Daniel's World of Coffee

Harvard Says "Drink Coffee"

Normally I try to post my own work here on this blog. I'm not an aggregator, but sometimes stuff comes along that I have to post.

This info-graphic about the health benefits of coffee comes from the Harvard School of Public Health. Be sure to click the little icons on the left to see other fun facts about coffee.

Why do I post this graphic and not the other stuff that people randomly send me? Well, a certain someone I know just happens to be a graduate of Harvard School of Public Health. Plus, you know... coffee.

More Morsels from Scandinavia

In a previous post, I neglected to mention one of the most charming things I discovered about coffee in Sweden, the tradition of fika. Fika is an afternoon coffee break, often with sweets and baked goods. It's similar to English tea time, but does not have such a formalized background. In fact "fika" can mean a break of any kind, or even a little date. But usually the term refers to a break in the afternoon for refreshment, the chief form of which is coffee.

In fact, the word fika comes from reversing the order of the syllables in kaffi (coffee). According to wikipedia: 'The word is an example of the back slang used in the 19th century, in which syllables of a word were reversed, deriving fika from kaffi, an earlier variant of the Swedish word kaffe ("coffee"). From fika also comes the word fik (a colloquial term for "café") through a process of back-formation.'

A gentleman I met in Stockholm told me that comes from the days when coffee was still considered déclassé, a drink for the rabble. People would refer to coffee time as "fika" to avoid arousing suspicion. A simple code for a simple tradition. Now everyone in Sweden enjoys fika, and kaffi at their fika.

Thanks to my friend Suzanne, who helped remind me of this little morsel during our own Seattle-style fika yesterday afternoon.

The speeches that were given at the Nordic Barista Cup in Oslo, on the other side of the fat part of Scandinavia, are available on their website. I encourage you to listen to all three, by Stephen Vick, George Howell, and Erling Dokk Holm. Scroll down past the Harry Potter pictures to find links to the audio.

I will have something specific to say about George Howell's talk in my next post.

Giuliano Makes Tortillas

Back in July, after teaching some roasting seminars in Guatemala City, I spent a morning in the nearby town of Antigua with some coffee friends. Peter Giuliano, one of the key leaders of the specialty coffee industry in the United States — and indeed the world — was with us, too.

You could write an entire book and still not name all the important work Peter has done in the coffee industry. His company, Counter Culture Coffee, has helped revolutionize the way people grow, buy, roast, and drink coffee. He's also been a key leader at the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

But in addition to being a coffee guru, Peter's also just a fun guy to be around. He's willing to try anything, and his enthusiasm for life and for people is contagious. If you're having a hard time getting motivated on a Monday morning, check out Peter cheerfully learning how to make tortillas in Guatemala... and this was on a Saturday morning after a long week of work and travel. And he never lets dropping a few get him down.

By the way, the tortillas were delicious.