Cyber-Coffee
To Go, Please
By Susan Molthop
The first thing to know about coffee is how to brew a good pot of it. Here's a how-to-brew article from the National Coffee Association.
How much do you know about coffee? Take this Coffee Quiz from Prevention Magazine.
Here is some interesting trivia from the Plantation Coffee site:
- Over 50 countries around the world--from Angola to Zimbabwe--produce coffee.
- Americans consume over 300 million cups of hot coffee on a typical winter day.
- Nearly 4,000 coffee beans are used to produce one pound of roasted coffee. That's about 50 beans for every cup of brewed coffee.
- Coffee is the largest agricultural commodity imported into the united states. Only oil surpasses coffee as the largest single commodity in the world.
- The only coffee grown in the United States, is grown in Hawaii.
[The organic coffees sold on this site are roasted after you place your order.]
The first coffee was Turkish coffee. It was invented in the 16th century and brewed in special little pots called ibriks (designed for brewing in hot sand). You can still buy Turkish coffee and all the gadgets that go with it, at Natasha’s Café. http://natashascafe.com/html/turkish.html
The first time I bought a pound of coffee, all I had to know was which grind I wanted. My, how times have changed. In addition to special flavors, grinds, and manufacturers, socially aware coffee drinkers must also consider the environment and global politics before deciding which brand to brew.
Shade-grown coffee has been around forever. It’s sustainable. The large shade trees give homes to birds, which control the bugs, which eat the fruit. These trees also shed leaves, which decompose to fertilize the ground to nourish the plants.
The current trend is toward new, sun-tolerant coffee varieties. This practice encourages more destruction of the rain forests and creates more need for chemical fertilizers and insecticides. Read all about it on the Royal Coffee site. http://www.royalcoffee.com/shade.html
In addition to environmental concerns, there is also a growing awareness of the unfair labor practices associated with this industry. To be sure your coffee purchases are a vote for the good guys, look for the Fair Trade label. Here’s a link to the new Starbucks Fair Trade brand, with information on how the little guys are teaming up to get fair prices and other considerations for their crops.
Ever wonder how coffee is grown and processed? Coffee trees in spring look like they’re covered in snow, but they’re really covered with apricot-scented white blossoms. Next comes the "cherries." (The coffee beans are inside the cherries.) Yauco Selecto takes you on a tour of their plantation, with pictures and vivid descriptions along the way.
http://www.yscoffee.com/tour-option.htm
Coffee beans must be hand picked, because the fruit matures at different times. Only the red ones are ripe, but the pickers must be careful not to disturb the green ones.
Now that you know where it came from, how to buy it, and how to brew it, what do you do with the used coffee grounds? Feed them to your azaleas, peppers, and tomato plants. And what about the leftover coffee? Here’s an interesting recipe for Banana Frostie, from the old Gavalia site. I guess they don't have recipes there anymore, but I saved this one.
Banana Frostie
~Ingredients~
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 1/2 cups cold,
strong-brewed* Gevalia® Stockholm Roast coffee
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 cup vanilla ice cream
* Our suggestion for "strong-brewing" for iced coffee recipes: Start with your regular recipe and increase the coffee by 1/2.
Example: If you normally use 2 scoops of coffee in a 4 cup coffee maker, increase to 3 scoops.
~Directions~
CUT the banana into pieces and combine with coffee and sugar in a blender.
BLEND at high speed. When the mixture is smooth, add ice cream and blend at medium speed until smooth.
POUR into two 12 ounce glasses.
Enjoy!
If you still haven't read enough about coffee, visit INeedCoffee.com for everything you could possibly want to know.
That’s it, folks. Now let’s take a break and have a cup of coffee.
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