Knowing coffee has been around for a couple of hundred years already, it will come as no surprise that there are numerous traditions regarding roasting, brewing and serving it around the world. Browsing the world wide web for some information regarding these different customs, I stumbled across a book that was written nearly a century ago: All About Coffee, by William H. Ukers. With this book as a starting point, we'll kick off a short series with an overview of some of these habits, and we will start in the continent which holds the cradle of coffee: Africa. We have already touched upon a few of the African traditions, more specifically the century-old rituals in Ethiopia and the less widespread use I got to know while living in Tanzania, both customs already encountered by W. H. Ukers almost 100 years ago. He continues describing Moorish cafés in Cairo, Tunis and Algiers, where mazagran was served, a sweetened cold coffee syrup to which cold water or ice was added. It is unsure whether this coffee preparation has survived the test of time as the only direct reference to mazagran I found was a Portuguese cold coffee beverage, which also had lemon juice mixed into it. There are of course numerous iced coffee drinks available all around the world, but none of them were referred to as mazagran. W. H. Ukers travelled widely to do research for his book, and some of the sights he encountered still exist today, though in a slightly changed version, like the coffee houses which he describes elaborately. Though people may no longer sit on mats when drinking their coffee, these cafés still serve as meeting places where people linger over their cup(s) of coffee while discussing the more and less important matters of life. A full transcript of the book All About Coffee, by William H. Ukers has been made available as part of the Gutenberg project. This series is based upon Chapter 35, World's Coffee Manners and Customs.
1 Comment
candida
11/9/2013 07:23:00 pm
Portugal has a lot of Moorish influence, in addition, they have also a real coffee culture( Delta) and also many coffee houses. A lot of them drink their coffee outside!
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AuthorI wouldn't be surprised to find out I was born with a passion for coffee. For the life of me, I can't remember not loving coffee. And by that, I don't just mean drinking it, but everything involved from its cultivation over the processing to the final product that is my loyal companion throughout the day. Archives
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