Coffee and Balinese
A glass of coffee (rather than a cup of coffee) is standard welcome drink that you will get when you visiting a typical Balinese family. Presenting a glass of coffee to the visitor especially the male one is a standard gesture of Balinese hospitality and of course visitor rarely has any chance to avoid it. Although you can ask for a glass of tea as substitution but Balinese seldom ask for the substitution since it will put a trouble of preparing a glass of tea for the substitution to the host; Balinese mostly enjoy their inevitable welcome drink.
Balinese style of coffee is what westerner call black coffee and surely not for the faint of heart. Balinese rarely use instant coffee, they prepare their coffee by putting a tablespoon of finely ground roast coffee right into the glass, mix it with a generous amount of sugar and hot water. The result is more of a thick suspension rather than a solution, and is muddy and opaque. It has to be stirred occasionally to keep the coffee powder in suspension lest it will gather in the bottom of the glass creating a muddy black coffee deposit.
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The coffee for the visitor is rarely presented without cakes or cookies as accompaniments. The host will immediately ask for apology if there is no cake or cookie presented. The host usually said “forgive me, the coffee is so brave, it came out alone”.
Coffee is not just presented as welcome drink but also a standard drink for the members of the hamlet who help a family in preparing a ceremony. Coffee will be presented before they begin working. Coffee is also presented during the break session of the preparation of the ceremony. The members of the hamlet who help the preparation of the ceremony usually throw a joke to their fellows who come late or sitting idly by saying that don’t work enough to return the price of the coffee given by the host.
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November 26th, 2007 17:14
Coffee puts the system under the strain of metabolizing a deadly acid-forming drug, depositing its insoluble cellulose, which cements the wall of the liver, causing this vital organ to swell to twice its proper size. In addition, coffee is heavily sprayed. (Ninety-two pesticides are applied to its leaves.) Diuretic properties of caffeine cause potassium and other minerals to be flushed from the body.
All this fear went away when I quit, and it was a book that inspired me to do it called The Truth About Caffeine by Marina Kushner. There are five things I liked about this book:
1) It details–thoroughly–the ways in which caffeine may damage your health.
2) It reveals the damage that coffee does to the environment. Specifically, coffee was once grown in the shade, so that trees were left in place. Then sun coffee was introduced, allowing greater yields but contributing to the destruction of rain forests. I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else.
3) It explains how best to go off coffee. This is important. If you try cold turkey, as most people probably do, the withdrawal symptoms will likely drive you right back to coffee.
4) Helped me find a great resource for the latest studies at CaffeineAwareness.org
5) Also, if you drink decaf you won’t want to miss this special free report on the dangers of decaf available at http://www.soyfee.com
August 27th, 2008 17:35
Most interesting post.Balinese style of coffee is what westerner call black coffee and surely not for the faint of heart.
http://www.blossomingleaf.com/