Tag: coffee

Here is the story behind the Leidse Koffie!

Robin

In the Dutch city of Leiden, coffee comes in an alternative way: it begins with a base of black brew and then it gets a dash of cinnamon liqueur, usually topped off with a nice dollop of whipped cream. Now quite popular in the city, the spiced drink was born from a happenstance discovery and a very creative restaurant owner. Leidse koffie originated in Restaurant de Gaanderij in the early 1980s. Before Peter van de Hoorn bought it in 1982, the monumental building from 1558 was home to the distillery…

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Jacu Bird Coffee: from bird poop to a one of the world’s rarest and most expensive coffee varieties

Danilo G.

Jacu Bird Coffee is one of the world’s rarest (and most expensive) coffee varieties. It is made from coffee cherries ingested, digested and excreted by Jacu birds. At around 50 hectares, the Camocim Estate is one of the smallest coffee plantations in Brazil, but it still manages to rake it quite a nice profit thanks to a very unique type of coffee. It all started in the early 2000s, when Henrique Sloper de Araújo found that his precious plantations had been overrun by Jacu birds, an endangered, pheasant-like bird species,…

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Italy’s Moka Coffee Pot: why the iconic item has become an endangered species

Anya016

Bialetti, the Italian maker of the historic moka pot, a stovetop coffee machine and one of the most iconic kitchen appliances ever created, announced recently that the company is in major trouble, with tens of millions of Euros in debt, unpaid salaries and taxes. In a press release, the company even said there are “doubts over its continuity”.The moka pot is an iconic symbol of Italy and you can see it in several museums, including Museum of Modern Art, but also in the Guinness Book of World Records as the…

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Vercelli: what remains of the Luigi Rossa company (and of chicory coffee).

Anya016

This establishment, founded in 1858 by Luigi Rossa, represented a reference point for the economy of its ward and especially for the success of this factory the bridge was built on the Cervetto waterway, in order to make the connections quicker with the city. This was the first Italian factory to produce chicory coffee. Until the 20s of the twentieth century, many ties united the inhabitants of the area to the chicory coffee factory, and the development of the village, in part, is also due to the establishment: it seems…

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KAFFEOST, an extravagant Scandinavian combination of cheese and coffee~

Leo S

Did you know? In northern Scandinavia, cups of coffee get enhanced with cheese! Hot coffee is something you’ll find a lot of in Sweden. The country has one of the highest rates of coffee consumption in the world, and the practice of fika – enjoying cozy coffee breaks, usually with a pastry – is a beloved ritual of everyday life. But kaffeost is unlike any other coffee break. The dried cheese, called juustoleipä (sometimes leipäjuusto or just juusto), absorbs the steaming brew, softening without melting, like a tasty cheese sponge.…

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Did you know, that in Istanbul drinking Coffee in public was punishable by death penalty?

Ivan

…It’s true! Throughout Europe and the Middle East years ago tried to ban the black drink. In 1633, the ottoman sultan Murad IV absolutely forbade an activity he believed was the cause of social decay and disunity of Istanbul, his capital. The risk and the bad habits of this activity were so terrible that he declared transgressors should be immediately punished with the death, and according to some documents, Murad IV controlled the streets of Istanbul undercover, using a 100-pound broadsword to decapitate all people that he found in this…

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