Sunday, July 18, 2004


interesting partnership

two of north america's most renowned artisan roasters and cafe owners are teaming up into an intriguing new partnership. the piccolos of caffe artigiano -- whose latte art has won awards in barista contests -- and long-time bccy pal doug zell of intelligentsia are beginning an interesting set of ventures together.

and here's a charming article that includes a woman all coffee lovers should remember more often -- german housewife melitta benz. i have a box of melitta filters in my kitchen cabinet right now.

and i suspect most you reading this do too! the company buries her on their website a bit tho'; shame on them!

it seems to me from a brief study of coffee history that women are more involved in its advancement than you might at first expect. for example, many early coffee making devices were patented by french madames, who needed a better way to make larger quantities of coffee to help entertain the customers.

after all, excessive alcohol and that business don't mix! women often -- to this day really -- made most coffee, so i suppose it's not surprising that improvements came to them as they did this task every day.

and then of course, there is erna knutsen, still a coffee colossus. (what's the feminine of that? colossa. . . .?)

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