To make a cup of coffee there is a huge
physical system and cultural history. The water, the coffee, the people, the
transportation, the heat and even the cup - these begin your morning.
If your water comes from the city.
A pretty typical plant. The trickling
filter thing is a little uncommon,
but whatever, you can design these plants in like
a million ways.
/im-sick-of-all-your-crap/48028/?comment_page=2
And even if it does or comes as ours does from
our own well, we all need the gift of the water cycle.
EVERYONE LIVES UPSTREAM
Then you have the coffee:
http://www.probatburns.com
and the people:
And the the transportation
Here is the old way we shipped and now it may be the new way.
Our maiden voyage would bring a load of green coffee from Nicaragua
straight into Fort Bragg’s Noyo Harbor, a 6 week roundtrip.
If the maiden voyage proved to be
successful, we’d also ship coffee from Peru, an 8 week roundtrip, carrying some
if not all of our annual purchases from these origins. http://www.thanksgivingcoffee.com/blog/?p=1034
The history and legend:
In the Ethiopian highlands, where the
legend of Kaldi, the goatherd, originated, coffee trees grow today as they have
for centuries. Though we will never know with certainty, there probably is some
truth to the Kaldi legend.
It is said that he discovered coffee
after noticing that his goats, upon eating berries from a certain tree, became
so spirited that they did not want to sleep at night.
Kaldi dutifully reported his findings
to the abbot of the local monastery who made a drink with the berries and
discovered that it kept him alert for the long hours of evening prayer.
Soon the abbot had shared his discovery with the other monks at the monastery,
and ever so slowly knowledge of the energizing effects of the berries began to
spread. As word moved east and coffee reached the Arabian peninsula, it
began a journey which would spread its reputation across the globe.
Today coffee is grown in a multitude
of countries around the world. Whether it is Asia or Africa, Central or South
America, the islands of the Caribbean or Pacific, all can trace their heritage
to the trees in the ancient coffee forests on the Ethiopian plateau.
The Arabian Peninsula
The Arabs were the first, not only to
cultivate coffee but also to begin its trade. By the fifteenth century,
coffee was being grown in the Yemeni district of Arabia and by the sixteenth
century it was known in Persia, Egypt, Syria and Turkey.
Coffee was not only drunk in homes
but also in the many public coffee houses -- called qahveh khaneh -- which
began to appear in cities across the Near East. The popularity of the coffee
houses was unequaled and people frequented them for all kinds of social
activity. Not only did they drink coffee and engage in conversation, but they
also listened to music, watched performers, played chess and kept current on
the news of the day. In fact, they quickly became such an important
center for the exchange of information that the coffee houses were often
referred to as 'Schools of the Wise.'
With thousands of pilgrims visiting
the holy city of Mecca each year from all over the world, word of the 'wine of
Araby' as the drink was often called, was beginning to spread far beyond
Arabia. In an effort to maintain its complete monopoly in the early coffee
trade, the Arabians continued to closely guard their coffee production.
Coffee Comes to Europe
European travellers to the Near East
brought back stories of the unusual dark black beverage. By the 17th century,
coffee had made its way to Europe and was becoming popular across the
continent. Opponents were overly cautious, calling the beverage the 'bitter
invention of Satan.' With the coming of coffee to Venice in 1615, the local
clergy condemned it. The controversy was so great that Pope Clement VIII was
asked to intervene. Before making a decision however, he decided to taste the
beverage for himself. He found the drink so satisfying that he gave it Papal
approval.
Despite such controversy, in the
major cities of England, Austria, France, Germany and Holland, coffee houses
were quickly becoming centers of social activity and communication. In England
'penny universities' sprang up, so called because for the price of a penny one
could purchase a cup of coffee and engage in stimulating conversation. By
the mid-17th century, there were over 300 coffee houses in London, many of
which attracted patrons with common interests, such as merchants, shippers,
brokers and artists.
Many businesses grew out of these
specialized coffee houses. Lloyd's of London, for example, came into existence
at the Edward Lloyd's Coffee House.
The New World
In the mid-1600's, coffee was brought
to New Amsterdam, a location later called New York by the British.
Though coffee houses rapidly began to
appear, tea continued to be the favored drink in the New World until 1773 when
the colonists revolted against a heavy tax on tea imposed by King George.
