Friday, June 20, 2003


river cafe blend; gm robusta

a lot of people are talking about the big scientific breakthrough: scientists have created a genetically modified robusta coffee with 70% less caffeine. well that's great. but who wants to drink robusta?

just as vietnam et.al. are getting out of the robusta market to grow better quality coffee, here come the agri-chemists ready to shove more nasty-tasting burnt-rubber robusta down our throats. coffee lovers, i call on you to rebel! resist this scam.

the dirty little secret is that high-quality specialty arabica generally has half the caffeine of robusta in its natural state! so the chemists are going to give us poor quality frankencoffee with only a modest reduction in caffeine from what delicious arabica has without alteration.

lemme tell ya what: if you are worried about caffeine, just get yourself some nice swiss water process decaf coffee from your local independent coffeehouse/roaster.

the process improves almost every year, leaving more flavor in the bean. i'm serious. process-owner frank dennis is an amazing perfectionist. also, he's one heck of a nice guy. trust me -- he really strives to make his product better and better. . .

in other news, i had the great, great opportunity to have breakfast with don shoenholdt of gillies and long-time bccy reader and new york times editor deborah baldwin. don took us down to the river cafe (which is open for breakfast apparently only when don wants it to be!) where deborah and i got to listen to him talk about coffee and its history in new york in the passionate, erudite, and romantic tone that remains don's hallmark.

the river cafe has its own blend, created by the owner and supplied by don. it's a lovely coffee. don and deborah took it black, but i indulged by adding 2 teaspoons of light cream to each cup.

what a treat on a lightly foggy morning -- to sit in an elegant room on the waterside surrounded by fragrant fresh flowers and enjoy cup after cup of delightful coffee with moist blueberry muffins. . .the light glowed within the oyster-colored fog, highlighting the architectural details of the buildings across the water, while lending a nostalgic air to the span of the brooklyn bridge arcing overhead.

three coffee lovers in a quiet, dark setting over coffee together. coffee is the most social and intellectual beverage -- it brings like-minded, intense people truly present together for moments that last a lifetime in memory. again, this is why i love specialty coffee, and coffee people. indelible moments like this in life are rare, precious, nearly ineffable. . .

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