커피와 관련된 영어기사입니다^^*

[스텔라 정]

텝스 출제위원들도 좋아하는...독해 단골....주제 중 하나인 커피이야기입니다....

차도 좋아하는 주제 중 하나죠....

음....공부하면서....커피나 차 한잔씩 마시는 낙....으로 버티는 분들도 많으시죠^^

그럼....관련 기사 보시면서...

커피향을 더욱 그윽하게 느끼면서....또 열공!! 홧팅^0^/

The origins of coffee are more myth than history. It’s generally accepted that coffee comes from Ethiopia, but the story of Kaldi, a ninth century goat herder who noticed his flock was acting up after eating the bright red fruit of the Coffea arabica plant, is probably apocryphal. (True or not, it’s the reason why so many cafes and coffee roasters riff on the goat theme: Dancing Goats, Dancing Goat, Flying Goat, Wandering Goat. It’s endless.)

 

 

Coffee or Tea?

At first, coffee was more like tea than the drink we know today. The leaves were soaked in hot water, as were the dried fruits. By the time coffee traveled through the Arab world to the Ottoman Empire and Istanbul, it had been transformed into what is now a more familiar form: the fruit’s raw, dried seeds (no, they’re not beans) were roasted, crushed and steeped in hot water. The first coffeehouses opened in Istanbul in the 16th century; by the middle of the 17th century the fashion had spread to Venice, then London and Oxford before arriving in Paris. New England followed shortly after: in 1678, the city records of Boston note that John Sparry was granted the right to sell coffee.

A Social Drink

The proliferation of coffeehouses established a pattern that continues through to this day. First, coffee is a social drink, often enjoyed in public. Second, countries whose climate doesn't allow them to produce coffee are the greatest consumers of coffee beans (to use botanically incorrect term). Coffee grows at high altitudes within the tropics - think of mountainous countries that hug the equator, like Colombia and Kenya, or India and Indonesia - but coffee culture is strongest in United States, Europe (especially northern countries like Denmark and Sweden) and, in what might come as a surprise to many, Japan, which recently leapfrogged Italy and France to become the world’s third-largest coffee importer. The notable exception is Brazil, which is the world’s largest producer of coffee and the second-greatest consumer.

The United States, The World Leader

Statistically, the United States is the global leader for coffee – we consume about 25% of the world’s market. But culturally, the United States still looks to Europe. Starbucks, one of the most successful franchises in retail history, gave its coffee drinks Italian names (like the 20-ounce Venti), or specious Italian-sounding names (like the Frappuccino).

Recently, this European hegemony has been questioned. In the 1990s a new generation of domestic coffee roasters started to challenge long-held taste profiles, most notably the accepted preference for dark roasts. Leading roasters such as Counter Culture, Intelligentisa Coffee and Tea and Stumptown Coffee Roasters treat coffee as an artisanal product (instead of a commodity) with distinct characteristics (instead of a uniform flavor). Coffee has long been traded like corn or soy beans; now in some cases it’s treated with the same care and respect as grapes harvested for wine.

The new generation goes by several names, none of them satisfactory. Some use Specialty Coffee (the Specialty Coffee Association of America is the most prominent organization within the industry), while others use Third Wave (the First Wave was Folgers and Hills Brothers; the Second Wave was Starbucks and Peet’s). Some even use Fourth Wave, to place themselves even closer to the front of the avant garde.

Roasters' Common Characteristics

No matter the name, these roasters have many characteristics in common.

• Sourcing. Beans are sourced not just by country but by farm and varietal. So coffee isn’t just from Guatemala, it’s bourbon beans from Finca el Injerto; sometimes, coffees are even are labeled by latitude, longitude and elevation.

• Seasonality. Coffee is a seasonal crop, and the selections at good roasters reflect what’s available rather than keeping beans in storage. For example, the harvest in Brazil starts in May, which means by late fall the new South American crop is coming from Colombia, El Salvador and Guatemala.

• Roast Profile. A lighter roast has more character than a darker roast. Rather than mask coffee’s distinct flavors with a dark roast profile (a longstanding practice by many), now roasters are using a light hand with their well-sourced, seasonal coffee. You want to taste what’s distinct about each.

• Freshness. Coffee should be consumed shortly after roasting – some say within seven days, others allow for up to two weeks. (By comparison, it’s not unusual on supermarket shelves to find coffee six to nine months old.)

New York City Roasters

What’s New York City's role in this new generation of coffee? So far, the city has played a bit part. Until now.

Because until now, New York has had a paucity of roasters. Through 2008, the city was home to only one next-generation roaster, Gorilla Coffee; in 2009, Stumptown Coffee Roasters opened a roaster in Red Hook, Brooklyn, and Café Grumpy, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Another two roasters are expected to open in 2010, also in Brooklyn.

It means that New York finally has something taken for granted by caffeinated cities such as San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, namely a steady supply of fresh, seasonal coffee. Some of the city’s more serious cafes went through the trouble – and expense – of mail-ordering beans, but now top-quality coffee is a local product. Or it’s as local as coffee has been for the last four centuries.