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Meet The Staff |
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Tanner Archambault
Tanner joined the Coffee Oasis family in November, not long after moving to the area form his native Minnesota in August. Yes, Minnesota to Houston in August ... he is a hearty soul.
He lives here with his father, a marine mechanic who left the Land of 10,000 Lakes to help keep the Clear Lake fleet in fine operating condition. He has a younger sister still living in the cold north.
When he is not working, and that is all too rare, he is an accomplished outdoors man. As he says, he learned to drive a boat before he rode a bike. He is an experienced backpacker, canoeist , and hunter. He has done some hiking an camping in Texas but not as much as he would like. If you know of any favorite wild areas, share them with him. The outdoors is a big part of his life.
Currently he is working a second job, at Pablo's Pub and is trying to save a few dollars so that he can go back to school nest fall. We all wish him luck. |
| Meet a Regular |
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Amy Rudd
Amy is one of the newer additions to the Coffee Oasis family. She came to the Oasis seeking shelter in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Before the storm she was a regular at one or another of Galveston's coffeehouses. As she tells it, she was driving by one day looking for a new for a place to enjoy her coffee saw the sign and thought, "This is what I have been looking for ... an Oasis."
She is not quite a native of Galveston Island but has lived there since her early teenage years and was very much at home.
Before Ike she rarely felt the need to venture into the north lands of Houston. Now she lives nearby with her 17 year old son, Kenny. Kenny is a student at Clear Lake High.
Amy is a teacher. She teaches massage therapy at the Texas School of Massage and also works as a training consultant for massage companies. She has also earned a Level 2 status in the Japanese practice of Reiki, the manual manipulation of personal energy for healing purposes.
She is also a natural empath and one of those special people who seeks out people of all backgrounds to get to know. As we talked she offered and interesting thought, "No more friends ... No more enemies ...Only teachers." It is an intriguing thought from a person who says that she appreciates discovering what she has in common with the people she meets.
All that and she is a serious chess player as well. When asked how she plays she says that her style adjusts to respond the to style and skill of her opponent ... what would expect from and empath.
Come by and say hi to Amy. You might even offer to play a game of chess with her. In any case, you will be delighted and warmed by the experience.
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Coffee of the Month February |
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Guatamalan Antigua
Rich volcanic soil makes Guatemala prime for coffee production. Its Antigua region is renowned for the coffee it produces. The volcanic soils are young and optimal for coffee. The Antigua coffees have a distinctive, somewhat indescribable zip to them, shared by no other coffee. Antigua coffees are described as having a full and velvety body, a rich and lively aroma, and a fine acidity.
Special Price: $9.75 per lb
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| Cooking with Coffee |
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Combine all three ingredients and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.
Pour the liquid in a 5x9 inch loaf pan. Place the pan in a freezer for 30 minutes.
Stir the mixture to break up the forming ice crystals. Repeat every half hour for 1 1/2 to two hours until it acquires a from, smooth and almost fluffy texture.
Dish the crystals into a desert bowl or glass. For a special treat, top generously with whipped cream and sprinkle with ground or shaved chocolate.
Enjoy!!
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| Save 50% |
Introduce us to a new friend and let us buy them a drink.
Here is a great way to introduce a friend to your favorite coffeehouse. Bring along or meet a friend at Coffee Oasis who is not already on our newsletter list and we will give them a free drink of equal of lessor value to the one you are enjoying. All we ask is that they join our mailing list so that they too can recieve these newsletters. |
| Offer Expires: March 31, 2008 | |
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Greetings!
We have a lot going on at Coffee Oasis these days.
There is a new discussion group forming, described below, and a new songwriter's workshop. In addition a "Sustainable Living" group has begun holdings meetings at the shop. Each of these groups would love have you join them.
The Houston Go Club has begun meeting at the shop every Friday evening. They are there both to play and to teach. So come on in one Friday night and learn how to play this ancient game or challenge your skills to reach a new level.
Speaking of Friday nights, we are reinvigorating our music program and have a featured performer booked every Friday evening. Check out our calendar to see who is coming up next. Soon, I hope to add Saturday to our regular program.
