The name of the coffee

European coffee has gone through Starbucks and even McDonald's collectivization, Americanization and even globalization. for many customers, the above names have become almost all choices in the coffee kingdom.

In a consumer society, the so-called necessities are no longer just to meet the basic needs. Like coffee, if you don't drink it, you won't die, but if you don't drink it, you won't be able to turn on electricity for a day. Unwittingly become an addiction-everyone has a light to catch? If it's not coffee, it will be something else.

In Hong Kong, not many people speak French Caf é au lait. People are more familiar with foaming latte. Fortunately, it has not been completely "localized" and is called "latte" coffee. The name of coffee, from coffee beans to coffee brands to coffee shops, is actually the knowledge of life.

When traveling to places where there may not be a coffee shop (such as my morning trip to Inner Mongolia), I must bring boxed instant coffee, usually Nescafe three-in-one. If you order coffee in a tea restaurant or a fast food restaurant such as Meixin, Giant Craftsman and Big Happy, you don't need to name the coffee. The former's "Jie Rong" style coffee and the latter's instant coffee are fragrant, but there is always a lack of flavor.

In fact, coffee is a bit like red wine, with a place of origin and a coffee farm name, in which coffee farmers plant coffee trees and harvest coffee beans. It is said that postmodern culture changes from "production" to "consumption". When we consume, we come into contact with all kinds of packaging, but it is actually separated from the production process, and the latter is completely backstage (unless satisfied as a display) and is not seen. The above coffee name is an example.

On one occasion, when I served as Cultural Mentor for the Ministry of Education of Hong Kong University of General Studies, I specially took four college students to help Xen, a specialty coffee shop, sipping coffee and chatting. Most of the coffee choices there are named after the country or region of origin, such as Java Arabica, Colombian Excelso, Sumatra Mandheling, Mocha Java Blend and so on. Yes, "Mocha" (the most authentic Arabic string is "Al-Mahka") is actually the name of a Yemeni port for exporting coffee, which has nothing to do with what people refer to as "chocolate coffee". If you have bought "fairtrade" coffee, you will naturally know that their "co-opt" coffee is also named after the country or region of origin, such as Ethiopia (Ethiopian), Guatemala (Guatemalan Rainforest) and Nicaragua (Nicaraguan). Every name is a story.