I have been informed by my wife that coffee should be made with filtered water, and that it is better if the cup is warmed with a swish of hot water before pouring. This made me smile, since coffee is served at a temperature too hot to drink anyway. It reminded me, however, of the various rituals involving liquids that we have.
Every 'special' liquid' has its own peculiar rituals, some based in fact, some in history, and some without a basis I can find. Tea is supposed to be better with the water boiling as it is poured, and is to steep for 5 minutes. It is to be served in pre-warmed cups. Doing this gets you a concoction like English tea- as strong as US coffee, and dark enough to be lightened with milk. The boiling water does extract more flavor from the tea, however, although I can not find out why the cup should be warm. Porcelain is quite tough; perhaps it is based in use of stoneware mugs, which are more sensitive to cracking under heat strain.
Coffee is not best when boiled- too bitter. It is better just below this temperature, about 180 degrees. I have never seen any study on desirability of filtered water for coffee, except that eventually a white scum of minerals forms from evaporating tap water. There are whole ad campaigns based in insinuating that coffee is not good unless made with filtered water.
For both coffee and tea we have the accoutrements- sugar, creamer or milk, stirrers, and in very formal or bygone times, delicate cups and saucers. There are also the associated foods- tea sandwiches, coffee cake, bagels.
There is an entire culture around the proper serving of wine. 'Cellar temperature' is ideal for red wine. Most people interpret this as room temperature, but it is actually 55 degrees- what is achieved in about an hour's refrigeration. White wines can be served even a bit colder. Reds are commonly served too warm, and whites too cold. There is the entire ritual of the pouring of the wine and tasting it, the examination of the cork, the wrapping of the bottle. We have special implements for opening wine bottles, storing them, holding them.
Espresso and Greek (Turkish for you non-Greeks) coffee have even more rigorous rituals associated with them. The coffee must have spices added to it. It is prepared in special apparati, served in highly decorated tiny cups.
Liquor also has important rituals. One of them is serving them in bars. Every westerner, if shown a picture of a dark room with a few tables and a long counter with stools backed by a mirror and bottles, will tell you it is a bar. It is as universal as 'recognizing' pictures of Jesus as commonly portrayed. Drinking 'brown liquor', to use a southern phrase that seems very descriptive to me, out of a paper or styrofoam cup smacks of low class, desperation, or the most intense type of celebratory party.
All these rituals are as understandable to me as to everyone else, and on examination, most of them are practically pointless. It emphasizes how important the emotions are when drinking something 'special'. We want it to feel special, we want the moment to be special. For some of these drinks, there are even highly ritualized motions for their consumption or pouring- consider how we evaluate the 'form' of a waiter in a fine restaurant when pouring wine.
What all this made me think of was communion, especially as practiced by Catholics and Episcopalians. Communion has its own ritual words and actions, as well as specialized drink and food. There is so much ritual attached in similar ways to coffee that I used to call the coffee hour after Episcopalian services the 'secular communion'. And this is what it is. Communion has a couple of representations. One is the ritual union of the communicant with Jesus, in the form of the consumption of his body and blood. Another is the ritual sharing of a meal between Christians. It is this latter function where I felt the coffee hour was more truly representative of communion than the religious service.
All of this to say that sometimes the mundane, even perhaps the profane, can serve as a vehicle to the religious and divine. The rituals associated with the various 'secular' foods described are little less than those associated with communion. Through these rituals and fluids, we find companionship, socialization, a closer contact with others that is the practical expression of the ideals of communion.
In thinking of Jesus' institution of communion with the words 'do this as oft as ye shall drink it, in memory of me', it seems to me we are more religious in our observation of coffee and alcohol rituals than of 'religious' ones. Perhaps a more genuine communion would be achieved by thinking of God whenever we have coffee and cake......
Ted
Every 'special' liquid' has its own peculiar rituals, some based in fact, some in history, and some without a basis I can find. Tea is supposed to be better with the water boiling as it is poured, and is to steep for 5 minutes. It is to be served in pre-warmed cups. Doing this gets you a concoction like English tea- as strong as US coffee, and dark enough to be lightened with milk. The boiling water does extract more flavor from the tea, however, although I can not find out why the cup should be warm. Porcelain is quite tough; perhaps it is based in use of stoneware mugs, which are more sensitive to cracking under heat strain.
Coffee is not best when boiled- too bitter. It is better just below this temperature, about 180 degrees. I have never seen any study on desirability of filtered water for coffee, except that eventually a white scum of minerals forms from evaporating tap water. There are whole ad campaigns based in insinuating that coffee is not good unless made with filtered water.
For both coffee and tea we have the accoutrements- sugar, creamer or milk, stirrers, and in very formal or bygone times, delicate cups and saucers. There are also the associated foods- tea sandwiches, coffee cake, bagels.
There is an entire culture around the proper serving of wine. 'Cellar temperature' is ideal for red wine. Most people interpret this as room temperature, but it is actually 55 degrees- what is achieved in about an hour's refrigeration. White wines can be served even a bit colder. Reds are commonly served too warm, and whites too cold. There is the entire ritual of the pouring of the wine and tasting it, the examination of the cork, the wrapping of the bottle. We have special implements for opening wine bottles, storing them, holding them.
Espresso and Greek (Turkish for you non-Greeks) coffee have even more rigorous rituals associated with them. The coffee must have spices added to it. It is prepared in special apparati, served in highly decorated tiny cups.
Liquor also has important rituals. One of them is serving them in bars. Every westerner, if shown a picture of a dark room with a few tables and a long counter with stools backed by a mirror and bottles, will tell you it is a bar. It is as universal as 'recognizing' pictures of Jesus as commonly portrayed. Drinking 'brown liquor', to use a southern phrase that seems very descriptive to me, out of a paper or styrofoam cup smacks of low class, desperation, or the most intense type of celebratory party.
All these rituals are as understandable to me as to everyone else, and on examination, most of them are practically pointless. It emphasizes how important the emotions are when drinking something 'special'. We want it to feel special, we want the moment to be special. For some of these drinks, there are even highly ritualized motions for their consumption or pouring- consider how we evaluate the 'form' of a waiter in a fine restaurant when pouring wine.
What all this made me think of was communion, especially as practiced by Catholics and Episcopalians. Communion has its own ritual words and actions, as well as specialized drink and food. There is so much ritual attached in similar ways to coffee that I used to call the coffee hour after Episcopalian services the 'secular communion'. And this is what it is. Communion has a couple of representations. One is the ritual union of the communicant with Jesus, in the form of the consumption of his body and blood. Another is the ritual sharing of a meal between Christians. It is this latter function where I felt the coffee hour was more truly representative of communion than the religious service.
All of this to say that sometimes the mundane, even perhaps the profane, can serve as a vehicle to the religious and divine. The rituals associated with the various 'secular' foods described are little less than those associated with communion. Through these rituals and fluids, we find companionship, socialization, a closer contact with others that is the practical expression of the ideals of communion.
In thinking of Jesus' institution of communion with the words 'do this as oft as ye shall drink it, in memory of me', it seems to me we are more religious in our observation of coffee and alcohol rituals than of 'religious' ones. Perhaps a more genuine communion would be achieved by thinking of God whenever we have coffee and cake......
Ted
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