We have also restarted the Open Mic program on Wednesday evenings. This is our forum for emerging talent from around the Bay Area. Be sure to check this out: Like the proverbial box of chocolates ... you never know what you'll get. But it is sure to be a treat.
That brings us to our Thursday night treasure. Thursdays are Celtic night at the Oasis. We are graced with a group of exceptionally talented musicians who form a traditional Celtic song circle, singing and playing for the shear joy of the music. Come by for coffee, dessert, and some of finest entertainment you will find anywhere.
With this issue we are going to restore a tradition from the first newsletter. Every customer who comes in during the week of February 16th and mentions the topic of the last article will receive a free tall coffee. (Only one free coffee per customer.)
Thanks for being part of the Coffee Oasis family. See you at the Oasis.
Rusty |
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In Search of Intelligence
There is a new group forming at Coffee Oasis. For now it is calling itself, "In Search of Intelligence,' although given the quality of our customers that search should be an easy one. It is a broad ranging discussion group intended to be a place for people interested in subjects beyond I, We, He, She, and They. The group will identify subjects of mutual interest to discuss. Those subjects can extend from current affairs, to culture, to art, to literature, to politics. This is not intended to be so much a debating society as a mutual education and enlightenment opportunity.
Each participant will be encouraged to contribute their best thoughts, information and insights. The hope is that at the end of each gathering each of member will feel better informed, more appreciative of alternate points of view, and a little less settled in their preconceived notions, what ever they may be.
You are all invited to join in. The current plan is to meet on alternate Tuesday evenings beginning at 7:00 PM. This Tuesday, February 17 is the first meeting.
Hope to see you there.
To see what else is going on at the Oasis, check out our calendar or look over the weekly events listings on the table tops |
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Brewing it Up |
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Few people know that you can make a pretty passable instant coffee at home. It is not as good as fresh brewed coffee but much better than what you are likely to get out of a jar from your grocer's shelf.
No, this won't be freeze dried coffee crystals. (Be thankful for that.) However, when you want a single cup or two and don't have time to brew it up this is a serviceable option. It is easy, nearly fool proof, quick, and good enough to share. It also has the advantage of being available in any flavor or variety you choose.
The first step is to make a cold water concentrate. To do that, soak a pound of your favorite coffee in 4 cups of cold water. Soak it for about 24 hours at room temperature. Then filter the mixture and place that resulting concentrate in the refrigerator until you need it.
When you want a fast cup of coffee, all you have to do is heat your water in a microwave or on the stove, as you wish. Add one tablespoon of your concentrate per 4 ounces of water (more or less to taste) and ... well that it.
Simple as that. |
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In the Beginning ... |
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The first Coffeehouse in London
In 1651, a young English merchant, recently returned from Smyrna, named Daniel Edwards met with his future father-in-law, Thomas Hodges. Both were from wealthy merchant families, both of the famous Levant Company. Both were interested in cementing the relationship between their families by consummating a marriage with Hodges eldest daughter, Mary, and finding new business opportunities.
In Smyrna, Daniel had developed a taste for coffee and a relationship with a Greek servant that had mastered the art of brewing the beverage, Pasqua Rosee. Daniel Edwards had brought back with him a supply of coffee, roasters, grinders, and the distinctive pots used for brewing Turkish coffee, the ibrik.
Not only did he enjoy prodigious quantities of coffee, he introduced Mr. Hodges and through him a large number of the wealthy and influential Levant Company merchants to the beverage. In fact, drinking coffee became a major custom among many merchants. This was facilitated because the rising Puritan zeal of the day meant fewer taverns and alehouses were allowed to operate. Coffee was not only a pleasant social drink but it had the additional virtue of not making you drunk.
The problem with the growing appetite for coffee drinking among Daniel Edwards' colleagues was that, with so many men coming to his house in the normal course of business, making and serving coffee was disrupting his daily work. Worse, because coffee was a rare and expensive beverage, the cost was not inconsiderable.
