Bye, Bye Starbucks Gal

I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the Music Died

Tomorrow at the Marmalade Café, our Guest of Honor for lunch will be Michelle Caruthers, our long time favorite Starbucks Manager. Michelle is commencing a new phase in her life away from our coffee hole and we will miss her lots.

So I thought it fitting to say something smart about ….. coffee. Every day I get these Knowledge News gizzies in the email and today’s piece hit the spot like a manly Turkish kahveh.

Coffee's story--like many good stories--begins with a goat. Legend has it that a herdsman in Ethiopia noticed that his goat was acting kind of funny. It was unusually alert, maybe even a little jittery.

Looking closer, the herdsman saw that the goat had been nibbling on the red berries of a certain bush. Being of a scientific temperament (much like moi), the herdsman experimented by eating a few of the berries himself, and soon he and the goat were capering around together. The rest, as they say, is history.

Of course, loopy Ethiopian goats are a long way from the dark and aromatic drink we have at the Bucks. For coffee to become a thoroughly human beverage, someone had to go beyond just eating coffee berries. Enter the Arabs. By the 14th century, the Arabs were roasting their beans, too, but it took a while longer before someone had the idea of filtering out the grounds.

Word of the "wine of Araby" spread. Today, about a quarter of daily American coffee drinkers--110 million strong--prefer fancy-pants espressos, cappuccinos, and lattes to a traditional cup of joe. (Thanks, Mark Diller)

That’s just about enough smarts for our attention-deficit-disordered crowd.
Tomorrow Lori, Angela, Judy, Chuck, Steve, Bill, Lee, Sue, Angelo, Rori, Mark, Glen and Becky (if no Court appearance) will wish adios to Michelle, our good bud.

So bye bye Miss American Pie
Drove my chevy to the levee, But the levee was dry
And them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye
Singin' this'll be the day that I die, this'll be the day that I die.

Ps: Guess how many cups of joe you can drink before croakin. Then go here to find out.