COFFEE

Sunday 27th August 2006.

Until recently I very rarely drank coffee; I simply did not see the point. In my opinion it was a moderately tasty, unrefreshing beverage which encouraged a not entirely pleasant physical stimulation. Now I know I was just drinking the wrong coffee! Here, for the first time I will say: my name is Annabel and I am a coffee-addict.

This transformation came about several weeks ago when on holiday at the in-laws. I’d had a particularly unsuccessful night of sleep and there was a very full day ahead of us entertaining three children (my daughter and her two cousins). At 9.30 in the morning we found ourselves in the playground of a local cafe and I was so tired I could barely formulate a coherent sentence; I just sat admiring the seemingly endless energy of my shorter relations. My husband handed me his coffee and told me to take just a sip. Approximately one minute later I had bought my own coffee with accompanying croissant and was hooked. Not only was it a beautiful taste, it made me feel fantastic, and not even in that shaky, jittery slightly psychotic way that people report about coffee, but just in a really happy, energised, let’s get on with life kind of a way. When we returned home I was a woman possessed and we now have at least five different types of coffee in the cupboard (I am assuming you have realised I talk only of ‘proper’ coffee - that abomination known as ‘instant’ simply does not exist on my radar). In my current circumstances of raising a very bright and spirited three year old, whilst establishing a writing career and about to begin a Master’s programme, I believe coffee has saved me. I have no doubts it will be coffee which will help me get through my 30,000 word dissertation and it is to coffee that I now say thank you - I salute you!

SOME FACTS ABOUT COFFEE.
Frederick the Great had his coffee made with champagne and a bit of mustard!

Coffee is the second most traded product in the world after oil. World wide production is approximately six million metric tonnes.

Coffee is the most popular beverage worldwide with over 400 billion cups consumed each year.

Beethoven was an avid coffee drinker, favouring a cup containing 60 beans!

After they are roasted, and when the coffee beans begin to cool, they release about 700 chemical substances that make up the vaporising aromas.

It takes six years for a coffee tree to produce it’s first coffee cherries.


SOME GOOD BOOKS ABOUT COFFEE.
The World Encyclopedia of Coffee, by Mary Banks (pp.256. Published by Lorenz Books, 2002. ISBN: 0754810933.)

The Coffee House: A Cultural History, by Markman Ellis. (pp.256. Published by Weidenfeld Nicolson, 2004. ISBN: 0297843192.)

The New Complete Coffee Book: A Gourmet Guide to Buying, Brewing and Cooking, by Sara Perry. (pp.120. Published by Chronicle Books, 2003. ISBN: 0811840212.)

Pour Your Heart into it: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time, by Howard Schulz and Dori Jones Lang. (pp.368. Published by Hyperion, 1998. ISBN: 0786883561.)