The solution came to him when he recalled the lively and delightful coffeehouses that he had frequented in Smyrna. It occurred to him that if London had its own coffeehouse, his household activities could return to an efficient norm and what had been a cost could become a profit. Edwards and Hodges decided to open a public coffeehouse as an enterprise modeled after the Turkish coffeehouses Edwards had know during his years in Ottoman Empire.
There was, however, a catch. As members of the Levant Company they were required to strictly limit their commercial activities to wholesale trading. They were prohibited from any retail business. The answer was to set up Mr. Edwards' servant, Pasqua Rosee, in business and become his secret and silent partners.
Thus, sometime between 1652 and 1654 the first coffee business in all of Christendom was opened. I was a classic start up. Rosee and his hidden partners were offering a new product in a untested market in a hostile regulatory environment to a public that had no familiarity with that product.
To reduce these risks they decided to open their venture near the one group of potential customers who had already developed a taste for coffee, London merchants. While the merchants lived all over the city, there was one place where they congregated daily, the Royal Exchange on Cornhill.
London's first coffee shop was opened on St. Michael's Alley off the main thoroughfare of Cornhill about 160 yards from the Exchange doors. That first enterprise was less like the grand coffeehouses of Constantinople than a coffee kiosk. It was described as a stall or shed made of thin painted pine and fur boards. Its identifying sign was a picture of Rosee. It would have had some kind of hearth or brazier to heat water and a set of shutters to close at night. The upper shutter would serve as a kind of awning and lower one a counter when the business was open.
Humble as it was, it appears the Pasqua Rosee's coffee shop was a successful business. In fact, it was successful enough to earn the ire of the owners of nearby competing alehouses. A group of these disgruntled competitors petitioned the Lord Mayor of London objecting that. as a foreigner, Rosee was not legally eligible to operate a trade or business in the city. (It seems that our concerns about the illegal employment of aliens is nothing new. It would also appear that excessive regulation of small business is not the invention of any modern political party.)
This was a problem, Hodges and Edwards had no desire to abandon what had become a successful business but were prohibited from open ownership. Rosee was prohibited by the guild restrictions of the day from operating it in his own name.
The solution was found the form of Christopher Bowman, a former apprentice of Mr. Hodges and a legal tradesman in the Grocers Guild. He was brought in as a partner with Rosee, ending the regulatory difficulties.
In 1656, Rosee and Bowman left their stall and rented the house across the alley. It was small and in disrepair, a poorly constructed wooden building more than 50 years old. Still, it had doors, windows, and a roof and so was a big step up.
Sometime in 1657 Rosee apparently left the business that continued to bear his name and likeness. There is no further record of him or his involvement in the coffee business.
Bowman succeeded in growing the business on his own. He soon extended his lease for 31 years and replaced the old building with a newly constructed three to four story townhouse with at least eight hearths. It was a large and very profitable expansion and described at the time as having an upstairs coffee room which was a sociable arena where the coffeehouse men conversed, gossiped and transacted business.
This was London's first coffeehouse.
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Rusty's Corner |
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Community: Resisting the Dark Side
 I grew up in a small town in northern California. It was a town, like so many in rural America, absolutely unique in its niche next to the Eel River and ordinary. It had no traffic light and only one stop sign. Commerce consisted of a barbershop, a beauty parlor, a restaurant, a gas station, a post office and one too many grocery stores.
Children grew up there swimming in the river, building forts in the forest in the unorganized kind of play we have forgotten how to allow children to enjoy. It was a great place to grow up but as we grew our lives moved in different directions. A few stayed and most left. That is the demographic fact of life that makes small towns small. It is nearly gone now.
Weott was a tight knit community, literally forged in fires and doused by floods. It is a town steeled by decades of economic decline.
In many respects it was an example of what is best in our communities. Everyone knew one another and cared. If someone lost their job or fell on hard times, a box of frozen venison was likely to appear on their front porch. When the water system needed repair, the men got together, brought or borrowed the equipment they needed and went to work. If money needed to be raised, the women baked cakes, pies, made jam from the local black berries and sold it all to one another. There were frequent potluck dinners and dances at the Legion Hall with a raffle to support whatever cause was important at the time. The proceeds from the unlicensed cash bar were also an important resource.
