flavorful and rich as any of the fancier kinds such as the Kona or Jamaican Blue Mountain. What makes a good cup of coffee? A rich red hot brew, a little milk and a pinch of sugar. That's all this blog writer needs.(although I do like it iced , like the way my grandparents used to drink it. They were notorious for putting ice cubes in their cups).

Coffee is just a wonderful drink. I'm glad Kaldi noticed those hyperactive goats of his centuries ago. I can't imagine life without java, can you?