THE COFFEE POT

THE COFFEE POT

Jan 13, 2024 | WORLD, WORLD

Paola Pioletti brought this curious construction to my attention! Thanks Paola! 

The Coffee Pot is located in America, and more precisely in Pennsylvania, in Bedford.

It is described as an “example of programmatic architecture” created as a result of the increased number of motorists passing through on the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road for automobiles in the United States, which opened in 1913 and runs for over 3,000 miles between New York City and San Francisco.

The Coffee Pot was built in 1927 by Bert Koonz to attract visitors to the service station.

In 1937, a hotel was built adjacent to the ‘coffee pot’ that served Coca Cola burgers and ice cream to travellers on Greyhound buses.

A hotel was later built adjacent to the structure.

In 2004 it was restored after Bedford County Fair in PA bought it for a dollar.

Taking a virtual tour around the coffee pot I found a very active community with a group of quilters: The Coffee Pot quilters. 

Quilting is the art of sewing together several layers of fabrics of different colours and patterns, cutting them to create decorative patterns.

I really like that kind of quilting and we have several of them at home even if they are not made in communion as they are used in the States.

Did you know that we also have a national association in Italy? Quilt Italia. 

The giant coffee pot in autumn is surrounded by a beautiful natural spectacle and the Bedford County Fair also organises a foliage festival.

Even Father Christmas stopped by the Coffee Pot!

Too bad there’s no more coffee in the Coffee Pot though, isn’t it?

How about you? Do you know a place just as special?

BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD

BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD

Sep 17, 2022 | BOOKS

Before the coffee gets cold is the first of Toshikazu Kawaguchi川口俊和 trilogy best sellers, we had already talked about it here. 

While reading it, I also found a nice description about the now famous siphon coffee! 

The author describes a depression coffee pot, however I don’t really like the word “depression” combined with the coffee pot, which instead represents a small happy moment.

In any case, the ritual is told like this:

Nagare poured hot water into a lower cruet, then brought it to a boil to allow it to rise through the siphon into the upper cruet, where he poured ground coffee, which was then filtered back into the lower cruet.

Coffee plays a very important role in the stories told in Before the coffee gets cold, stories touching deep inside.

If you had the chance to say something that you should have told or would have wanted to say, in a moment that has already fled away, however, what would it be?

I know, it’s getting very personal here, because these thoughts are generally dedicated to the affections.

Feel free to share whatever you want.

In the meantime, I would also propose a fantasy variant, somewhat keep calm style …

Such as pointing out to Michael Stipe that R.E.M.’s decision “to stop being a band” caused a loss for the music.

Or, still about Japan, asking Sofia Coppola if she foresaw how much Lost in Translation fans would not let the whispering “come between” them and the curiosity of discovering Bill Murray’s words in Scarlett Johansson‘s ear.

Or just thank Meryl Streep now and always for showing the world that true Beauty has no canons, and that producing King Kong should have presupposed knowledge of the important underlying message about who the real monsters are.

All this only ever before the coffee gets cold …

I must acknowledge the undoubtedly brilliant idea of the author, who among other things made an unusual choice for the context: in the book itself he tells us that

coffee arrived in Japan in the Edo period, towards the end of the 17th century. At first it did not satisfy Japanese taste buds, and it was certainly not considered a pleasant drink, but then again it was not surprising since it tasted like black, bitter water …

Fortunately, things have since changed 🙂

What about you, did you love coffee right away or did you experience an evolution?

VACUUM POT AND BALANCING SYPHON

VACUUM POT AND BALANCING SYPHON

Aug 27, 2022 | WHO CARES

We started from 1884 and the first espresso machine created by Angelo Moriondo but Lu author of the blog The Caustic Misanthrope,  in addition to tips on rice,  pointed me to the 19th century coffee maker!

It was originally the Vacuum: illustrated in this video by Trieste Coffee Experts: an event that brings us back to a place we have already talked about for its coffee supply chain

 

The Vacuum also called Vac Pot or Syphon Pot, was born in 1830.

In 1850 the next evolution: the Balancing Syphon Brewer.

