Turkish Forum

Tag: Coffee

  • Can Coffeehouses Boost Creativity in the Arab World?

    Can Coffeehouses Boost Creativity in the Arab World?

    by Oubai Elkerdi, September 25, 2012

    CoffeeShop Large

    Since their inception in Istanbul in the 16th century, coffeehouses have been centers of free-wheeling and off-hand discussions, venues where unlikely migrations between different clusters take place and the starting point of many great ideas.

    In Europe, coffeehouses were the hub of scientific and artistic conversations. The salon-like atmosphere allowed people from all kinds of backgrounds to connect, mingle, and share. Diverse disciplines intertwined, married, and gave birth to innovative ideas in an environment that was optimistic and politically engaged. In other words, coffee shops were far from being places for pure leisure or a hangout for lost souls who had little to do.

    In 20th century Vienna, Berta Zuckerkandl, an influential salonnière, hosted artists, scientists, writers, and thinkers in her living room. The spirit of her salon was based on the free exchange of scientific and artistic ideas. This allowed artists to create paintings inspired by, say, the structure of a living cell. This is because innovation “is not so much a question of thinking outside the box, as it is allowing the mind to move through multiple boxes. That movement from box to box forces the mind to approach intellectual roadblocks from new angles”, says Stephen Johnson.

    Now we know why Pixar’s studio building, much like traditional coffeehouses, is “structured to maximize inadvertent encounters” and force interactions between different departments. Yet, employees are still encouraged to personalize their individual office spaces. The same is true for Microsoft’s building 99 where office walls – most of which are wipe-on/wipe-off – can easily be reconfigured to match the needs of the employees.

    While social interaction and collaboration are important for creative problem-solving, so is quiet, personal time. Quiet time is not only essential to brain development, but it is also the optimal environment for learning new skills. Distractions often prevent talent development, and a lot of social noise can be harmful to growth.

    Many creative gurus actually oppose the groupthink culture. In his memoir, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak writes: “Most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me – they’re shy and live in their heads. [The] very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone.”

    He later writes: “I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: work alone. You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team.”

    At the same time, let us not forget that as Wozniak was developing the Apple I, he incorporated feedback from members of the Homebrew Computer Club – an engineering club and group of people with shared interests. “They’d tell him about upcoming microprocessors and help troubleshoot his circuit board. They’d give him advice on working with floppy-disk drives and offer suggestions on negotiating with suppliers.” (Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works)

    The reason why Silicon Valley was home to dozens of success stories like Intel, Apple Computer, Cisco, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and later Netscape, Google, Netflix, and Facebook, and other places weren’t, is primarily due to the free flow of information and knowledge spillover that took place in computer clubs, restaurants, bars, and other coffeehouse-like locales.

    I recently learned that, in the past, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) was never just a chance to perform religious duties, but a meeting point for scholars and thinkers from different parts of the world to discuss the latest developments in their fields; the House of Wisdom was never the only source of innovation that sparked the Islamic Golden Age.

    Today, many coffeehouses in Europe and North America are still “hotbeds” of intellectual flowerings and provide an optimal platform for both lively group conversations and quiet reflections. Aside from inviting local artists to perform, a lot of coffeehouses possess interesting assortments of books and CDs on their walls, thus inviting dwellers to embark on serendipitously creative journeys.

    Furthermore, the architecture and design of the space – lighting, relative absence of televisions, and the cosy, relaxed setting – form the perfect ambience for concentration (many cafés even have silent study areas).

    This age-of-enlightenment feel is lacking in most Arabic cafés where the free exchange culture is muffled by loud pop music and glaring televisions. Indeed, such uninspiring, hookah-saturated spaces strangle creativity and do not welcome “knowledge-thirsty listeners” as they once did. What is true of many western coffee shops is not true of enough Arabic cafés, and if we want to see an age of innovation in the Arab world, then coffeehouses are a good place to start.

    So let’s start. What can we do to transform a social hangout that molds idle youth into a catalyzer of creative ideation and innovative projects?

    1) Design a thoughtful place for intellectual mingling. The first and most important step is to create an ergonomic, intellectually-friendly atmosphere that can help ideas flow, develop and mature. You want to make it easy for people to discuss for prolonged periods of time, and take advantage of unexpected meetings. You may need the help of an architect and a psychologist – because psychologists understand how different visual cues condition our thinking.

