Coffee Study

Just spotted an article on CNN.com about a college professor in Kentucky who has created a class all about coffee and its effect on society.

Here's how it got started:
For years, sociology professor Beau Weston has held informal office hours off campus in a local coffee shop, sipping his mocha latte while advising students.

As he did, he formed relationships with other coffee shop regulars who might otherwise have remained strangers. That caused a sort of academic epiphany, and now he's one of a handful of teachers across the nation who have developed courses that study coffee and its effect on society.

Other professors are doing the same thing:
"It really combines so many disciplines," said Mark Pendergrast, of Colchester, Vermont, the author of "Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World," which was used as a textbook in Weston's class at Centre.

"Everywhere you look in our culture, coffee has a fairly profound effect," Pendergrast said. "I think it's a wonderful way to teach history and culture and economics."

Cal-Irvine history professor Steven Topik began teaching his "History of Coffee" writing seminar course in 1996.

Coffee "is just not something we think about," Topik said. "History is usually taught as the history of great men and wars and great events. We don't think about the history of everyday things. But historians have been increasingly thinking about these things."

Studying coffee "is a palpable, liquid way of understanding globalization," Topik said.

It's nice to see Coffee being taken so seriously!

Coffee Geek

A great website for coffee lovers is Coffee Geek. These people really love coffee. I just read this great article on how to appreciate a good cup of java.

Here's an excerpt:
Within minutes (or less, depending on your mug), all that nuance and all those subtleties begin to peek through. From the first sip (coffee-hot!) to the fifth (coffee-mmm!) - now we really know something about this brew. To drink quality coffee is to tour the world, and if the coffee is a single-origin, the discerning consumer now has a pretty good chance of identifying and appreciating the 'varietal distinctiveness'. We know that this coffee is an Ethiopian, and now we can tell if it's a Sidamo or a Harar. If it's a blend, now's the time to appreciate the blender's craft. Find the fruity Yemen, play it against the smoky Java, and know why people have been blending these two beans for almost 400 years. This is the time to enjoy your coffee for what it is, and for what it's supposed to be.

I couldn't have said it better myself. Coffee rocks!

Kauai Coffee

On a family trip to Hawaii a couple years ago, we visited the Kauai Coffee Estate to sample some of the local beans and see where the drink we love comes from. We also visited a coffee plantation on a trip to the Big Island, and will probably do the same on our upcoming trip to Maui.

This past Valentines Day I ordered one of their gift packages which included a bag of beans, a travel mug and a collection of coffee butter, coffee syrup, and coffee jelly. Can't wait to try them out!!