Wanna cup-a coffee?

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I have been wanting to try roasting my own at camp or trecking. My daughter got me a 1/2 a dozen pounds of green beans for Christmas. So I have been making it in a small camp skillet. Learning as I go but getting good at it.
So today I'm making a batch and just thought to my self why, or how.
You ever hear of the cavemen pointing at a chicken and one saying to the other "see that funny looking bird, I bet you can't eat the next thing that falls out of it's butt."
Green beans don't make a good tea, and are mostly taste less chewed. How did this come along that some one said 'this is mostly tasteless why don't I burn it grind it up and make a tea from it'. I am glad he did.
 
Shortly after man harnessed fire He discovered that cooked food tasted better. He also learned that there was a fine line between cooked and burnt.....and so roasting was born.
 
Yeah that was one of the things that made me snicker in the new Glass movie. Glass gets some fish in a fish trap, leaves his fire but eats the fish raw 10 steps from a fire. Later he leaves horse meat go figure.
The story goes that an Ethiopian sheapered noticed his sheep would stay awake all night after eating this bitter cherry. Went and got some and made a tea. When trying unknown plant foods a basic rule is bitter spit it out. Not bitter, hold a little bit in your mouth and wait to see if it makes you feel funny at all. Then progress to small bites wait big bites then meal.
There are a lot of foods I wonder about. Like how did the Japanese learn how to eat blow fish or jellyfish? Most wild mushrooms will kill you or make you pretty sick but we managed to find the etable ones.
True tea and most other stuff to make tea from like cherry bark or sassafras taste good to start with. Poi has to be fermented, who figured that one out? Coffee? Lot of steps tween bitter cherry and the nector of the Gods.
 
The beans are from sweet Maria's out of Oakland ca. They are online. I want to find an old style roaster, so far have been doing it in my camp skillet. Found that works best with about two tablespoons at a time takes about 10 min.
 
The story I've heard goes like this...

It was goatherd in what is now Ethiopia, named Khaldi, who one day noticed his goats eating the coffee fruits and they were very energetic so he tried some too.

(Now I don't know too many animal tenders who would see bizarre behavior by their livestock as an indication they should eat that stuff too. :shocked2: )

I have heard it slightly differnt, and I think it more likely..., that Khaldi was without food and hungry. Then he noticed that his goats were eating the fruit off a bush, and he ate some too. He also noticed that the goats were very restless at night when they ate the berries. When he tried some, and found they did give him some energy, and he was probably a day or two from his last meal so this "berry" became important to him and other folks with whom he shared his discovery.

Now..., what is The Middle East today, was an area that saw what we would call the rise of "science" though it wouldn't pass for science today. Apparently Khaldi's discovery became known to many of the goatherds.., tired and hungry and without food? eat some of these berries. ...but that's a looong way from out present morning beverage eh?

Lost to time, but perhaps once viable scenario.... somehow the use of this berry found its way to some sort of alchemist..., who obtained some of the fruit. It was from that, which lead to the bean inside the fruit becoming known as the source of the "energy", and later it was found that a decoction from the ground beans worked better than eating the beans, and roasting the beans before grinding was better. (Decoction, infusion, and tinctures were often used by herbalists of that time.)

At first Muslims rejected the beverage for they thought it an "intoxicant" like alcohol, but it was discovered that it did the opposite and allowed the drinker to pray much longer before sleep was needed, thus it was approved. Interestingly when coffee first came to Europe, it too was thought at first to be bad, especially for women, but later the prohibition on it wore off.

The idea that it was found and used by a goatherd and then was looked into by what we would call an "alchemist" is plausible. We know that from records that coffee apparently was found after the rise of Islam, which was 600 years or so after the birth of Christ...but several centuries before The Crusaders would start bringing back products of Eastern "science"...including distilled spirits. (Myrrh is mentioned as far back as the bible, and myrrh is used to make a balm or salve for the treatment of open wounds...so the idea that there were men who were always looking for a new medicine or potion isn't far fetched.)

Mostly legend and a LOT of supposition, but legends often have a grain of truth.

LD
 
That concept is believable. I always thought alchemist have got some bad press. After all they used 'scientific method' to the limit of thier knowledge. Even today we still quest for the magic elixir of life and wealth from the base.
I had understood coffee entered Christian Europe through Muslim Spain and Sicily. Even during the crusades Spain was more tolerant of non Muslims in Spain, trade moved back and forth. The world was changing fast back then. Ideas brought back by crusaders, the rise of universities in Italy and France, the viger of newly civilized Norsemen, books saved in Irish monistaries, free trader companies ... Oh my.
 
I roast my green coffee beans in my cast iron skillet. About a half cup of beans. Just stir them like popcorn over the fire. They will snap and crackle while you are roasting them. When they start looking brown and get an oily appearance, put them in another pan to stop the roasting. You can then use a coffee grinder or I just used the poll on my hawk to bust them up. Have your water boiling while you do all this. Bring the beans and water to a boil let her simmer for a few minutes, pour a cup of cold water on top to settle the grounds and enjoy ! Can't get any fresher coffee. Be careful or you just might get elected to make camp coffee every time.
 
I have found a little richer flavor if the roasted beans are a couple of days old. In the old days I would expect they went from skillet to pot that same morning...and it is good that way.
 

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