People got to together to get things done again and again. There was much laughter and many celebrations. It was a wonderful home town.
Still, there was a dark side to this community. Gossip raged with all its mischievous power. It was the kind of place where a family who had lived there for seven or eight years could still be referred to as the new family in the old Morrison place. Racial, religious, and ethnic epithets rolled off too many tongues far too easily and without sanction or even a sense of impropriety. Those who were part of the community were embraced and those outside its bounds were offered neither respect nor trust. There was a suspicion of the outsider that was often masked by a friendly smile.
This is a common conundrum. These are two sides of the same coin. The same force that draws us together into communities divides us in ways that can be both ignorant and ugly. It seems natural that having identified some as "us" causes us to consider others as outsiders, different, strange, a threat, ... "not like us." It seems that holding those dear to us close sometimes leads to holding others at arm's length or worse. At its best, this kind of tribalism can result in death by a thousand slights and the reinforcement of mutual prejudice. At its worst, the ability of humans to see people they don't know as not quite human is the force that leads to racism, religious intolerance, and, in the most awful cases, genocide.
This is not a new issue. Shakespeare had one of his most difficult characters complain, "Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh?" That is exactly the point, tribalism causes us to lose sight of the fact that what we have in common is far greater than what divides us.
Salman Rushdie noted, "This may be the curse of the human race. Not that we are so different from one another, but that we are so alike." The fact that "the other" is so much like us is what makes them a threat. Written into our basic make up is the unspoken recognition that the outsider is just like us ... a person who needs the same resources ... a competitive threat. That this may not be literally true in modern society does not make it any less true in the inarticulate world of our feelings and prejudices.
If our families, friends, and neighbors were really unlike those others that we exclude from our notion of community the exclusion would not sting. Nor would we need to enforce it with our coarsest language. If we didn't, in the end, want the same things and share the same feelings there would be no sense of competition, jealously, and anger. If we were not, in essence, the same in our humanity we would not need to view the outsider as "less than."
It is an old problem but not intractable. There are cosmopolitan environments where diversity is happily enjoyed. There are truly welcoming communities. We see them whenever we look.
The fact that such inclusive places exist is both a source of optimism and insight. Why are some communities open and diverse while others remain narrow and exclusive?
It seems that there are two factors. The first is opportunity. As I was growing up in Weott, there might have been one or more black families in the county but we didn't know them. In such a homogenous environment prejudice can thrive without fear of contradiction. This is the argument behind the strong commitment many universities have to affirmative action admissions and hiring programs. The principle is that diversity and proximity will promote openness and inclusion.
However, as any student of the history of America's school bussing programs knows, the results of structural integration programs can be very disappointing. It seems that it takes something more than familiarity to defeat contempt. Despite enormous efforts to promote integration, human beings have an equally enormous capacity to self-segregate. In other words, we can always avoid getting to know people no matter how many opportunities we have.
It takes an act of will or at least willingness to get to know people who appear different. It seems that those who we admire most for the depth and breadth of their friendships are those who go this extra mile. They are those we see greeting others, reaching out and introducing themselves. These people make a point of meeting new people and being as interested as they are interesting.
Open and inclusive communities require both an environment that creates the opportunity to meet others and a willingness to do so.
So the next time you are at your favorite coffeehouse, say "hi" to your friends. Then notice who else is there. (Remember that everyone refreshes at the Oasis.) Pay attention to someone you might not meet any place else because they usually travel in different circles. Strike up a conversation. You just might be delighted to find a spirit more kindred than you had imagined.
It's just a thought. | |
We hope you enjoy this newsletter almost as much as you enjoy your favorite treat at Coffee Oasis. Let us know what you think. Feel encouraged to tell us of any topics or features you would like to see in future issues.
See you soon at the Oasis.
Sincerely,
Rusty Cates
Coffee Oasis | |
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