A Coffee Chronology

This isn’t a short read!

Biblioklept

A COFFEE CHRONOLOGY

Giving dates and events of historical interest in legend, travel, literature, cultivation, plantation treatment, trading, and in the preparation and use of coffee from the earliest time to the present

(From William H. Ukers’s All About Coffee, 1922)

900[L]—Rhazes, famous Arabian physician, is first writer to mention coffee under the name bunca or bunchum.[M]

1000[L]—Avicenna, Mahommedan physician and philosopher, is the first writer to explain the medicinal properties of the coffee bean, which he also calls bunchum.[M]

1258[L]—Sheik Omar, disciple of Sheik Schadheli, patron saint and legendary founder of Mocha, by chance discovers coffee as a beverage at Ousab in Arabia.[M]

1300[L]—The coffee drink is a decoction made from roasted berries, crushed in a mortar and pestle, the powder being placed in boiling water, and the drink taken down, grounds and all.

1350[L]—Persian, Egyptian, and Turkish ewers made of pottery are first used for…

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Sedition

Sedition

By Katherine Grant

Where do I start?  An unexpected pleasure and thrill to read Katherine Grant’s book Sedition.  Beautifully paced and written Grant leads us into a seductive and dark world of music, passion and love.

London 1794 is home to Pianoforte maker and obsessive, Cantabile and his disappointment of a daughter, Annie.  Annie is an accomplished and spirited musician who spends the majority of her days in the workshop and tending to her sick mother.

Annie’s world changes when a gentleman is looking to acquire a pianoforte for his daughter and her friends to learn on so they can perform at a concert in the specific hope of procuring husbands.  Unwilling to part with his beloved instruments, Cantabile is furious when his daughter sells one to this man and here begins a downward spiral.

A music master is sent by Cantabile to ruin the girls, and we are drawn into their silly girlish thoughts and not so girlish actions.  One of the girls, Alathea lives in a world of darkness but when Annie unveils herself she brings light, while Alathea offers love and hope.  These two girls share a passion for music and a love of and for each other.

Sedition is a real look into a connection between people and the harsh realities of life.  Grant’s writing is musical throughout and in one chapter she brilliantly writes one event from differing perspectives using a ‘repeat’, stressing that although it may be called a repeat, no note can be played in exactly the same way twice – the same event will be viewed and experienced differently by the participants involved.

Highly character lead, the slower pace of the introduction leads into the faster pace of the passion and intensity of emotion until the crescendo.  As the title suggests, there has been conduct, inciting the people to rebel and this is what we are deeply waiting for throughout.

What I liked most about this books was the true capturing of emotions.  There was no salacious Hollywood feel, just believable and the sometimes unexplored or discussed feelings being represented which kept the book’s feet on the ground, so to speak.  This is a definite read and a potential reread.