Circa @ MindSay

Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu
shares his water ration.

On the return passage to Martinique, wrote de Clieu, a “basely jealous” passenger, “being unable to get this coffee plant away from me, tore off a branch.”

Then came the pirates who nearly captured the ship; then came a storm which nearly sank it. Finally, skies grew clear. Too clear. Water grew scarce and was rationed. De Clieu gave half of his allotment to his stricken seedling.

Under armed guard, the sprout grew strong in Martinique, yielding an extended family of approximately 18 million trees in 50 years or so. Its progeny would supply Latin America, where a dangerous liaison would help bring coffee to the masses...

Indian Baba Budan smuggles
beans on his belly.

Coffee as we know it kicked off in Arabia, where roasted beans were first brewed around A.D. 1000. By the 13th century Muslims were drinking coffee religiously. The “bean broth” drove dervishes into orbit, kept worshippers awake, and splashed over into secular life. And wherever Islam went, coffee went too: North Africa (map), the eastern Mediterranean, and India (map).

Arabia made export beans infertile by parching or boiling, and it is said that no coffee seed sprouted outside Africa or Arabia until the 1600s—until Baba Budan. As tradition has it, this Indian pilgrim-cum-smuggler left Mecca with fertile seeds strapped to his belly. Baba’s beans bore fruit and initiated an agricultural expansion that would soon reach Europe’s colonies...

[next]

Did an Ethiopian
goatherd discover coffee?

Goats will eat anything. Just ask Kaldi the legendary Ethiopian (map) goatherd. Kaldi, the story goes, noticed his herd dancing from one coffee shrub to another, grazing on the cherry-red berries containing the beans. He copped a few himself and was soon frolicking with his flock.

Witnessing Kaldi’s goatly gambol, a monk plucked berries for his brothers. That night they were uncannily alert to divine inspiration.

History tells us other Africans of the same era fueled up on protein-rich coffee-and-animal-fat balls—primitive PowerBars—and unwound with wine made from coffee-berry pulp. Coffee later crossed the Red Sea to Arabia, where things really got cooking...

don't be alarmed
I fear we're falling back to ground

don't be afraid
I hear in every word they say
that even if you don't look back
be sure find out who was there
and what they want
ten more reasons

don't be alarmed
I fear we're falling back to ground

your face is light and cocaine white
your face is light and cocaine white

misleading most
I’m supposed, imposter a new you
and even if you woken up
make contact both at once
we've made mistakes like this

and I’m just learning (and I’m just learning)
you're face is light and spinning white

spinning lights, don't be scared
you have given so much more
spinning lights, take me there
he has risen, pull me under

don't stop talking to me, I haven't been listening
don't stop talking to me, I haven't been listening

this operation's been abandon once again
this operation's been abandon once again

cut me gently cut me out mine
cut me gently cut me out

cut me, gently cut me out mine
cut me gently cut me out mine

Spinning lights, don't be scared
you have given so much more
spinning lights, take me there
he has risen, pull me under

don't stop talking to me, I haven't been listening
don't stop talking to me, I haven't been listening

this operation's been abandon once again
this operation's been abandon once again

cut me gently cut me out
cut me gently cut me out mine