Thursday, June 26, 2003


regional coffee culture part v

people often ask me to describe what bccy is about.

this puzzles me, because to my mind, bccy is obviously about relationships: about how we develop them with others and ourselves through baking at home, making coffee for our families at home, sharing chocolate, and doing yoga.

yoga of course underlies the relationship gig: it helps us cultivate ourselves and learn better how to carry our love to others.

thus i talk about making coffee in my home, how you can make better coffee as an affordable luxury for your family and yourself in your home, how to delight yourself with better chocolate, all that.

but these things connect us to the outside world as well. thus i often discuss the coffee crisis and coffeekids. and regional coffee cultures as well.

we know what coffee means to us but what does it mean to other people, to their daily lives? we love coffee in a certain way; how do they love coffee, the most social and intellectual beverage?

and of course from that we discover that coffee loving is a beautiful thing that connects us with others in a number of profound ways.

but these ways can also be humorous, as in this article on canadian coffee culture that contrasts the yuppie taste for starbucks with the more-homegrown preference for the local canadian chain tim hortons.

i liked this article, because my experience of canadian coffee culture is only with places in vancouver, like caffe artigiano, and with people like mark prince. i had no real idea of the divide between espresso vs. drip culture in canada. it all seemed like excellence in deruta to me.

or this encouraging article that explains how the british are slowly beginning to move from their centuries-old preference for tea. could you imagine british life without tea? a new british life with a coffee culture?

it's true -- the financial times quotes a new report: "the british, once regarded as a nation of tea drinkers, are having a passionate affair with coffee."

once regarded as a nation of tea drinkers! as if it's a fait accompli! the british coffee shop market is expected grow at a compound annual rate of 5.1% thru 2005.

but speaking of chocolate, i have to say i've now had the chance to really enjoy the bruco from fabio lenci. it's a marvelous chocolate, although i found a little teeny grit in the chewing, as if i could crunch the sugar just a tad. . .

but the flavors! the coffee is heavenly; i particularly enjoyed with vanilla-rum with coffee after lunch. definitely recommended.


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