podcast

Episode 4: Coffee

The Gallimaufry

• 2 min read
Episode 4: Coffee
Photo by Mike Kenneally / Unsplash

Coffee, Java, a cup of mud, the elixir of life....it has many names to many people. No matter where you are in the world, it’s something we all enjoy to get us through the day. If there’s one drink that can lay claim to being the worlds favourite, it’s this one.

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons” - T.S. Eliot

Who would have thought a simple fruit found on the slopes of Ethiopian hills by a goat would conquer the globe?

Update: One of our listeners has been in touch to shine a little more light on the difference between arabic and robusta. We rather unfairly skimmed over the topic in the episode, so thanks to Dimbleby for bringing this up:

“Arabica is the ‘better’, more nuanced coffee BECAUSE it grows at a higher altitude. Robusta has evolved to be more acidic so that, at its lower altitude, bugs and birds won’t want to eat the beans/kill its children. The taste and the different altitudes are connected.“

Sources

  1. Emmy Blotnick, ‘5 Historical Attempts to Ban Coffee’, December 2013, https://www.mentalfloss.com /article/12662/5-historical-attempts-ban-coffee.‘
  2. 10 Differences Between Robusta & Arabica Coffee’, The Roasters Pack, accessed 3 November 2020, https://theroasterspack.com/blogs/news/15409365-10-differences-between-robusta-arabica-coffee.
  3. ‘Coffee in the Arab World’, accessed 3 November 2020, https://webpage.pace.edu/nreagin /S2004HIS296K/KarenAleta/MiddleEast.html.
  4. ‘Coffee: Facts and Myths’, Nestlé Professional, accessed 3 November 2020, https://www.nestleprofessional.co.uk/news/insights/coffee-facts-and-myths.
  5. ‘Coffee: World Markets and Trade’, accessed 3 November 2020, https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline /circulars/coffee.pdf.
  6. ‘NPR : The Coffee Break, Present at the Creation’, May 2009, https://web.archive.org /web/20090528075409/http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/coffeebreak/index.html.
  7. Trish Skeie, ‘The Flamekeeper, Summer 2002 – Coffee & Wine the Industries and Their Common Denominators’, October 2003, https://web.archive.org/web/20031011091223/http://roastersguild.org /052003_norway.shtml.
  8. ‘The History of Coffee’, accessed 3 November 2020, https://www.ncausa.org/about-coffee/history-of- coffee.
  9. Jess Stein, ed., The Random House College Dictionary, Rev. ed (New York: Random House, 1988).
  10. Bennett Alan Weinberg and Bonnie K. Bealer, The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug (New York: Routledge, 2001).
  11. ‘Waves of Coffee Explained’, Essense Coffee (blog), June 2019, https://essense.coffee/en/waves-of-coffee-explained/.