The Coffee Chronicles

My Cup
I don’t drink coffee ever since, not as a morning habit or as a traditional Pinoy afternoon or evening pastime. The addicting pleasure of coffee, together with cigarettes, has never charmed my penchant for a modest lifestyle. Its many variety and form: blended, brewed, chilled, lathed, etc, has not been an object of my affection, such that if all the coffee plants in the world would perish to natural or man-made catastrophe, I am probably the least likely to get perturbed and deficient.

No thanks, just a bottle of water..

Coffee Ko

Coffee is a widely-consumed stimulant beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the coffee plant. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. The seeds are then roasted, undergoing several physical and chemical changes. They are roasted to varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. They are then ground and brewed to create coffee. Coffee is an important export commodity, it was the world's seventh largest legal agricultural export by value.

The coffee plant

The First Brew
The history of coffee is as rich as the brew itself , dating back more than a thousand years. The first coffee plants are said to have come from the Horn of Africa on the shores of the Red Sea. Originally, coffee beans were taken as a food and not as a beverage. East African tribes would grind the coffee cherries together, mixing the results into a paste with animal fat. Rolled into little balls, the mixture was said to give warriors much-needed energy for battle.

Later, around the year 1000 AD, Ethiopians concocted a type of wine from coffee berries, fermenting the dried beans in water. Coffee also grew naturally on the Arabian Peninsula, and it was there, during the 11th century that coffee was first developed into a hot drink.

The so-called stimulating properties of coffee were thought by many during these ancient times to give a sort of religious ecstasy, and the drink earned a very mystical sort of reputation, shrouded in secrecy and associated with priests and doctors. So, it is not surprising that two prominent legends emerged to explain the discovery of this magic bean.

The word "coffee" entered English in 1598 via Italian caffè. This word was created via Turkish kahve, which in turn came into being via Arabic qahwa. Traditional Islam prohibits the use of alcohol as a beverage, and coffee provided a suitable alternative to wine.

Arab women making coffee the old fashioned way

Coffee Combats
Want a drug that could lower your risk of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and colon cancer? That could lift your mood and treat headaches? That could lower your risk of cavities? If it sounds too good to be true, think again, it’s coffee, the much maligned but undoubtedly beloved beverage, just made headlines for possibly cutting the risk of the latest disease epidemic, type 2 diabetes. And the real news seems to be that the more you drink, the better.

Coffee? The new health drink?

The Most Expensive Coffee
The Philippines is a coffee country, not only as a fanatic consumer but also a struggling producer of coffee beans. But did you know that the Philippines has recently discovered it produces one of the world's most expensive and coveted kinds of coffee. Yes that’s true and it comes from a very unusual source - the droppings of a nocturnal, cat-like animal called the palm civet. Known locally as alamid, civets are carnivorous but they also have a taste for the sweet, red coffee cherries that contain the beans. The beans pass through the civet whole after fermenting in the stomach and that's what gives the coffee its unique taste and aroma.

This cat’s droppings make for the world’s most expensive coffee variety. Dare?

Rise of the Cafes
Before, the enjoyment of coffee is limited to the confines of our homes, except of course in other countries where coffee is a way of life and coffee-ing outside in a café or an outdoor resto is a status symbol. Take the streets of Paris or Los Angeles for example. In this cities, sites like these are a familiar landscapes.

The expensive streets of Paris are lined up with sunny coffee shops

Inside a Los Angeles coffee shop

Then came the advent of a more upbeat coffee stores. Sprouting like mushrooms, the popularity of these businesses has flourished and the traditional perception about coffee has taken a much desired level compared to soft drinks or alcoholic beverages. I suppose, everyone of us had gone at least one time to Starbucks, Seattle’s Best or Gloria Jeans or to any other cafes where coffee is served brewed, chilled, flavored or concocted into something which when you see and taste, you’d probably say it’s not coffee anymore.

The big two..

Hmmm, pretending! As if naman umorder, if I know extra cup and extra milk lang yan.

Let’s Sit and Talk Awhile
Why coffee? Can we not talk over a bottle of wine or say a can of beer? Well, that’s not a bad idea after all, but taking into consideration the people who needs to talk and the place where they will be talking, sometimes a bottle of beer or some other stuff isn’t advisable or permissible. A mother and daughter conversation about leaving her boyfriend behind shouldn’t do well if they’ll do that over a bottle of wine. How would they understand each other If they’re already drunk? A couple who’s going through a some sort of grave misunderstanding would probably get worst if they confront each other in high spirits. Coffee has a calming effect, it lets you loose and relaxed so that whatever you and someone else need to settle and explain to each other, it is always advisable to do it over a cup of coffee.

Tuloy ang kwento..

Coffee in the Office
In the Philippines where I have worked for the longest time, coffee comes in handy, that is, in three-in-one sachet complete with creamer and sugar. Pour it into a cup of hot water and enjoy sipping to take the drowse away.

When I was with San Miguel, coffee goes by the name of SanMig Coffee, but of course,
it’s our product, with no less than Piolo Pascual & Angel Locsin as endorsers.

When I went to Dubai for the first time to work with a big company, coffee was served as per your preference. There’s a tea/coffee boy who prepared the cups according to your taste and delivered right to your table, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, whether your there and on leave for some reasons. In my second company, the old coffee maker was replaced by a huge red machine that is capable of filling your cups with different hot beverages and coffee blends, there’s black, pot and espresso. There’s cappuccino, café de lait, coffee with milk and café choco. But the blockbuster of them all, of course, is the creamy hot chocolate where I myself go crazy about.

Our new coffee machine, it’s red and is currently the apple of our tastebuds.
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Tales of the New Coffee Machine
When the new machine came in, every one was excited and thrilled. It takes only a cup and a light press on the button of what you want to take, no spill, no under or over taste, no mess, in no time. But only a few weeks later, the sophistication of the machine is challenged by some living issues, there’s the consumption issue, hot chocolate always get emptied first and it is more expensive than coffee. So it’s really getting less cost efficient than they’d thought it be. There’s also the issue of who to clean the machine and when and even who would replace the coffee and chocolate powders inside once it get emptied, the office messenger is on vacation by the way. Just this morning, I have heard them planning to shut down the machine and use the old coffee maker or manually prepare your coffee yourself. Oh well, I am just looking, as I have said before, coffee is something I can happily live without.

When machine loses their screws, they caused too much trouble.