There's nothing like stepping inside your favorite coffee shop. The delicious smell of coffee greets you at the door, baked goods float on the air, that sweet music tantalizes your ears, and all is suddenly well with the world. You know what I am talking about. It is that point in which drinking your coffee not only becomes a drink to keep you awake in the morning, but a drink that makes your day. It's the coffee house and it is one of those things that makes your world that much brighter. Where did it all begin? Let's give history a whirl.
Believe it or not it was way back in Constantinople where the first coffee house came about. It was back in 1475 and the name of the place was Kiva Han. If you thought that we take coffee seriously now you should have seen them then. Maybe funny to hear in this day and age, but coffee was considered so important that women were allowed to legally divorce their husband if they could not provide them with enough coffee. Their coffee was black and unfiltered back in the day. It was definitely not the cup of latte that our people serve up today.
Cuisinart Mixer
In 1529 was when Europe started down the road of sweetening and creaming their coffee. When Vienna was invaded by the Turks they left tons of bags of coffee behind. A man named Georg Kolschitzky decided they were spoils of war and opened up his own version of a coffee house. He lived in Turkey for a little while and was lucky enough to know the process the beans needed to go through in order to become the coffee drink and he was the guy who gave us milk and sweeteners in our coffee. When this started then baked goods started coming into the picture an experience was being created.
Then in 1652 England got some of the goods from Turkey. They were importing their delicious beans and England was having some of it. Tips were created there because there was a jar that read "for prompt service" and you got served pretty quickly if you put a coin in that jar. English coffee houses were "penny universities" because they were both what you paid to get the coffee and a place where the business class drank.
It spread all over the world after that and after the colonization to America, the coffee kept coming. There were all sorts of things to help it along like the invention of the espresso machine, and the coming of Starbucks, but what it all comes down to is that there was a lot of people along the way who helped us to enjoy coffee the way we do so happily now, but I am grateful for them all for what a difference a good cup of coffee makes.
"Nutty Coffee Squares"*
Ingredients: 1 and 1/3 cup of whole almonds, 2 tbs of water, ½ cup of sugar, ¼ cup of Splenda, 2 tsp of instant coffee granules, 2 egg whites, and 1/8 tsp of salt.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square baking pan.
Place the almonds in a bowl and pour enough boiling water to cover completely. Let stand for 5 minutes. Drain the nuts and place on a towel. Gently rub to remove the skins. Pick out the skins and discard. Finely chop the almonds.
Bring the water, the sugar, Splenda, and coffee to a boil in a saucepan until the sugar, Splenda, and coffee have dissolved completely. Stir in the almonds. Remove from the heat and set aside. Beat the egg whites and salt in a bowl with a mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the almond mixture. Pour into the pan. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
Cool completely before cutting into squares.
Enjoy with the perfect cup of coffee.
* Base of recipe from Cookies and then I molded it from there.
Gold Tone Watch Dvd Player Home Theater Home Surround Speakers