The Various Flavours of Coffee

Coffee is a magical brew to many. Made from the roasted beans of the coffee plant, coffee, and the various flavours of it, would appear to be inspiring enough for Anthony Capella to write an amorous account of just that, in a way that has had me rethinking my own coffee vices to a point that coffee has taken on a little more meaning than what I ever would have thought.

For some, coffee is a way of life; coffee in the morning, one for morning tea, to go with lunch, and then afternoon tea and as many times in between. For others it is pick me up when they are tired or run down, while to others it is a decadent treat to be indulged, usually with a chocolate or other sweet delight just to complete the package and then, there are those that can take it or leave it. Funnily enough I have been all of the above at some stage or another.

Initially I was the ultimate coffee fiend. Morning, noon and night was never enough to satisfy my addiction and if I did not have my caffeine fix at the said times, then I would be physically punished for my lapses. Not wanting to be ill inflicted with debilitating migraines due to irregular consumption on a planned girlie shopping trip to Hong Kong, I ‘cold turkey-ed’ it and left my addiction behind… all in the name of uninterrupted shoe shopping. It seemed like a fair trade and one that I was quite happy to make.

Then came a period of ‘take it or leave it’ and every now and then a ‘decadent treat’, and then I read The Various Flavours of Coffee , by Anthony Capella, and it all changed again.

No stranger to Anthony Capella’s writing (The Food of Love, The Empress of Ice Cream), I immediately fell in love with this story that was set in London in the late 1800’s, turning the century of coffee culture and smart (or not so smart) marketing to how we see coffee today.

Now, let me just warn you. This book has it all; history of not only coffee, but the women’s suffragist movement, the sensual pleasure of coffee, and of, um… the flesh?? Love, disaster, disappointment and even a moment or two of ‘hysteria’, which I, in turn, found quite amusing; this book is quite the read.

We have our hero (anti), the pompous, insensitive, narcissistic, sardonically witty, Robert Wallis, whose pernicious vices see his poetical aspirations enslaved by the intoxicating powers of coffee… and love…

He is quite a ditz really, but a ditz I couldn’t help but like and I was massively entertained by his own self reflections in the retelling of his story. I guess I was really just drawn to his character in the same way that Emily Pinker, the liberal minded daughter of Robert’s coffee exploiting employer, was the subject of Roberts’s affections.

Of course the plot thickens… and he is sent away by Emily’s father to prove his worth (but really to enhance the already burgeoning Pinker fortune) and he finds himself in the African wilderness, pioneering a coffee plantation in a land where superstition and ceremony rule the psyche of the natives.

Fickle in the sincerity of his emotions as well as that of his ambitions, Robert takes all but five seconds to fall in love with Fikre, an exotic beauty who he is introduced to by a coffee merchant which ultimately leads to his… well, you will have to read on yourself if you want to know what happens.

All I will tell you is that I absolutely LOVED this book, which was quite unexpected really. My first thoughts were along the lines of ‘Geez, how much can you write about coffee???’ But it would seem, the answer to that is; quite a lot, and now I am not even sure that it was quite enough!

The Various Flavours of Coffee is quite thought provoking in many ways, and it has certainly changed the way I now think of coffee. While having conquered my addiction, I now occasionally enjoy the comforts of coffee in quite different way.

With each coffee blend, I now try and determine if my brew of muddy looking water does in fact have the base notes of ‘soil after storms’, or that of ‘toasted almonds, or indeed the ‘animal smell of wet tanned hides’. I mean who would have thought??? All of that in a cup of coffee, well… alongside the more evocative floral, fruity and spicy notes.

And while I sip on my aromatic concoction of ‘wet tanned hides’ I ponder the incredible history of this unassuming little bean, from where it finds it source and marvel the indelible impression that it has made on the coffee culture of this day and age.

What a fantastic read!

Click here to read more about The Various Flavours of Coffee