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Coffee And Tea Time
Martin Otts Another New Year’s Day, another year passed, and various potential resolutions to ponder that most likely will never be kept. While dreamily and half seriously conjuring up New Year’s resolutions guaranteed to be soon forgotten, why not imbibe some of the world’s best-favored beverages? January is both “Coffee Gourmet International Month” and “National Hot Tea Month”. Since January is often a cold, blustery month, tea and coffee are especially appropriate beverages Instead of drinking the same old tea and coffee available anywhere, why not try some different varieties to add a little bit of spice to this month? You could make this your New Year’s resolution since it would be an easy one to keep. Garam Masala, Chai, Green, herbal mixtures, and various Chinese and Indian teas make for a delightful drink. Many different spice mixtures can be added to these teas for additional flavor possibilities. Coffee too offers a multitude of flavors such as Kalossi, Tanzanian Peaberry, Yirgacheffe, Panamanian Boguete, Costa Rican, and many other flavors, blends and varieties. For the non-purist coffee drinker, there are plenty of additives to further alter the flavor, although that is hardly necessary with a good coffee blend. Why contaminate good coffee with additives! Likewise, there is no need to drink the same coffee or tea every time since that closely resembles eating the same meal everyday. To better understand these two beverages that play a prominent role in our culinary history, read some books on them. Coffee and tea have a long, storied, colorful, cultural history and their tale goes nicely with a cup or ten. In the West, coffee and tea were mostly items in the province of society’s upper crust until the 18th century when they became more commoditized and more freely available. Then they underwent a rapid popularity explosion that has not diminished to this day. Coffee even replaced beer as America’s favorite breakfast drink many years ago. Tea originated in China over 5,000 years ago. According to Chinese legend, an early Chinese emperor, Shen Nung, regularly boiled his water for hygienic reasons. One day, while on a trip abroad, his servants were boiling water when some leaves fell into the boiling water. The emperor purportedly tasted the ensuing brew, liked it, and the practice of drinking tea began and spread. In Europe, tea was introduced sometime in the late 15th or early 16th century. By 1700, tea was affordable by the standards of the average European citizen. It was not until 1690 that tea became available in America and by 1720 it had become a common trade item in the colonies. Tea played a major economic role as a trade item in British colonies. To give an idea of tea’s importance and popularity then, an excessive tea tax helped spark the American revolt against Britain. Remember the Boston Tea Party? Coffee as a drink originated in the Arab countries somewhere around 1000 AD when desert dwellers noticed boiling the coffee beans produced a flavorful drink. Coffee beans were later smuggled out of Arabia, contrary to Arab law, to be grown in other countries such as India that had a climate conducive to raising coffee bean plants. From here, the coffee plants spread around the globe. Coffee was introduced to the Western world in 1600 by Italian traders and by the mid-16th century had spread over Europe. Coffee has remained highly popular since and is available worldwide. For more information on coffee and tea, here are some books on these subjects that are available at Hickory Public Library: “The Art Of Coffee” “Coffee: The Epic Of A Commodity” “The Coffee Book” “Liquid Jade: The Story Of Tea From East To West” “Starbucked: A Double Tall Tale Of Caffeine, Commerce, And Culture” “Steeped In Tea: Creative Ideas, Activities, And Recipes” “Tea: Addiction, Exploitation, And Empire” “Tea With Friends”
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