COFFEE NIGHT

  Last week we had our initial Coffee night for Ladies. We were joined with new friends and friendly faces. As mentioned we wanted to have a different theme for every coffee night and last weeks theme was "Where coffee came about?". Melanie presented a short presentation while I, Meltem, demonstrated how a Turkish coffee is made. We all sat around and enjoyed delicious Turkish tea, snacks and of course coffee. I really had so much fun and I only hope the ladies had as much fun. Below I have left some info that we learned about coffee.

  The most popular story of the discovery of coffee centers around a young goat herder named Kaldi in the Ethiopian province of Kaffa around the late 6th century. Legend has it that he noticed a strange restlessness in his flock after they had eaten the berries and leaves of an unknown plant.Monks from a nearby monastery heard of this phenomenon, and after various trials discovered that by roasting, grinding and infusing in water the seeds of this plant, a unique beverage could be obtained. This beverage helped to keep them awake during long hours of prayer. Word of this special drink quickly spread and it was soon drunk in coffee houses in the far away holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Propagation of the coffee bean began in Yemen and was well established by the 15th century.To protect this valuable export, Arabian leaders banned the export of fertile beans. Eventually, a pilgrim named Baba Budan smuggled some viable seed berries out of the country, then returned to his home in India sometime during the 17th Century. The first coffee plant to be taken to Europe was stolen by Dutch traders in 1616 via the port of Mocha in Yemen. The Dutch then set up plantations throughout their colonies of Ceylon, Java, Timor, Sumatra, Celebes and Bali. In time coffee was also produced in the West Indies, Latin America, Jamaica, India and Brazil, which today produces over 60% of the world’s coffee production.The first coffeehouses began in Mecca and soon spread throughout the Arab world. The idea of coffeehouses, where anyone could go to discuss culture and conduct business for the price of a coffee, flourished in Venice, Paris, London and North America in the 1600’s. This culture is still alive and well today with billions of cups of coffee being enjoyed worldwide every day.  ( From http://www.coffeecompany.com.au/coffee-101/ )

To make Turkish coffee:
1. Pour in cold water in the coffee pot. You should use one cup of cold water for each cup you are making and then add an extra half cup “for the pot”. Add a teaspoonful of the ground Turkish coffee per cup in the water while the water is cold and stir. The amount of coffee may be varied to taste, but do not forget, there will be a thick layer of coffee grounds left at the bottom of your cup for properly made Turkish coffee. Don’t fill the pot too much. If you need to add sugar this is the time to do it.2. Heat the pot as slowly as you can. The slower the heat the better it is. Make sure you watch it to prevent overflowing when the coffee boils.3. When the water boils pour some (not all) of the coffee equally between the cups, filling each cup about a quarter to a third of the way. This will make sure that everybody gets a fair share of the foam forming on top of the pot, without which coffee loses much of its taste. Continue heating until coffee boils again (which will be very short now that it has already boiled). Then distribute the rest of the coffee between the cups.Since there is no filtering of coffee at any time during this process, you should wait for a few minutes before drinking your delicious Turkish coffee while the coffee grounds settle at the bottom of the cup