Café de l’Ambre, Tokyo

(The following is based on an Article by Ken Belson, published in the New York Times on July 12th 2009. Thank you to the author for his kind permission to include this information in this blog.)

 I must introduce this Café to all those with access to my Blogs and my Forum “the Coffee Universe” by XING, although i was never there, never in Japan, never in Asia… However, EVERYTHING tells me, this is a special place for coffee, for coffee lovers and coffee believers. So i must let all know about this spot in Tokyo.

It is called Café de l’Ambre.

Mr. Sekiguchi is 95 years of age and still roasts today in his Café. He opened this Café l’Ambre in 1948 and his first coffee beans

as George Washington was looking…

As George Washington was looking into what was left of his coffee, he found no coffee grounds, but found himself.

Or was that Wolfgang von Goethe?

Extroverted and Introverted Espresso

It is quite a few months ago – while enjoying a small space and a wonderful coffee – that I was reminded that extravagance and simplicity, as a form of expression, are not at all related, but in their contents they are not necessarily different and even at times it might be impossible to differentiate between the two. Hence I wish to speak in this context from an extroverted and an introverted  espresso way.

Around the middle of the 19th century the French had shown the idea of an espresso machine. They displayed a prototype at the 4th World Fair in Paris, back in 1855. It was not until 50 years later, however, that Desiderio Pavoni and Luigi Bezzara introduced

Paintings of Coffeehouses – Hans-Peter Mueller

An artist who knows very well how to portray the life and tradition in coffeehouses through his paintings - Hans-Peter Müller.

I was lucky enough to see a couple of his paintings live in a private

The right spoon for the Coffee

There is a question often asked and the answers usually vary:

What is the difference between a coffee spoon and a teaspoon?

Herewith i wish to mention the relevance of the size related to the drink and not to the spoon as measuring instrument.

Usually tea is served hotter than coffee, but it is not drunk in its hot stage. In order to be able to start drinking shortly after it has been served, a larger (wider) cup is used, than those for coffee. To further reduce the waiting time, a spoon is used to cool off the fluid and the larger the spoon, the quicker the tea will be drinkable. Drinking coffee requires a different role for a spoon. It is only in use to stir the milk and the sugar, without a need for cooling. Thus the coffee spoon is smaller, having less effect on the temperature of the drink.

If you care for the rules of etiquette, for your demanding customers and for serving those less demanding correctly as well, always make sure to serve a coffee with a coffee spoon.

 

 

Ein Kaffeelöffel ist demzufolge kleiner, als ein Teelöffel.