Page 22 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 1_2023

Feature
and before long, coffee-houses had
spring up right in the heart of Mecca,
the holiest city in the Islamic world.
GROWING COFFEE.
Coffee trees take three or four years
too mature. They bear fruit in rows
along their branches soon after the
appearance of delicate white blossom
which has a strong, jasmine fragrance.
The cherry like fruit of the coffee berry,
within which the beans, or seeds are
stored, appear green at first, gradually
darkening to a rich crimson. Arabica
berries ripen in six to eight months.
Robusta berries ripen in six to three
months longer. This allows only one
harvest a year, though Colombia and
Kenya – with erratic wet and dry
COFFEE, A MOST seasons, can have a secondary crop.

Coffee harvest time vary according to
SEDUCTIVE BEAN geography: those coffee-producing
regions north of the Equator generally
harvest their crops late in the year,
GOAL-
while in the southern hemisphere
coffee is harvested in spring.
BALL
“If I can’t take my coffee break, something In the 1930s Francesco Illy developed
within me dies……” a machine that forced compressed
air, rather than steam through coffee
-Frank Loesser: How to succeed in business. grounds. In 1945 ACHILLE GAGGIA
invented the spring-powered, piston-
Ad-
hether as a quick pick- THE STORY OF COFFEE. lever machine. Both allowed the
me-cup in the morning Legend has it that in the depths of greatest amount of flavour to be
ver-
or an indulgent finish to a Abyssinia, today’s Ethiopia, sometime extracted from the grounds so quickly
Wsplendid meal, coffee is still around the middle of the ninth century, that the coffee produced has no time
to-
one of the little luxuries of life. there lived a sober goatherd called to become bitter.
rial Khaldi. One day his normally lethargic
Coffee was always an exotic drink goats pranced home in an agitate state. Coffee is increasingly earning scientist
and so it remains today. Smouldering Curious at their antics, he followed approval. Studies continue to suggest
passions crowd television commercials them and discovered that they had been that the beverage may have some
over cup after cup of rich, dark coffee, nibbling the red berries of an evergreen beneficial effects on health.
sipped wistfully on a dusty desert train tree.
journey, or savoured abroad a yacht on a
romantic tropical night, until a solo cup Khaldi decided to try some himself and ORIENTAL COFFEE
becomes a delightful duet. was soon in a state of euphoria. In his (Serves 4)
Today, the aroma and taste of a cup excitement, he dashed off to broadcast Ingredients:
of coffee are enjoyed the world over, his find and came upon an elderly • 50 ml brown sugar.
though the story of coffee begin in East Moslem mullah, who was depressed by • Pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg
Africa. his tendency to nod off during prayers. and cloves.
Khaldi let him into the secret of the • 25 ml coffee granules
red berries and coffee took its first step dissolve in 500 ml boiling
toward becoming one of mankind’s water.
favourite pick-me-ups. • 1 slice orange and lemon.

Being of a more academic frame of • 50 ml cream.
mind than the goatherd, the mullah
experimented with the berries and Method:
eventually hit on the idea of boiling - Mix the sugar and spices.
them, turning raw fruit of the coffee - Place the dissolved coffee,
tree into a fragrant and delicious orange and lemon slices in a
beverage. small saucepan. Let it stand
over low heat for 5 minutes.
At first coffee was regarded as a wonder - Add the sugar to the mixture
drug and was only consumed in Yemen and stir.
and Arabia on the advice of a doctor. - Divide the cream and coffee
However, coffee was too exciting to be int0 four coffee cups and
restricted to medical use for long. Many serve immediately.
saw it as a brain tonic. Other credited
coffee with stimulating religious visions

20 DPL issue 1 2023
22 DPL issue 10 2022