The Java and Me

I grew up in a home where coffee didn't exist. It wasn't that it was opposed, just disliked and so, forgotten. I married a man who didn't drink coffee. Neither of us ever felt the need to indulge even though we both were born and raised in the Pacific Northwest where Starbucks reigns over Bohemian and Yuppie alike. Then we were turned to the dark side. And by our pastor no less. It only took one well made latte to ensnare our tastebuds!
Now I love a steaming hot cup-o-joe in the mornings and sometimes with our Hobbity mid-afternoon snacks.
I found these stories and facts about this Arabian Brew and the company that has made it one of the greatest commodities on earth.
"Last week 20 million people bought a cup of coffee at a Starbucks. "
"A typical customer stops by 18 times a month. "
Starbucks logo, Melusine (or Melusina), is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers.
She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish (much like a mermaid) from the waist down but with wings, two tails or both.

A sheep herder named Kaldi started it all in 850 AD. He wanted to know what could be responsible for the "queer antics of his flock." Fearing his sheep possessed, Kaldi paid close observation from high on the mountain and watched as his herd nibbled red berries from the branch of a strange tree.
Upon closer inspection he discovered the sheep eating berries from a new leaf. When he sampled the berry himself, he felt a surge of exhilaration and rushed to tell the local imam. That night the two shared a concoction made of the berries, pranced around, and generally got pretty tanked on caffeine. Sooner than you can say percolate, the Imam and his monastery became famous throughout Arabia for the spirited praying of its coffee-drinking brethren. Soon others in the old world were clamoring for the newly discovered bean.
Whatever its origins, the black broth is now ingested by over a third of the world's population and, centuries later, continues to promote odd antics.
Venetian fleets sailed the known world trading spices, silks, and perfumes with the East. It is believed that coffee came to Venice from Constantinople as part of this trade. There was only one problem. When the drink reached Rome the priest attacked it and forbid it consumption.
The priests believed that the coffee was the drink of the devil. That Satan had invented the drink for infidels. If a Christian drank this devil brew they would risk eternal damnation is how the argument went.
It wasn't until the late 1500's that Pope Clement VIII settled the dispute. He asked that the brew be brought before him. The Pope blessed the coffee, and baptized it on the spot. He reasoned that banishing this drink from the Christian world would be a larger sin. With the Pope's blessing, imports of coffee to Italy and the Western world came flooding in paving the way for the first western coffee houses.