In my blog entry entitled “Grounds to Garbage? – No Way!”, I mentioned used coffee grounds as a homemade facial mask. Coffee is now showing up in many commercially made cosmetics. Elle Canada Magazine (Fall 2008, p190-192) has a feature on the benefits of using caffeine topically.
Coffee has been used as a body scrub in Indonesia because not only are the grounds great at getting rid of layers of dead skin, but coffee is a heavy-duty anti-oxidant. If you want to keep your skin looking youthful and glowing, look for products that have the un-roasted coffee bean (or berry) as part of the ingredient list. The humble coffee berry is a more powerful free radical fighter than green tea.
The diuretic effect of coffee is not only limited when being imbibed, but it also works when applied to the skin. Basically, the coffee draws moisture out of the lower skin layers so that wrinkles, etc are temporarily plumped out; emphasis on temporarily.
With so many cosmetic companies getting on the coffee kick, Starbucks may be looking into setting up their own cosmetics counter in store to help some of their 12,000 workers recently laid off to have paid employment again.
Q: Have you ever used coffee-based cosmetics? If so, which ones and did you like them?
While doing some research in the library, I came across a ‘keywords in title heading’ for ‘coffeehouse’. A list came up which included a murder mystery series written by Cleo Coyle. I had no idea that there was a fictional series like this. I haven’t read any of them yet but googling the main character’s name, Clare Cosi, I discovered she’s a barista in New York who happens to solve murders in her spare time. Sounds like it would make for fun reading.
Coffeehouses or coffee have often featured in literature since they became a prominent part of society. Alexander Pope, 18th century English poet, wrote in his famous Rape of the Lock that:
Coffee (which makes the politician wise,
And see thro’ all things with his half-shut eyes)
Sent up in vapours to the Baron’s brain,
New strategems, the radiant Lock to gain.
Charles Dickens mentions coffeehouses or coffee rooms in at least two of his many works, namely Nicholas Nickelby and Little Dorrit. I must admit that I’m not that familiar with Beat Poetry so I’ve no idea if Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac or others mentioned coffee or coffeehouses in their poetry but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they did. It was the place for them to discuss their counter-culture ideas. A sense of place, of belonging however slight, is incredibly important in writing as in life, in my opinion.
As I recall, pulp fiction the like of which Dashiell Hammett wrote, often has at least one scene in a coffee shop whose coffee was as black as the heart of the dame sitting across from the protagonist.
Q: What other books feature a coffee shop or café?
When I was in Italy for a couple of months in 2006, there was a café near the Prato Porta al Serraglio train station that was exactly like my idea of what an elegant European café should be. The interior was beautiful; dark wood, white and black tile on the floor, white marble countertops, shining copper fittings on the equipment behind the counter. Gorgeous.I felt so elegant going in there ordering a caffe latte, per favore. The name of the place is Chocolat.
Here in Vancouver, there is only one place that reminds of that one. A little, narrow café on Howe Street called Mario’s Coffee Express. Not an elegant name, but the interior looks very much like the smaller cafes I saw in Italy.
There is a new chain in town called Caffe Artigiano and the décor is reminiscent of the more rustic variety of European café. It’s quite nice but nothing does it for me quite like marble countertops and bright copper fittings.
In Italy, the coffee drinking day goes something like this:
Early morning to 11:00 am – milky coffee drinks
12:00 pm to early morning – espresso
It’s wonderful to have a cioccolata sacchettini (a little pastry filled with chocolate) with a caffe latte at 10 am. Talk about a caffeine chocolaty sugary energy boost!
If you are thinking of having a girls’ day out or impressing your date, I would suggest visiting one of the more upscale cafes. It’s a great start to a wonderful day, or night!
I always get a perverse kick out of folks who “discover” new ways of recycling all kinds of stuff. My mom and grandmothers knew a lot of different ways to get more than one use out of something – it was called thrift and it wasn’t a lifestyle choice, it was a necessity. But enough about me.
