Oct09
on October 9, 2018
Blessed Brew
Coffee has been around for centuries. From the early years of the 15th Century at the latest, and in the mid-1600s coffee spread to Europe through Italy via trade with North Africa. (Italy has had string trading ties with African since Roman times.) That’s old. But probably still not quite as old as the quasi-Medieval world of most fantasy worlds. That is assuming the world has some vaguely Arabic equivalent where coffee could originate.
Still… anachronistic or not, I love my coffee too much to ever imagine a world without it. I’ll accept hordes of orcs, rampaging dragons, and worse threats to life and happiness, but I refuse to have part in the creation of a land devoid of coffee.
They get coffee from the same place they get potatoes, corn, and tomatoes (all of which came from the Americas). Think about that the next time the halfling at the table says that old “Taters” line.
Actually, coffee comes from Ethiopia, not the americas.
Anyway, I’m curious: what’s that funny thing on the desk? I’ve never seen one used for coffee… in Italy we use the Moka, or an espresso machine (but Moka is better).
That coffee is American is a common misconception, as it began to be common knowledge around the same time as potatoes, and is so associated with Columbia.
The “funny thing” is a french press. I thought a percolator would be too indistinct from a tea pot and pour over too modern.
Thanks, didn’t know you could use that to make coffee.
Totally agreed on the fact a Moka would look too modern… but now I’m considering a huge, steamy, gnome-made contraption to make coffee.
A thing that I found strange in D&D world is not the lack of similar beverages, though; instead, running through 1St to 5Th edition PHBs the lack is about alcoholic beverages. The only listings there are ale and wine (watered or good). How could you play a dwarf without something stronger to drink? Also, distilleries are rarely listed in the city maps, but I usually add one since I know my players will likely ask…
I actually just meant “the same place” to mean a generic non-European elsewhere that allows for a level of variety not found in the actual medieval world. A portal to Sigil or really good transmutation spells. Something like that.