Coffee Culture

Excerpts from Rainier Valley Food Stories Cookbook

Seattle is known as the coffee capital of the U.S., with espresso stands at every gas station and hardware store. But even as Seattle exports its doubletall-skinny-vanilla-lattes to cities from Amsterdam to Zagreb, South Seattle’s immigrant populations import their own coffee traditions.

In this chapter we will look at coffee in its myriad forms across Rainier Valley, from the ancient Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony to the unique Vietnamese coffee maker, to the evolving Italian espresso tradition. The variety is stunning — who would have thought there were so many ways to combine hot water, coffee beans, and dairy products? – yet each method provides the coffee drinker with a delicious beverage that simultaneously stimulates and relaxes.

Along with the physical effects of caffeine in the bloodstream, we must consider the social context of coffee drinking. From its early days, coffee has been associated with an age-old community building activity: sitting around talking. In Rainier Valley today, you can find many examples of this tradition.

A Brief History of Coffee

Coffee is believed to originate in Ethiopia. The story goes that a goatherd noticed that his animals were especially frisky after eating berries from a certain plant. He tried them himself, and experienced the first human caffeine high in history. Soon tribal warriors figured out how to grind up the beans, mix them with butter, and form the mixture into balls that could be carried into battle in lieu of food. What a strategic advantage!

By the 15th century, the Sufis had developed the basic process of roasting and grinding the beans and passing hot water through them, and by the 16th century, coffeehouses had sprung up across the Arab world. In Cairo, it was a common stipulation of a marriage contract that the husband would provide a sufficient supply of coffee to his wife; if he didn’t, it could be “grounds” for divorce. Early on, coffeehouses were recognized by local rulers as dangerous

places where people might get together to discuss politics – and they were often

shut down by officials who feared the results of these discussions.

From the Middle East, coffee spread to Europe, where coffeehouses again became loci of political and social discussion. Coffee came to be seen by some as a degenerate beverage, and coffeehouses were places that respectable women would not go. Bach’s “Coffee Cantata” chronicles the woes of a woman who doesn’t want to get married because it will mean giving up coffee.

From cowboy coffee made in the campfire, to stay-at-home mothers’ coffee klatches around the kitchen table, to students’ late night coffee binges, to truck drivers’ 32 oz. travel mugs of gas station brew, coffee has spread all over the world and is now an integral part of many cultures. Rainier Valley’s diverse community offers a fascinating array of coffee traditions.

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony: "That is the place in your neighborhood to discuss anything"

At Ethiopian restaurants and homes, women in long white dresses roast coffee beans in a small pan over a hot plate, then grind them and put them in a carafe.

They brew three rounds of coffee in the carafe, each with its own name. The first, strongest round is called “Abol,” the second “Tona,” and the third round is “Baraka.” Coffee is served with a snack called yebuna kourse – usually popcorn or bread.

Aklilu Welemichael, owner of Fasica Ethiopian Restaurant says, “The people in the neighborhood will be together, they will sit down over there and discuss the social aspect of their lives. What happened yesterday? What we can do for the future? That is the place [in] your neighborhood to discuss anything.”

Photo: Coast To Coast Coffee

Vietnamese Coffee

Vietnamese coffee preparation is equally languorous, though the result is quite different. A cup containing condensed milk is topped with a special coffee maker that slowly drips strong coffee directly into the sweet milk. This technique reflects Vietnamese history and geography: all over Asia tea is the dominant caffeinated beverage, but French colonists introduced coffee to the Vietnamese in the 19th century, along with sweet rich pastries to accompany it. Both coffee and pastries “stuck” and remain part of the Vietnamese diet today. Canned milk was used because fresh milk would quickly spoil in the tropical heat.