    2) Forget TVs, decorate with local artwork. Provide visual artists, musicians, and poets with an opportunity to showcase their talents. Your clientele will be delighted and inspired by the healthy jolt.

    3) Accumulate a library and encourage intellectual journeys. “London cafés were the first to provide newspapers to their clients, a move which attracted intellectuals and students willing to gather and discuss current affairs and trends affecting society.” Reading remains the supreme vehicle for the transmission of thought-provoking ideas and perspectives, so make sure you curate a diverse collection of interesting books and magazines.

    4) Invite thinkers, university professors, students, and hobbyists. Host meetings, open discussions, give workshops, allow people to study and work on their projects at your coffeehouse. This will increase the probability of intellectual spillover and open access to the academically possible for even those who are not in the group. Send warm, original invitations to a select group of people, “Tonight, come and study at our coffee shop. Hot chocolates and desserts on us.”

    5) Reward creative undertakings and ideas that sprout from your coffeehouse. Organize and host week-long competitions where you ask participants to find practical solutions to a specific problem your local community is facing. (You can impose constraints, or provide participants with a toolkit). By the end of the week ask everyone to present their solutions at the café in front of a panel of experts, and make sure the winning solution gets implemented.

    6) Drop the hookah, keep the air fresh. It’s cleaner, healthier, safer, and it’ll make you stand out. This will say a lot about the culture you’re trying to promote.

    These are just a few simple ideas that could transform Arabic cafés into stimulating and engaging environments that encourage creativity and growth. Re-thinking the purpose and design of coffeehouses – and other such settings – is an overlooked but critical part of development in the Arab world.

    Although this article is about coffeehouses, all of the ideas mentioned here are applicable to corporate cafeterias, lounges, recreational areas, etc. – imagine the potential!

    What do you think? Do you have any ideas on how to make coffeehouses hubs for creative ideation?

    —

    Oubai is a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at McGill University. He is interested in crowd-driven innovation and multidisciplinary collaborations. His main passion is human-design interaction and the role design plays in shaping society and culture. Oubai is also the cofounder of the Arab Development Initiative. You can reach him on Twitter @obeikurdy.

  • Real Turkish Coffee in Istanbul

    Real Turkish Coffee in Istanbul

    Two young men stood about 15 feet apart on a sunny narrow street in the Kadikoy market, chafing in their brown lab coats. The one tending to a handful of white marble tables barked “buyrun!” (roughly, “come and get it!”) at passersby, the other quietly wiped down seven or eight black marble tables.

    fazilbey

    The black tables – the ones in front of the veteran Fazil Bey Kahvesi – used to be white until they were replaced when a gaggle of upstart neighboring cafes put out their own white tables, presumably hoping to siphon off some of Fazil Bey’s business. Next door is Yavuz Bey and next to that Hurrem Efendi and just across the street Niyazi Bey, all serving Turkish coffee and seating customers at the same white marble tables. Buyrun!

    In Istanbul, fads burn white hot and competition can be comically ruthless. Be it coffee or mojitos, you’ll see butcher shops, bookstores and pharmacies retrofitted overnight to capitalize on the latest popular trend. We even know one (now former) barber, Suleyman, who recently hung up his shears, donned a fez and turned his barbershop into place to squeeze and sell fruit juice.

    We’re all for free enterprise and open competition, but the mushrooming of cafes on Fazil Bey’s street sets up a dangerous trap that many of us could fall into. Turkish coffee is Turkish coffee and the tables are all natural stone anyway, a visitor to this stretch of Kadikoy might think, so what could be the big difference?

    There’s only one way to find out. Patiently wait for one of those black-topped tables to open and order yourself an orta sekerli (medium sweet) and you will experience what it means to sip a truly superior coffee. At Fazil Bey, they roast their own Brazilian beans to a preferred (dark) color on the premises and grind them throughout the day into a fine powder, as Turkish coffee requires. Before even taking down the copper cezve to make a cup of coffee, Fazil Bey already has a leg up on most of the competition, who buy their coffee pre-ground from distributors.

    Freshness is a big factor but the in-house roasting is a tradition that goes back to the shop’s foundation in the 1920’s. According to Murat Celik, Fazil Bey’s roaster of thirty years, respect for this shop’s tradition is an important ingredient in a good cup. “Around here, you’ve got taxi drivers and kokorec vendors who quit that job and start making coffee,” he scoffed. “This is our grandfather’s profession.”

