Modern Marvels - Coffee (History Channel Documentary)

[BentheBarista]

Hi all,

I'm new. Only been a Barista for a few months, but I plan to be a coffee slave all through college. Nice to find this site--I need some work on my drinks. I'll habitually mismix flavors--spices with sweats--that sort of thing.

I was just wondering if any of you caught that History Channel documentary on java last week? They had some excellent roast masters on there discussing the body of beans...

Yeah, I'm a nerd, if you haven't caught on yet--lol.

Did you know that Phillip Morris owns Maxwell House? I never would have thought that. Crazy documentary. Anyways, nice to meet you all,

-Ben

[Matthew Brinski]

Yeah,

Kraft (Philip Morris), Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, and Sara Lee are known as "The Big Four" in the coffee industry. They import and sell the majority of coffee to the US and Europe. They are the parent compaines of probably most every brand you have heard of.

[mattwells]

Kraft (Philip Morris), Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, and Sara Lee are known as "The Big Four" in the coffee industry.

And/or "The Evil Four" depending on who you are talking too

[HB]

From the History website: Modern Marvels: Coffee

Traces the origins of this tasty drink from Ethiopia over 1,000 years ago to the espresso-fueled explosion of specialty coffee stores like Starbucks today. Along the way, we'll see how American companies like Hills Brothers, Maxwell House, Folgers, and MJB grew to be giants. Discover how billions of coffee beans make their journey from coffee farms and plantations, and are processed in gigantic roasting and packaging plants before showing up in coffee cups all over the world. Details the invention and production of instant coffee, decaffeinated coffee, freeze-dried coffee, and the espresso machine. Also, we explain how coffee made shift work in factories possible, while coffeehouses provided a creative cauldron that brewed political and artistic progress in the 18th and 19th centuries. And, we also provide tips on how to make a better cup at home!

It's scheduled to replay next Wednesday at 9pm.

[BentheBarista]

It's scheduled to replay next Wednesday at 9pm.

Eastern or pacific?

[HB]

As always, check your local listings. Their programming schedule lets you set the timezone and it says 9pm PST.

[RAS]

I've been looking for this documentary for some time now... I finally set up my DirecTV TiVo to search for the keyword "coffee". Last night it automatically recorded a coffee documentary on the National Geographic Channel, as well as some Fine Living program about coffee preparation. Didn't get a chance to watch either yet, but this auto-search feature seems neat so far. OK, it did record an episode of "Sex in (and?) the City" that got immediately deleted. Now I'll see if it'll finally capture the History Channel program... Which I've heard is well done, and informative.

Oh yeah, the coffee-search also grabbed a cooking show about coffee encrusted Ribeye steaks. Got to try that one.

[MattBellissimo]

The Modern Marvels "Coffee" is great. Bellissimo actually provided about 60% of the coffee related footage from previous video and our film library. We tried to buy enough to offer them on our website but are out of stock. You can buy it here on History Channels website: http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=74488

It is very well done, with great interviews with Howard Schultz, Bruce Milletto and many more. There is an extensive section on Maxwell House and Senca, but much of it is related to specialty coffee and retail, processing, history, etc.

- Matt

[cannonfodder]

The one that airs on the national geographic channel is different. My wife and I were sitting on the couch one afternoon and she was flipping through the channels on the satellite. She actually noticed and changed the channel. What was more amazing, she sat there and watched it with me, she found it entertaining (she does not drink coffee).

[Marshall]

Yeah,

Kraft (Philip Morris), Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, and Sara Lee are known as "The Big Four" in the coffee industry. They import and sell the majority of coffee to the US and Europe. They are the parent compaines of probably most every brand you have heard of.

It's been the "Big Three" for a couple of years, since Sara Lee sold off Chock Full o'Nuts and Hills Bros.

[CoffeeBeau]

Luckily my community college COD in Glen Ellyn IL, has both the Modern Marvels of Coffee, and Black Gold about the Fair trade movement. Now that is a show stopper. Makes me think about this coffee thing, and appreciate a good fair trade bean, or even better the Direct Trade that Intelly is working on.

Bob

[Brewdaddy74]

I'm a newbie myself. That show is what started my down the path to coffee nirvana. I've started home roasting and brewing with a newly aquired french press. As I type there is a Rocky and Miss Silvia on the way. My wife has threatened to throw out the television if I watch Modern Marvels ever again........

Brian

[gtrman]

I'm a newbie myself. That show is what started my down the path to coffee nirvana. I've started home roasting and brewing with a newly aquired french press. As I type there is a Rocky and Miss Silvia on the way. My wife has threatened to throw out the television if I watch Modern Marvels ever again........

Brian

Ah yes! the History Channel. That special also started off my coffee experience. Though no one has threatened to throw the TV out if I watch modern marvels again, I'm sure its not that far off.