Photo: Coffeeholic House - Columbia City

French Coffee, New Orleans Style

The French brought coffee to New Orleans too, where canned milk is also a common accompaniment. Edna Fortuné grew up drinking it, literally, at her grandfather’s knee. “My grandpa used to sit at that kitchen table and have his coffee in the morning, and when I’d see him go in there, see, I had to really sneak. I’d just crawl right around the other side where my dad couldn’t see. I’d go and sit right between [my grandfather’s] legs. I’d sit there and wait and be real quiet. Then I could hear when my mom was pouring him his coffee. And I just knew, man, I was gonna get some soon. When my mom would leave the room, he would [say], “Girl, girl.” He’d slip that saucer to me under the table, man. [Laughs] [I’d] drink it and try not to [slurp]. So that’s how I started drinking coffee. I think that’s how we all started drinking coffee. And I love it to this day, and I can go to bed after having drunk a cup right before. Whew. What a tolerance.”

Edna says everyone puts evaporated milk in their coffee in New Orleans. “Well, I think it’s a French thing. It’s so rich, you know. Evaporated milk imparts this little nut flavor. It does something really nice to the flavor of your coffee. I never had pure coffee until I got west of Texas. The first time I drank it, I thought, ‘Whoa, this is water with a little coffee in it.’”

Other coffee drinking grandfathers made an impression on their Seattle grandkids, including this Jewish immigrant from Europe in the early 1900s: “Grandpa would sit at the head of the table drinking his coffee out of his saucer through a lump of sugar he held in his front teeth. I used to think he did this for the benefit of his grandchildren, but since [then] I’ve learned this was the common way coffee was drunk in the European countries" (This is from Caroline Blumenthal Danz, born in 1892)

Norwegian Coffee Break

Karleen Pederson-Wolfe’s father passed on the Norwegian coffee drinking tradition he grew up with. She recalls: “I started my day, every day, at six o’clock in the morning on his lap with a little thing of coffee milk. Norwegians drink coffee. So do Natives. I was destined to be a coffeeholic.”

Karleen’s sister Shirley remembers the role coffee played in the family’s social life: “Whenever people would come to our house – the first thing, you’d be offered a cup of coffee. And if there wasn’t something to eat being prepared right there, mom would offer you toast and jelly or fruit. Always had a snack. If you went to my mom’s house today or if my dad were here today you’d go over and first thing, “Have a cup of coffee and have a snack.” Sitting together drinking coffee provided a social bond within the family as well.

Shirley goes on: “Coffee Break. Do people take coffee breaks anymore? Like we used to when I was growing up, my dad at ten o’clock in the morning there’d be a coffee break. It would be like a quick snack and a short conversation. My dad loved to talk. So coffee break time was always a time to [ask], ‘How’s your day going? What did you accomplish so far, what are you going to do next?’ He was very involved in our lives. He knew what we were doing.”

Pioneer Coffee

Coffee arrived in Rainier Valley with European settlers in the mid-19th century. This 1910 recipe from The American Woman’s Cookbook is fairly typical:

“In preparing tea and coffee it is of first importance to begin right. See that the teakettle is clean, and the water pure. A tea kettle that is filled with lime or other sediment is unfit for use, and water that has stood in the house over night, or for some hours, is impure. To begin, then, rinse the tea kettle thoroughly and fill with fresh water, put on the fire and bring to a boil quickly. For coffee… allow a tablespoonful of ground coffee for every person to be served, and put in an extra spoonful for every five or six persons.

If an ordinary pot is used, mix the coffee with an egg, put it in the coffee pot and add to it about a cupful of cold water; set it on the stove and bring to a boil quickly. The moment it begins to boil, add boiling water (about 2 quarts to five spoonfuls of ground coffee) and set it on the back part of the stove where it will keep hot, but on no account allow it to boil, as that destroys the aroma. The coffee will be ready to serve in six or eight minutes after the hot water has been added."

Espresso

The Rainier Valley boasts at least three Starbucks shops, plus innumerable independent coffee shops and espresso stands. These establishments carry on the Italian tradition of forcing hot water through finely ground coffee beans.

The espresso machine was invented by Luigi Bezzera in 1901, and by 1961 the modern electric machine was perfected. Espresso is served straight, or with frothy steamed milk – “latte”. While Bezzera’s goal was to make coffee faster (shortening his employees’ coffee breaks), espresso can be enjoyed as slowly as any other brew, and it provides plenty of opportunity for the kind of community-building public conversations that coffee has encouraged for over 600 years.

Photo: Olympia Coffee Roasters