Ode to the Bean
Sur·rey ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sûr, sr)n. pl. sur·reys
A four-wheeled horse-drawn pleasure carriage having two or four seats.
Often, when I begin to tell a story, one of my family will say something like, “she’s hitched up the Surrey and we’re going for a ride!” Truth is, they enjoy it or they wouldn’t listen, but they get a kick out of teasing me, too! So, in order to provide fair warning to ya’ll, I’ve added “Surrey Rides” to the catagories of this site. If you see an entry identified as a “Surrey Ride” and you’re not interested in the scenic route, proceed to the exit, located here!
I’m addicted, I confess! Since about age 2 I have had a love affair with the bean………the coffee bean. I’m a fan of all things made from coffee. I like it hot, black, expressed, perked, dripped, pressed, frothed, iced and ice creamed. I have my moods when one form or another appeals to me more than others but I love it just the same.
I’ve been told that it’s the caffeine jolt I crave but I proved that false when I switched to decaf for a while. I still craved the flavor, richness, and smell. I have since boycotted decaf as, despite those that tried to dissuade me, I CAN taste the difference. No one would dare tell a wine expert that h/she couldn’t taste the subtle differences between one year of a particular wine versus another, so why is it so impossible for people to believe that you can’t tell the difference between differently processed beans????
Coffee is one of my comfort foods. It warms and comforts me on hot summer days as easily as it does on cold winter mornings. The difference between summer and winter for me is that I drink less coffee when it’s hot than when it’s cold but I still want my cup or two in the morning even in summer. I love sitting around the table with my family and friends, over my morning cup ‘a joe, enjoying their antics. (You may have read about a few of them here.)
I refuse to drink bad coffee, too. As much as I love it, if I go somewhere and order coffee and it tastes like some kind of black sludge, I just send it back and have hot tea instead. I like teas a lot, too. Black, green, red, white…….they all have their unique distinctions and flavors. Beans are the same way. I like Arabica, Sumatra, Kona and, of course, Jamaican Blue Mountain.
As Paul Harvey would say, “now here’s the rest of the story……….”
Coffee originated in the Middle East, most believe somewhere in Ethiopia. As coffee became popular throughout the Middle East, coffee houses were established, long before anyone had ever heard of Starbucks. The proliferation of coffee houses caused intrepid adventurers and tourists to fall in love with the brew as well. Of course, they wanted to transport coffee back to Europe. As soon as it was available to Europeans, it became fashionable among European nobility to drink this wonderful brew. (Except for the British, who to this day, still love their tea.)
As those who had coffee crops in the Middle East wanted to maintain control over the production of coffee, they roasted the beans prior to shipment so they couldn’t be used to produce new plants. This process only served to increase the rich flavor and its popularity. Louis XIV was given a prized coffee plant and he raised it in a greenhouse as it was discovered the weather of Europe was too cold for coffee plants to grow.
Later, a French ship captain stole several coffee plants to transport to the Carribean islands. His ship faced fierce storms, nearly sunk, and was then was be-calmed. The water shortage on board became so bad that all the coffee plants died save one that he kept alive by sharing his own water ration with it. That plant was the first to be planted and provided the source of beans for coffee crops across the islands.
Now you know more about the bean than you may have cared to……………oh, well, I just hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride! 
Me, I’m gonna sit back and enjoy my morning mocha java.
