I try to remember to tag my own bits as non-canonical. Don't always remember, but I try. I imagine that it's a help to others that they know up front what's canon and what's not.
Hans
How Important Is Coffee?
- Thread starter Riik O'Shae
- Start date
Hans
As I mentioned in a previous post
I've established (IMTU) that the coffee plant was spread to several other worlds by the Ancients, notably Thaggesh (Vland 2530), one of the first worlds the Vilani explored. The Vilani spread the plant to a number of other worlds, and when the Terrans in turn began expanding, they brought coffee along to practically every world they came to.
Hans
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Another case of extreme foresight? There is no reliable evidence (per Wikipedia) regarding human use of coffee in any form prior to the 1500s, and the legends only go back to the 900s.
Coffea thaggesha not Coffea arabica. The Ancients transplanted entire habitats. The one transplanted to Thaggesh happened to have been gleaned from the highlands of Ethiopia and included several species of Coffea. [Non-canon]
(I actually couldn't find any information about how old genus Coffea is or if it was even around 300,000 years ago, but neither did I find any evidence that it wasn't, so that's my story and I'm sticking to it for now.)
Hans
Last edited:
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
The 1500s is when it got to Europe via the Turks attacking Vienna. Hard to say when people started drinking it, as those areas where it would have been consumed first do not really have any accurate historical records. I doubt if the Ancients would have bothered looking at plants in the highland area of Ethiopia, where coffee appears to have originated. Given the apparent limited terraforming of Vilan by the Ancients, making things easier for the humans does not appear to be a high priority.
Now, the Ancients would have had to do a lot more terraforming of Vargr planets in order to provide sufficient food for them, given some of the limitations on what a wolf can eat. But wolves were not very prevalent in sub-Sahara Africa, so the likely area for terra-forming materials, such as plants and animals for wolves would have been Europe, northern Asia, and North America. Central and South America, southeastern Asia, and Australia would have not had a lot of attraction for the Ancients.
I didn't say the Ancient who terraformed Thaggesh looked for any specific kind of plants when he gleaned stuff to seed his world with. I just said that the place where he collected his specimens happened to be upland Ethiopia.
The Ancients were very individualistic, as well as ineffable. What one Ancient did is of very limited use for deducing what another one would do.
As far as is known, (one of) the Ancients transferred Vargr to one world and one world only. Lair may already have been suitable for his prospective carnivore servants or he may have spent millenia making it suitable for his carnivore pets.
We don't know how many of the Ancients raided Earth for stock, but all of them did so on their own, and their motives have often been incomprehensible. I don't see any reason why one of them shouldn't have raided upland Ethiopia. Though almost certainly it would not have been the same one who uplifted the Vargr.
Hans
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
Except for that lab in Corridor.
Probably true.
That's one way to read the results (Humaniti planted on many worlds), but not the only way.
Owen E Oulton
SOC-1
Vile, nasty stuff fit only for degreasing engine parts.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Hmm, now that is a use that I have not see before. Does it work as well as gasoline?
Frankymole
SOC-12
Or cola!
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I almost mentioned Coca-Cola (trademarked name).
For those of you liking coffee (Not me), there is Black Blood of the Earth - A version of Viennese Triple Cold Extraction Coffee. This is what happens when you mix Coffee and Science!
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
My standard wake-me-up for an 8 O'clock final in college, and I had a lot of them as I liked afternoon classes, was two cups of cafeteria coffee (roughly Grade 3 on Heinlein's Scale of Coffee) and two large glasses of grapefruit juice. That got the eyes open and body moving.