The Balancing Syphon consists of two containers with a siphon tube connecting them.

Coffee is placed in one of the two containers, usually made of glass, and water in the other made of ceramic or copper.

An alcohol lamp heats the water, forcing it through the tube to the other container, where it mixes with the coffee.

As the weight changes, a balancing system based on a counterweight or spring mechanism is activated, which in turn causes the lamp to turn off.

A partial vacuum is formed, which sucks up the mixture originated through a filter, and returns it to the first vessel, from which coffee is dispensed through a tap.

 

Is your cup ready?

What do you say, wanting to make it a family affair, can we therefore say that Vacuum Pot and Balancing Syphon are the grandmother and great-grandmother of the mocha?

Certainly the names Vacuum Pot and Balancing Syphon sound more scientific than familiar, but their cruets also represent warmth, anticipation, and the ritual that foreshadows something good.

At this point the connecting links remain, and in this regard I think back to the enameled coffee pot with floral decoration with which my parents first, and my brother later, decorated the kitchen.

I then have this little one

what shall we call it?

And what about your coffee pot?

EGG COFFEE

EGG COFFEE

May 6, 2022 | RECIPES, WORLD

Wandering around, unfortunately only in a virtual way, better than nothing, I came across the egg coffee.

Did you already know him?

I found it in Minnesota, where the tradition of this recipe is carried on, which is actually referred to as Scandinavian.

And at this point I would ask for Luisella‘s help. 

In the Midwest, coffee with egg is also called Lutheran coffee or Church basement coffee and has become a local specialty, apparently no longer known in Scandinavia as evidenced by the tone of this Minnesota Brown tweet. 

By the way Salem! Curious coincidence, isn’t it?

The connection between Scandinavia and Minnesota dates back to the mid-1800s when Scandinavian immigrants brought their method of making egg coffee to the Midwest of the United States to improve the suboptimal coffee available.

The egg absorbs the tannins and impurities that typically lend bitterness and unpleasantness to cups of low-quality boiled coffee.

Swedes and Norwegians invented this method of preparation, which requires breaking a whole egg into the coffee grounds with a little water, mixing everything together.

After bringing the water to a boil in a coffee pot, the coffee blend is added, which must remain in the infusion.

In this video that I found really interesting you can see the procedure well

 

It doesn’t look bad, what are you saying?

Joy K. Lintelman wrote a very in-depth article: A hot heritage – Swedish Americans and coffee, I particularly like the historical images.

Instead Joy Estelle Summers tells for Eater: I remember watching my grandmother who made us egg coffee when we visited his summer cabin on the orange shores of Lake Esquagama, Minnesota. She broke an egg into a small bowl and beat it until it was well blended, then mixed the egg with the dry coffee grounds …

This grandmother‘s memory is beautiful,  right?

And your grandmother, what did she prepare?

DALGONA COFFEE

DALGONA COFFEE

Apr 5, 2020 | WORLD

While here we demonstrate to be more a people of bakers, expressing ourselves in pizza, bread, and cakes of all kinds, in other countries the Dalgona Coffee Challenge goes crazy: it comes from Korea, where both the quarantine and the challenge started first.
What does Dalgona mean?
The name comes from Korean street food, more precisely a lollipop-shaped snack called and Ppogi. This Ppogi / Dalgona is made with caramelized sugar and baking soda, which gives a spongy texture. The melted sugar is spread in a rounded shape on a plaque. Then made to solidify by affixing molds with designs of various types, to which the classic stick is fixed.
How does it associate with Dalgona coffee? I would say for the creaminess.
The base principle could be associated with the cream that our grandmothers made with the first coffee that came out of the coffee maker and with sugar.
The mixture obtained, in many of the various ways of execution with instant coffee and electric whisks, is placed on top of the cold milk.
Perhaps here we would not associate the final result properly with the name “coffee”, but the appearance is certainly very inviting.
Have you already tried?
If you want to try:
two teaspoons of instant coffee
two of sugar
two of water
and then mix

the “keep calm” version also includes a pinch of cinnamon 🙂

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