COFFEE SMARTER: THE ORIGINS OF COFFEE
Recording the first Coffee Smarter of the Roast! West Coast podcast Season 2 was a treat. Chris O’Brien and I fell right back into our old ways. Me making self-deprecating statements I clearly didn’t believe, and Chris teasing me instead of letting me get away with it. Of course, then he’d immediately apologize and say something nice. He just can’t help himself.
Somehow the two of us made it through ten episodes of Coffee Smarter in season one in which I never thought to ask him who discovered coffee, nor where does it come from. This is a story I’ve heard Chris tell a dozen times, but it was a blast hearing the story of the goat-herder, Kaldi, who changed the world one more time.
During the show Chris mentioned a new SoCal roaster, Nostalgia Coffee Roasters, he has been featuring in his shop Coffee Cycle. He was pretty nonchalant about it, but for him to take on a new roaster is a pretty big deal. Coffee-Cycle is a small shop, and there are only so many roasters who make the cut. Not only do the coffee’s need to be excellent, but they need to be consistently excellent.
The latter is much harder to achieve for any roaster, and I’ve seen well-regarded (and fairly coffee famous) roasters get cut for failing to meet that standard. I’m looking forward to getting down to Coffee Cycle to give Nostalgia a try.
A COFFEE POEM
It’s National Poetry Month. There was a brief time where I fancied myself a poet. Most of my work was found on napkins, but truthfully I just didn’t have the courage to truly commit to it.. Thankfully, Linda Pastan did.
Mrs. Pastan is an American poet from Maryland. She’s 88 now, but I don’t think you ever stop being a poet. She’s published 15 books, including two that were nominated for the National Book Award. She’s won a bunch of awards, including the Dylan Thomas Prize and Pushcart Prize honoring some of the best works of poetry.
While looking for some coffee inspired verse to honor poetry month, I found her poem The Happiest Day. It concluded in a way that reflected what coffee has meant to me over the past year. It has been a distraction, a meditation and a relief. Coffee has created a rhythm to the morning that has helped ease the anxiety of living through a pandemic. Here is an excerpt from that poem:
…I didn't even guess that I was happy.
The small irritations that are like salt
on melon were what I dwelt on,
though in truth they simply
made the fruit taste sweeter.
So we sat on the porch
in the cool morning, sipping
hot coffee. Behind the news of the day—
strikes and small wars, a fire somewhere—
I could see the top of your dark head
and thought not of public conflagrations
but of how it would feel on my bare shoulder.
If someone could stop the camera then…
if someone could only stop the camera
and ask me: are you happy?
perhaps I would have noticed
how the morning shone in the reflected
color of lilac.
Yes, I might have said
and offered a steaming cup of coffee.
Find the full text of her poem, “The Happiest Day” here.
INDUSTRY LEGACY PARTNERS UPDATE
Our Industry Partner Leap Coffee is now selling cold brew growlers! Place your orders over the phone at 760.448.6167 for pick up at their new roasting location in Escondido. The 32oz growlers are also available for delivery through Grubhub. Save the growler for discounted refills.
The Roast! podcast is supported by some local coffee industry (or industry adjacent) partners. These companies not only support Roast! efforts to share more coffee content they are the foundation I lean on when I need some coffee expertise.
Zumbar Coffee & Tea • First Light Coffee Whiskey • Leap Coffee • Steady State Roasting • CAFÉ LaTERRE • Mostra Coffee • Cape Horn Coffee Importers • Marea Coffee • Coffee Cycle
IN CLOSING
Need to get caught up? Don’t forget to listen to the first episode of Season Two, an interview with Kayak Coffee Delivery’s Brendan Abrams. And you can find all of the episodes from Season 1 here.
Listen to the show on these platforms!
APPLE PODCASTS • SPOTIFY • ANCHOR.FM • GOOGLE PODCASTS • AMAZON MUSIC • THE COAST NEWS
TUNEIN RADIO • I HEART RADIO • POCKETCASTS • BREAKER • RADIO PUBLIC • OVERCAST • YOUTUBE • STITCHER
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Kaldi, The Goat Herder