Note: At my college, if you took morning classes, you had afternoon finals, afternoon classes had morning finals, so as to motivate students to take the early classes. Being a contrarian, I figured one week of early mornings beat an entire quarter of early mornings.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
Looking at the poll, it would appear that an important commodity to have for any Traveller gaming session is large quantities of coffee, say at least a 30-cup pot or so. Also, for those inclined, hot water for tea and an assortment of tea bags as well.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
I know that I have a fairly high tolerance for caffeine, but got reminded of it yesterday. I went out for lunch and was working on some background for a story I am writing, so sat for a while drinking coffee, specifically 3 good-sized mugs, say 12 ounces minimum. After I got home, I decided that a nap was in order, and was out cold for about an hour and fifteen minutes.
I have many similar tales. I like a nice cup of coffee before bed. Helps me sleep. Go figure.
BlackBat242
SOC-14 1K
Yes - for me, hot caffeine = naptime; cold caffeine = wired & awake.
If i have no other caffeine intake and have a cup late it will do the same for me.
Warms me up. However, right now, i have plenty of coffee intake so it wouldn't work.
It's interesting hearing people's preferred coffee products. I've been avoiding that major coffee shop because they're increasing the use of "modified" products.
Lately, I've been trying Jamaican Blue Mountain from my favorite box store. I prefer there have an organic hazelnut blend that's rather nice.
This is a long story, so feel free to ignore this and move back into your regularly scheduled coffee discussions.
==========
I served aboard the USS RANGER, a diesel-powered carrier. I went on three Western Pacific (WestPac) cruises on her. She was a great ship. However, there was a bit of a supply SNAFU that made my second cruise more interesting than most.
When we left port (San Diego) we headed out to Pearl Harbor. We were in Pearl for only a couple of days, and went out to do the business of the United States Navy (e.g., projection of power, protecting sea lanes, etc.). I had a friend who noted about two weeks into the post-Pearl portion of our cruise that the ship's stores seemed to be out of underwear. This was odd, but not of much concern to me (I had a dozen pair). However, I had sent down five pair to laundry a week earlier, five more pair that day, and the initial five had not come back yet.
The next day, we got laundry back, and everyone in my division (X2*) failed to receive their underwear. This was not something we could write off as an oddball coincidence. The idea that the ship's stores being out of underwear might give birth to an underwear black market on the ship just seemed too strange to take seriously. But, at that point, my two remaining pair of underwear became very important to me. I would wear one pair, then (while taking a shower) scrub them clean and let them hang in my rack to dry for the next day while I wore the other. I figured the first port of call, I was hitting the PX and getting some new skivvies. Unfortunately, each time we would get close to what was supposed to be another port of call, it was cancelled. After some time, my underwear situation was getting desperate.
Now, it was about a month after Pearl than the normal divisional coffee rations stopped. It seemed that the Supply Officer had not only messed up by way of not having the uniform/clothing items that were needed, but also the coffee supply. Best I could tell, the First Class Mess, the Chief's mess, and the Wardrooms still had coffee, but the lower enlisted were pretty much screwed on that front (not a huge deal to me, I drink Mt. Dew for my pick-me-up). It did not take long for morale to take a huge hit. The CO (Captain Robert Hickey) came on the 1MC (communications system) to inform us that, while not having coffee might be a pain in the butt, this was a ship of war and that we all just needed to tighten our belts and deal with it.
Skip forward a week. The First Class mess has no coffee. More grumbling. But not much by way of action.
Skip forward another week. The Chief's mess has no coffee. A lot of grumbling. The CO gets back on the 1MC to remind us that this was a ship of war and that we all just needed to tighten our belts and deal with it.
There are many stories that circulated dealing with this next event. Some say that some Chief's orchestrated it. Others say it was just the supply finally running out. However it happened, the CO woke up one morning and was informed that the Wardroom had no coffee. There was, I am told, a lot of yelling and screaming followed by a bunch of calls to various officers that were a part of CINCPACFLT** and by the next day, we had two supply ships, one on either side of us, doing an (and I kid you not) emergency underway replenishment of the ship. As soon as the stores were put away, there was a ship wide divisional coffee distribution. The CO attempted to deny that coffee was the driving factor... but word travels fast on a ship.
They did not bring any underwear aboard.