The revolt, known as the Boston Tea Party, would forever change the American
drinking preference to coffee.
Plantations Around the World
As demand for the beverage continued
to spread, there was tense competition to cultivate coffee outside of Arabia.
Though the Arabs tried hard to maintain their monopoly, the Dutch finally
succeeded, in the latter half of the 17th century, to obtain some seedlings.
Their first attempts to plant them in India failed but they were successful with
their efforts in Batavia, on the island of Java in what is now Indonesia.
The plants thrived and soon the Dutch had a productive and growing trade in
coffee. They soon expanded the cultivation of coffee trees to the islands of
Sumatra and Celebes.
The Dutch did a curious thing,
however. In 1714, the Mayor of Amsterdam presented a gift of a young
coffee plant to King Louis XIV of France. The King ordered it to be planted in
the Royal Botanical Garden in Paris. In 1723, a young naval officer, Gabriel de
Clieu obtained a seedling from the King's plant. Despite an arduous voyage --
complete with horrendous weather, a saboteur who tried to destroy the seedling
and a pirate attack -- he managed to transport it safely to Martinique.
Once planted, the seedling thrived and is credited with the spread of over 18
million coffee trees on the island of Martinique in the next 50 years. It
was also the stock from which coffee trees throughout the Caribbean, South and
Central America originated.
Coffee is said to have come to Brazil
in the hands of Francisco de Mello Palheta who was sent by the emperor to
French Guiana for the purpose of obtaining coffee seedlings. But the French
were not willing to share and Palheta was unsuccessful. However, he was said to
have been so handsomely engaging that the French Governor's wife was
captivated. As a going-away gift, she presented him with a large bouquet of
flowers. Buried inside he found enough coffee seeds to begin what is
today a billion-dollar industry.
In only 100 years, coffee had
established itself as a commodity crop throughout the world. Missionaries
and travellers, traders and colonists continued to carry coffee seeds to new
lands and coffee trees were planted worldwide. Plantations were
established in magnificent tropical forests and on rugged mountain highlands.
Some crops flourished, while others were short-lived. New nations were
established on coffee economies. Fortunes were made and lost. And
by the end of the 18th century, coffee had become one of the world's most
profitable export crops.
And the cup
Ceramics is one of the most ancient industries on the planet.
Once humans discovered that clay could be dug up and formed into objects by
first mixing with water and then firing, the industry was born. As early as
24,000 BC, animal and human figurines were made from clay and other materials,
then fired in kilns partially dug into the ground.
Almost
10,000 years later, as settled communities were established, tiles were
manufactured in Mesopotamia and India. The first use of functional pottery
vessels for storing water and food is thought to be around 9000 or 10,000 BC.
Clay bricks were also made around the same time.
The oldest evidence of pottery
manufacture has been found at an archaeological site known as Odai Yamamoto, in
Japan, where fragments from a specific vessel have been dated to about
16,500-14,920 years ago. Non-agricultural Jomon peoples of Japan were producing
clay pots used for food preparation that were elaborately decorated by about
13,000 years ago.
Although there is not necessarily a
causal relationship between a sedentary way of life and pottery-making, the
introduction of pottery generally coincides with the adoption of an
agricultural lifestyle, when durable and strong vessels and containers are
needed. Initially, pottery was made in open fires. However, during the
Early Neolithic era, around 8,000 BCE, special ovens used to parch cereal
grains and to bake bread were being built in the Near East, which allowed
people to control fire and produce high temperatures in enclosed facilities.
The use of ovens added new possibilities to the development of pottery. Around
the same time, some areas of South America were also developing pottery
technology.
http://www.ancient.eu/pottery/
ENERGY
So how do you heat your coffee?
Fracking gas?
Or
How about a little coal fired electricity?
SIT BACK, ENJOY YOUR MORNING CUP
AND CONTEMPLATE THE CULTURAL ECOLOGY
OF THE THINGS SURROUNDING YOU.
THE HISTORY,
THE PEOPLE OF THE PAST,
THE WORKERS OF THE PRESENT,
THE ENERGY,
THE KNOWLEDGE
AND ALL
THE PIECES OF THE EARTH REPRESENTED.
