Coffee Canon

Part investigative storytelling, part historical commentary, Coffee Canon contextualizes coffee’s long journey from obscure plant to modern necessity. Listen on iTunes or your favorite podcast client. Get previews to upcoming episodes and extra content by joining our email list here.

Episode Four: Holiday Drinks

Today on the podcast we’re bending the rules a bit and not focusing entirely on coffee. Instead, in the spirit of Christmas, we’re broadening our scope and looking at Holiday drinks as a whole, and the traditions they come with.

We’re focusing on three drinks in particular: the Pharisee, the Tom and Jerry, and Irish Coffee. All three are steeped in Christmas tradition, and the stories surrounding each are as interesting as they are surprising.

If you’re interested in making any of these drinks at home, here are some recipes I recommend:

Need last minute gift ideas? Check out the Coffee Canon 2017 Holiday Gift Guide, available as a free PDF here.

Episode Four Sources:

 

Episode Four Transcript:

Continue reading Episode Four: Holiday Drinks

Episode Three: Fermenting Coffee

For thousands of years humans have used fermentation to preserve food, leaven bread, and brew alcohol. In 19th century Belgium lambic beers were brewed using the yeasts and bacteria naturally found in the air. Fermentation is an integral part of the way we process coffee as well, but because of function – not taste. What can history teach us about fermentation, and how can we use that to create even better tasting coffee?

This week’s episode relied heavily on the article, “Looking beyond Origin for flavor diversity” by Lucia Solis. Read the article here. Also, here’s a link to the BuzzFeed video referenced at the beginning of the show. Links to the rest of the sources for this episode are below. Also, don’t forget to sign up for the Coffee Canon email list. A special gift is going out this week to those on the list! You can sign up here.

Colin

Episode Three Sources:

 

Episode Three Transcript:

Continue reading Episode Three: Fermenting Coffee

Episode Two: Italian Coffee

Episode Two of Coffee Canon focuses on Italian coffee. We often associate Italy with espresso, but the truth is that true espresso didn’t exist until about 1950. Developing It took the work of key inventors, businesspeople, and visionaries who saw coffee not for what it currently was, but for what it could be.

In this episode I feature a radio interview by Professor Jonathan Morris. You can listen to the whole thing here. Also, he wrote a fascinating paper on Italy’s coffee journey: check it out here.

Enjoy the episode, and feel free to reference the sources below if you’d like to read more. Also, don’t forget to sign up for the Coffee Canon email list if you haven’t already.

Colin

Episode Two Sources:

 

Episode Two Transcript:

Continue reading Episode Two: Italian Coffee