[Sca-cooks] A college class... on Coffee

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Laura C. Minnick:
>Just saw this on CNN:
>
>http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/02/25/coffee.class.ap/index.html
>
>The prof is teach the class not _just_ on coffee, but on the social 
>and cultural brew (!) we've formed around it.
>
>I was particularly interested, largely because of the many 
>conversations we've had on the list- about hot drinks in general, 
>and coffee in particular- seem to center around a 'period 
>substitute' for coffee. I have long believed (and will continue to 
>rant, whether anyone hears me or not ;-) that looking for and/or 
>using a coffee substitute in an SCA setting is missing the point- 
>because there is really no similar _cultural tradition_ for the 
>consumption of hot drinks in period, as we have now. Coffee drinking 
>in our culture is not simply a way to slake thirst- it is an act of 
>public participation, a social act.

I never really thought of it as exclusively an act of public 
participation, and if it is that, it may be a comparatively recent 
change to coffee's role. Not everyone lives on the set of "Friends". 
Of course, 'Lainie is in Starbucks country, I believe (boo, hiss!) ;-)

I think there may be a cultural tradition for hot drinks in period, 
but not associated with a caffeine rush, so...

>  Closest I've found to similar social act in period revolved around 
>the ale house. And well, there are other issues there...

Bingo. On the other hand, one might consider the emotional attachment 
period people seem to have had with things like caudles and possets. 
They could be served to sick people, were drunk from cups held in two 
hands in front of a roaring fire, and often took the place of a meal. 
They could be drunk by people alone or at a party (OK, post period) 
at Samuel Pepys' house. It sounds a little like your communal 
coffee-drinking, with perhaps a comfort-food aspect to replace the 
caffeine, and no issue-clouding alcohol (or not much) in the equation.

Adamantius
-- 




"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la 
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them 
eat cake!"
	-- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques 
Rousseau, "Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
	-- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry 
Holt, 07/29/04