Thursday, August 12, 2004
Random Roasting Rant
As many of you know, I have been roasting my own coffee for about 9 months now. In fact, I have been so pleased with the many pleasures and benefits associated with home roasting that it has turned me into a zealous missionary for the cause. Many of you will stop reading at this point with a shrug of your shoulders and wordless expression resembling, "Bah!" If you’re still with me then you are in for a silent power play to monkey wrench the New World Order. More reaction from the crowd, “Meh!” Yes, I said it, home coffee roasting is part of a larger picture to overthrow the strangle hold that mega corporations have on all of us. You see we all have bought in to the slogan “Give me convenience, or give me death!!!” What is the exchange for this mad drive to have everything fast, cheap, and convenient? Crap! We buy baby shampoo with liquid plastic in it. We eat meat of such low quality that even public school cafeterias are forbidden from serving it. We buy and drink old coffee grown and picked by people who don’t receive a living wage for their intense labor (and we even want it cheaper then it already is!). Up until the last 20 years we drank watery beer made with corn and rice, rather than quality grain. We microwave dinners loaded with unhealthy preservatives and eat them in front of the television. We buy microwave popcorn!!! Did you know regular popcorn and microwave popcorn are the same thing only several dollars in price difference???* We use “air fresheners” that actually increase organic toxins in the air. When every doctor and recognized medical/health organization says, “Breast milk is far superior to formula”, and in addition is recommended by every professional for at least a year and a half, we stop at 2-3 months. For a society saturated with individuals who know how to read, we certainly are not literate. We spend our money, time, and resources on TiVo and cell phones and DVD players in the back seat of our SUV’s. God forbid we talk or have any substantive interaction (whatever happened to slug bug?). I won’t even begin to delve into our current spiritual issues (I’ll save this task for the humble). Whew!
Enter home roasting and exit my rant. Let me just list a few bullet points on the benefits and general niceties of home roasting:
· Fresh roasted coffee that is hours old, not weeks
· In all the talk of cost, pound for pound it is actually a lot less vs. Starbucks
· Quality, you pick the best from specific regions, not a blend of the worst generically marked say, “
Finally, check out my friend Nathan’s blog for a blow by blow photo log of the roasting process. Then head over to Sweet Maria’s and check out their amazing site for further info or just e-mail the Munkee.
*Regarding popcorn: Never buy the microwave stuff again. Simply buy the pound of generic popcorn that usually runs about a buck, if you don't have the proper container put it in a paper lunch sack, fold and close with a single piece of scotch tape. Microwave for the same amount of time as you would the "microwave popcorn".
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Monday, August 02, 2004
Sigh...Well I'm back from one of those vacations that you just don't want to end. A surreal time really where I realized more fully the great value of my family and our faith. It was a simple vacation, up the beautiful California coast by car. We stopped every two to three hours and stayed in hotels, motels, hostels, and camps. We visited parishes, cathedrals, and a monastery. We drank much dark roasted arabica. We prayed and thanked God for the life we live. We listened to lots of music and sang many songs. We drank wine by warm fires in beautiful forests and on rugged coasts. We played and laughed often. We walked and dreamed and loved...and sometimes we even got frustrated over silly things. All in all it was a time I will always remember with joy and a bit of sadness as well.
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