Strangely, there was another underway replenishment about two weeks later. I was sure I would be able to get underwear then. No... it was a bunch of electronics that the Supply Officer brought on board to have a huge sale on the mess decks with.
We eventually pulled into Dubai and I was able to buy 20 pair of underwear. Officially, the underwear that disappeared in the laundry facilities was never located.
So how important is coffee? I report. You decide.
-----
* -- Data Processing Technicians were normally assigned to the Supply Officer (designated S7); on the Ranger we were assigned to the Executive Officer (designated X2).
* Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet
==========
I served aboard the USS RANGER, a diesel-powered carrier. I went on three Western Pacific (WestPac) cruises on her. She was a great ship. However, there was a bit of a supply SNAFU that made my second cruise more interesting than most.
When we left port (San Diego) we headed out to Pearl Harbor. We were in Pearl for only a couple of days, and went out to do the business of the United States Navy (e.g., projection of power, protecting sea lanes, etc.). I had a friend who noted about two weeks into the post-Pearl portion of our cruise that the ship's stores seemed to be out of underwear. This was odd, but not of much concern to me (I had a dozen pair). However, I had sent down five pair to laundry a week earlier, five more pair that day, and the initial five had not come back yet.
The next day, we got laundry back, and everyone in my division (X2*) failed to receive their underwear. This was not something we could write off as an oddball coincidence. The idea that the ship's stores being out of underwear might give birth to an underwear black market on the ship just seemed too strange to take seriously. But, at that point, my two remaining pair of underwear became very important to me. I would wear one pair, then (while taking a shower) scrub them clean and let them hang in my rack to dry for the next day while I wore the other. I figured the first port of call, I was hitting the PX and getting some new skivvies. Unfortunately, each time we would get close to what was supposed to be another port of call, it was cancelled. After some time, my underwear situation was getting desperate.
Now, it was about a month after Pearl than the normal divisional coffee rations stopped. It seemed that the Supply Officer had not only messed up by way of not having the uniform/clothing items that were needed, but also the coffee supply. Best I could tell, the First Class Mess, the Chief's mess, and the Wardrooms still had coffee, but the lower enlisted were pretty much screwed on that front (not a huge deal to me, I drink Mt. Dew for my pick-me-up). It did not take long for morale to take a huge hit. The CO (Captain Robert Hickey) came on the 1MC (communications system) to inform us that, while not having coffee might be a pain in the butt, this was a ship of war and that we all just needed to tighten our belts and deal with it.
Skip forward a week. The First Class mess has no coffee. More grumbling. But not much by way of action.
Skip forward another week. The Chief's mess has no coffee. A lot of grumbling. The CO gets back on the 1MC to remind us that this was a ship of war and that we all just needed to tighten our belts and deal with it.
There are many stories that circulated dealing with this next event. Some say that some Chief's orchestrated it. Others say it was just the supply finally running out. However it happened, the CO woke up one morning and was informed that the Wardroom had no coffee. There was, I am told, a lot of yelling and screaming followed by a bunch of calls to various officers that were a part of CINCPACFLT** and by the next day, we had two supply ships, one on either side of us, doing an (and I kid you not) emergency underway replenishment of the ship. As soon as the stores were put away, there was a ship wide divisional coffee distribution. The CO attempted to deny that coffee was the driving factor... but word travels fast on a ship.
They did not bring any underwear aboard.
Strangely, there was another underway replenishment about two weeks later. I was sure I would be able to get underwear then. No... it was a bunch of electronics that the Supply Officer brought on board to have a huge sale on the mess decks with.
We eventually pulled into Dubai and I was able to buy 20 pair of underwear. Officially, the underwear that disappeared in the laundry facilities was never located.
So how important is coffee? I report. You decide.
-----
* -- Data Processing Technicians were normally assigned to the Supply Officer (designated S7); on the Ranger we were assigned to the Executive Officer (designated X2).
* Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet
