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Show Crosscurrents April 4, 1997 and pays the bill. So says Lee Atchison, one of the groups members. Brewer, a retired engineer, says one of buddies sometimes forg his he number the picks. gets If the guy running the game messes up, he pays. That could be seven or eight dollars," he says. coffee-drinkin- Ah, coffee. So dear, yet so vital. experiences in subtle ways you wont hear at a council meeting. As you get older, you share more," Brewer says. We know what to expect from each other. We share our doctor experiences. ... Weve had some battles,, some bad hair days ... but we look after each other. Its an interesting social order." Brewer uses his coffee group as a soundThe seeds of the coffee trees red berries are one of natures great civilizers. ing board. The aggregate sum of comments Coffee bouys conversation among made by the group helps influence his friends and strangers. It lubricates break- council decisions. I throw my hat out and fast with the newspaper. It makes long sec if its going to be shot full of holes. Then drives tolerable. It makes drinking alone I go from there." a pleasure. Some coffee drinkers can determine who got to the office first that morning according to how the coffee tastes. But some Four Corners coffee Matches have been sitting down for coffee every weekday for nearly half a century without their members having a clue what brand theyre drinking. Brewer's Match is like that. It claims to be open to ordinary folks. Anyone can sit down and join us for coffee," he says diplomatically. In truth, though, the group comprises a regular cadre of half a dozen or so men, some of whom are pillars of the communin. like former Farmington Mayor Bob Culpepper, former Municipal Judge Rov Marcum and businessman l,ce Atchison, a top aide to former New Mexico Gov. Carrey Carruthers. They talk of day-to-d- For groups who drink at the Strater Hotel or Plaza Pharmacy in Durango, or T.J s or Cindys Cafe in Farmington, its not the coffee but a sense of time, place and community thats at the center of their routine. Members w ill tell you not much happens during coffee. History reminds us, though, that coffee shops gave buzz to many artistic, literary, economic and even revolutionary movements. It was said to be over coffee that 18th century shipowners, shipbrokers and merchants concerned with declining Baltic trade met in and formed the Baltic Mercantile and Shipping Exchange. Lloyds of London, the world's greatest international insurance institution and the world center of shipping intelligence, began in Edward Lloyds Pth century coffee house on Lombard Street, where one could get reliable information and a good cup of cof Page 13 fee. In 1732, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a coffee cantata. Where do beans come from? Two hundred years later, after World War II, government studies said that 10,000 marriages a year could be directly traced to shared coffee breaks. Miss coffee, according to ancient Arab law, and a woman had grounds for marital separation. Back then a husband couldnt refuse to make and serve coffee for his wife. XTiere was Leon Trotsky when Russias 1917 October Revolution was declared? At a cafe, drinking the beans, according to one Austrian foreign minister. And then there are the stories about some of the original coffee Match gangs, who drank, but not together: Freud, Adler, Einstein, Picasso, Dali, Sartre, Camus and Ginsberg all had coffee to thank for their great works. And how about those Ottoman Turks after their unsuccessful invasion of Austria in 1683? The first Viennese coffeehouse was opened that year, with the sacks of beans the Ottomans left behind. Must be the coffee. After all, the Turkish kahveh" or the Arabic qahwah" translates to excitement. According to myth, a young Arab goat herder named Kaldi discovered the stuff sometime between 600 and 80 A.D. Kaldis herd never came home one night, so he set out the following morning on a tiresome search for the miscreants. He discovered his normally calm An incomplete list of suppliers Durango Coffee Company seems to be the only supplier based in the Four Comers region that grounds and roasts coffee. Some of the restaurants it supplies: Durango: Seasons, Gazpachos, Red Snapper, Ore House, Cyprus Cafe, Rendezvous, Durango Bagel, CyberChat Cafe, and many others. Farmington: Durango Bagel Bakery coffees: Please see page 14 Durango: N- - Carver's Bakery Supplier t Val Mountain CoffeeShamrock Buzz House Supplier: Aroma Coffee, Santa Fe, N.M. Steaming Bean: European Roasteries, New Prague, Minn. TDK Espresso: Seattles Best Coffee (SBC), Seattle Oscars: Farmers Coffee, r supplied by purveyor Strater: Folgers, supplied by purveyor Farmington: Cindys Cafe: Fresh Ground Yuban, supplied by purveyor TJ.s Downtown Diner: Folgers, supplied by purveyor Home Sweet Home: Allegro Coffee, Boulder Cascade Coffee Service: Hills Brothers |