Coffee grounds don’t have to be tossed in the garbage after that one cup of coffee that’s been growing ever colder since you poured it at 8:00 am. After taking a quick tour of a variety of websites providing info on using used coffee grounds, here’s a few things to do with ‘em:
● Dig used grounds into the soil around rose bushes to make them healthier
● Dyeing natural fibre cloth, paper, even hardboiled eggs
● Treat your hair with grounds between shampooing and conditioning, best for black or brown hair
● Make a homemade facial mask out of them
● Use coffee grounds as a non-toxic scrubber for the stubborn stains in your pots and pans
As with any of these homemade remedies, caution is a must, especially if it’s going on skin. Always spot treat at first to see if there is a negative reaction.
There is a commercial use of used coffee grounds and it is called Java Log. It’s a firelog made of used coffee grounds and vegetable wax. Save those trees!
Coffeehouses are a great place to mesh all sorts of activities. People use them to meet casually with others or to do work or to create.
The creative process can take on many different forms. You may want to visit a particular coffee house to write in your personal journal. There may be a local cafe whose vibe inspires you to draw or compose poetry.
As a way to draw people into a cafe, some owners display the artwork of a local painter, or have an open mike night for writers or singers/musicians or spoken word artists or comedians. Heck, the cafe owner may just want to support local artists.
This isn’t new for coffeehouses. Since the heyday of coffeehouses in 18th century England, coffeehouses have been hosting artistic events. Art and book auctions, writers meetings and recitals of new music all took place in coffeehouses around London.
Think about the beatniks, or beat poets of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. New ideas and new thoughts seem to percolate in the coffeehouse environment of that time. Maybe it was the caffeine.
These days, the coffeehouse is largely the birthing ground for new business but artistic endeavours are still very much alive in the coffeehouse of today.
Q: What artistic events do you see at your local coffeehouse? Do you do any creative/artistic work out of a coffeehouse?
Now perhaps I’m just revealing my provincial outlook, but when I think of India I don’t associate it with huge coffee consumption. Tea? Yes. Coffee? No.
But my views are expanding by leaps and bounds from several different sources. I was reading Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy, and the story mentions that a weekly treat for the young people in the fictional town of Brahmpur is to go to the Imperial Book Depot and then go for coffee afterwards. Also, I was talking with a friend of mine and he was saying that coffee is quite popular in India. After googling “coffee culture india”, the search engine spat back a BBC article and blog about how coffee culture is taking India by storm.
According to “India’s Coffee Bar Revolution”, BBC News coffee has become the rage among young, upwardly mobile Indians who associate coffee with a more worldly, sophisticated life.
Jinal Shah’s blog Constant Beta featured an article on how Bombay had been bombed by coffee chains, not Starbucks (yet) but a bunch of homegrown chains wanting to cash in on this new fad of Indian youth. Yet after writing a small critique of each of the chains, she goes on to say that India has no coffee culture. Ms. Shah dismisses the coffee craze as nothing more than a passing fancy.
But if Indian youth have seen that drinking coffee is part of being cosmopolitan and joining the global community who are in the grips of the coffee madness, then it seems to me that the fad will likely turn into an institution. However, only time will tell.
Well, he liked it enough to write a cantata about it called … “The Coffee Cantata”. Written by J.S. Bach around 1732 to 1734, it tells the story of a young caffeine addicted girl and her father desperate to get her to stop drinking the stuff. It’s quite a cute, comical piece of musical madness. Here’s a small taste of the lyrics sung by the young girl.
Mm! how sweet the coffee tastes,more delicious than a thousand kisses,mellower than muscatel wine.Coffee, coffee I must have,and if someone wishes to give me a treat,ah, then pour me out some coffee!
The love of coffee has lured others to sing its praises or at least sing about how coffee comes into their lives. Here is a brief, far from complete list of coffee songs.
Black Coffee
(recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, kd lang and others)
Cafe au Lait by Duke Ellington
Cigarettes and Coffee by Otis Redding
Coffee in Brazil by the Andrew Sisters
Java by Al Hirt
Second Cup of Coffee by Gordon Lightfoot
You are the Cream in My Coffee by Marlene Dietrich
Here’s Sarah Vaughn singing “Black Coffee”
Q: What is your favorite coffee song? Either about coffee or just something to listen to while you sip?
