Coffee- was Re: [Sca-cooks] Why no alcohol?

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> As best I recall, interpretations range from "you should not drink
> any quantity of anything that, in sufficient quantity, would be
> intoxicating," which I think of as their version of the Delany
> amendment, to "no fermented grape juice, and don't get really drunk
> on anything else."

Yeah, I'm pretty much relying on what some Muslim friends of mine have told
me.

One of our sources for documentation for coffee is the debates
> >they held over the intoxicating qualities of coffee/caffeine, round about
> >the pre-teen/14th centuries.
>
> Mid-fifteenth and thereafter, I think, at least according to Hattox.

Thanks, Your Grace. Since Mohammad and Muslims are rather post-period for
me, I'm a little fuzzy on details. I just figure coffee is OOP for me, and
drink it or not, as I feel inclined.

Got a question for you, though- do we know how it was served in period? I
mean, beyond the anecdotal evidence of certain tribes chewing on coffee
beans for extra energy, a la the early meso-Americans/South Americans on
coca leaves.

When was it roasted? How was it served- boiled into a thick syrup? Sugared
perhaps? Other spices added? Was there any specific ceremony, time of day or
relationship to meals involved?

Phlip

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....