Coffee

coffee is an essential part of my day.  i started drinking coffee when i was an official grown-up, 18.  i cant say that i have ever really enjoyed the taste of coffee, but it is part of my routine and i am defnitely a routine girl. i put so much crap in my coffee it is light brown in color, sweet and creamy.  i started with just a cup, then i had my daughter and it turned into 2 cups, now i drink coffee all morning long and sometimes in the afternoon, but that is a rare occurence.  i love the ritual of drinking coffee.  i drink my first cup in bed while i am checking in with my email and facebook.  i rarely hold my mug with the just the handle, i prefer to palm my mug, it is much easier to feel the heat eminating from the mug.  i never use a travel mug, one because i don't own any and two well you can't feel the warmth as well.  coffee should never be cold.  i know there are a lot of iced coffee fans, but yuck it ruins my love for the warmth.  coffee is like a blanket for my insides, it warms me from the inside.  i suppose you get the same effect from whiskey but that is a little much for me.

as i was sipping my fourth cup of joe this morning i wondered about the history of coffee.  here is what i found:

History of Coffee from Wikipedia
The history of coffee goes at least as far back as the 13th century, though coffee's origin remains unclear.  It has been believed that Ethiopian ancestors of today's Oromo people were the first to discover and recognize the energizing effect of the coffee bean plant.  However, no direct evidence has been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the natives might have used it, or even known about it, earlier than the 17th century.  The story of Kaldi, the 9th century Ethiopian goatherd who discovered coffee, did not appear in writing until 1671 AD and is probably apocryphal.  From Ethiopia, coffee was said to have spread to Egypt and Yemen. The earliest credible evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen.  It was in Arabia that coffee beans were first roasted and brewed, similar to modern preparation.  By the 16th century,  it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey and northern Africa.  Coffee then spread to Italy, and to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia and to the Americas.

fascinating information.  while i was reading this i ran across the word apocryphal.  i have never seen this word, but i am a word girl, naturally i looked it up.  so here you go the word of the day apocryphal: not true: probably not true, but widely believed to be true (Encarta World English Dictionary)

 well that is about all i have to say about coffee. oh one more thing, i order a grande skinny vanilla latte at starbucks.

cheers