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Cup of Coffee

We all know coffee, the roasted beans of the coffee plant? Coffee or Coffea. The word "coffee" may have been derived from the Ethiopian "keffa" or the Turkish equivalent found in their word for coffea the word "qahveh." The Arabs still call the beverage "qahwa," meaning "strength."

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Coffee beans were chewed raw for centuries in Ethiopia and Yemen. An excavation in the Ethiopian highlands where coffee grows wild indicates human gatherers have been eating coffee berries over a hundred thousand years. The fleshy pulp surrounding the coffee bean in Ethiopian coffee has higher sugar content. Being sweet, being nutritious the seeds, nuts and berries must have been generally eaten by humans some speculate for over a million years.

Ugandans were noticed chewing dried coffee beans when the first explorers from Europe were searching for the origins of the Nile River. Green coffee beans were ground up and mixed with fat to macerate, then made into small balls, which were eaten by travelers on long journeys. Some say this is the first trail mix whereas the raisins.

Stories in the Southern Arabian Peninsula known as Yemen where Europeans first found the coffee plant cultivated seem to support the coffee bean being traded as early as 800 BC. Facts and many stories support trade between Yemen and Ethiopia during this time. Knowing how eating the coffee berry reacts on people, it would be logical that those early traders would attempt to trade for this item. Additionally, evidence does not support the coffee plant growing wild in Yemen but already under cultivation instead. Although, it is possible that a large bird or storm could have carried and deposited the coffee berry that far away, although not likely.

No specific historic event is remembered causing coffee export to Southern Arabia but Ethiopia did invaded Southern Arabia in 525 AD. Some speculated that coffee could have been introduced to the Arabians at this time. Many historians say coffee may have been introduced into Arabia by slave traders who raided Africa in early1000 BC. Snippets which strongly supporting theories that coffee spread very early in the civilized world trade are coffee's affect on the Arabian people's culture, agriculture, Trade practices and old Arabic stories.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Brioche Coffee Cakes Recipe

Ingredients:

* 1 cup scalded very fresh milk
* 4 egg yolks
* 3 whole eggs
* 2/3 cup (salted or un-salted)butter
* ½ cup quality sugar
* 2 yeast cakes or packages
* ½ teaspoon extract lemon and/or
* 2 crushed cardamon seeds
* 4 2/3 cups flour

Instructions:

To prepare this Brioche Coffee Cake Recipe, first cool the scalded milk; when lukewarm, add yeast, and when they are dissolved add remaining ingredients, and beat thoroughly with hand ten minutes; let rise six hours.

Keep in ice-box over night; in morning turn on floured board, roll in long rectangular piece one-fourth inch thick; spread with softened butter, fold from sides toward centre to make three layers. Cut off pieces three-fourths inch wide; cover and let rise.

Take each piece separately in hands and twist in opposite directions, coiling ends together at top of cake.

Let rise in pans and bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven; cool and brush top with confectioners' sugar, moistened with boiling water to glaze, and flavored with vanilla.

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