I'm visiting home for a couple weeks--which means, among other things, over-indulgence in the area of baked goods (i'm convinced my father could open a hugely successful bakery in any city he chose, including NYC) and under-indulgence in good coffee. But it's getting better! When i left five years ago for Tulsa, there were basically No coffee shops here (starbucks-excepting)--since then, several have opened, all with a gelato component, which is interesting. At my dad's neighborhood coffeeshop, cafe posto, they offer a "turkish roast" flavored gelato. I don't know exactly what that means, but am intrigued. Coffee...cardammon...cinnamon?
Anyway: the prospect of two whole weeks devoid of doubleshot coffee was not the most difficult thing about making this particular journey home. It was leaving behind my baby coffee tree! It sprouted 4 days before i left--a tiny, spindly green stem with a bean on the top (the bean will turn into the first leaves). I bought a packet of coffee seeds in Italy (they were in a seed packet, just like you'd buy tomato or squash seeds...how bizarre!), and planted them on returning to tulsa. The thing about growing coffee is that it takes 2 to 3 months for anything to happen above the surface, so you have to be patient! you have to keep the soil moist but not soaking--but after months of watering a pot of dirt, up came this adorable plant! if all goes well, in approximately 2 to 3 years, there will be flowers and cherries! Here are two web pages that give some more info on growing your own coffee. The sweetmaria's one is especially fascinating because there are some beautiful pictures towards the bottom of trees growing in their greenhouse--several different varietals. i'm still trying to get a grasp on coffee varietals, so will hopefully be able to blog more about that in the future. the plant i have is coffea arabica var. typica which, according to coffeeresearch.org, is considered to be one of the two original varietals, along with bourbon. http://www.sweetmarias.com/growingcoffee/Growing_Coffee_at_Home.html
http://www.coffeeresearch.org/coffee/homegrowing.htm
oh, and if you want to see a coffee tree "in the flesh" there is one growing in the greenhouse at woodward park! no flowers or fruit last time i checked (a couple weeks ago), but it's still fun to see the leaf/tree shape, and just to know it's there...well, here are the pictures--drink a great cup of coffee for me :)
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