    At Fazil Bey we do believe the coffee is superior, but it’s the ritualistic experience here that we really enjoy. The tiny shop itself is like a sanctuary, with every nook and cranny filled with something precious and coffee-related. The intoxicating smell of fresh ground coffee wafts around the room like incense. Every detail of the service – the small metal service trays, the porcelain coffee cups with the Fazil Bey logo, small glasses of water and the square of lokum served alongside – adds up to one powerful cup of coffee. Sipping a coffee here, you can feel their respect for the coffee-making tradition and the generations that upheld it in this shop. That’s something that can’t be imitated with furniture.

    Address: Serasker Caddesi 1A, Kadikoy

    Telephone: +902164502870

    (photo by Ansel Mullins)

    via Real Turkish Coffee in Istanbul | Istanbul Eats.

  • Coffeehouse History: Coffee as a Social Stimulant

    Coffeehouse History: Coffee as a Social Stimulant

    Coffeehouses play a greater role than just providing your daily caffeine fix. From Yemen to Seattle, coffeehouses act as gathering places.

    abb52fc1ab27fa4c479842d89c50a180Many people like a hot cup of coffee to get them going in the morning or a mid-afternoon caffeine fix to make it though the day. Coffee plays little part in everyday life, but it can also play a larger role on a social level. Throughout history, coffeehouses have been meeting places to hold conversation, from playful banter to insightful discourse. They are also popular gathering grounds to create entertainment and to be entertained.

    A Passion for Coffee

    According to coffeeresearch.org, botanical evidence suggests that the coffee bean originated in Ethiopia but was cultivated in Yemen in the 6th century A.D. “Upon introduction of the first coffee houses in Cairo and Mecca coffee became a passion rather than just a stimulant,” reads the sites introduction.

    That passion is still strong today with coffeehouses, both franchised and independent, in business all over the United States. These coffeehouses aren’t just places to fill up on caffeine, but also social gathering places.

    About.com contributor Sean Paajanen notes that “The first record of a public place serving coffee dates back to 1475. Kiva Han was the name of the first coffee shop, located in the Turkish city of Constantinople (now Istanbul). Coffee was such an important item during that time period that it was legal in Turkey for a woman to divorce her husband if he could not supply her with enough coffee.”

    By the 1600s coffeehouses had made their way to Europe. Important people met in these establishments, which were called penny universities because it cost a penny or so for coffee there. Scholars, politicians and philosophers frequented penny universities to discuss current events and theories.

    A few hundred years later in the United States poets, writers and musicians were using coffeehouses in much the same way. Artists gathered in the coffee houses of the 1960s to share ideas and perform their latest works.

    Coffeehouses as a Constant

    Although the drinks might cost a bit more these days, the idea of the coffeehouse as meeting place for friends and colleagues has carried into this century. Poets, writers, musicians and artists of all kinds still gather there to share their art and even to market it. Starbucks even sells music exclusive to the chain.

    Today, websites like coffeehouse.com and coffeegeek.com provide online communities for coffee-lovers. Sites like these let users discuss their favorite coffees and coffee products and locate coffeehouses they might like to visit.

    via Coffeehouse History: Coffee as a Social Stimulant | Suite101.com.

  • Wake up and smell the coffee in Turkey’s beautiful Izmir

    Wake up and smell the coffee in Turkey’s beautiful Izmir

    Travellers need only take a stroll down Izmir’s Kordon promenade to be transported back into a forgotten world of Turkish coffee culture as Sarah Knapton found out.

    By Sarah Knapton

    It’s unlikely that you will have heard of Pasqua Rosee. And yet, on your average walk to work, you probably pass more reminders of his legacy than anyone else’s.

    Turkish coffee has changed little in 500 years

    Rosee brought coffee to London. He opened his first coffee house in a shed in the churchyard of St Michael’s Alley, Cornhill in 1652. Rosee was the servant of a British goods trader named Daniel Edwards. Edwards had met Rosee in Izmir, Turkey, and brought him back to England, along with his recipe for a rich, thick mud-like drink known as “coffee.”

    So popular was this new drink with Edwards’ London friends that he arranged for the beans to be imported and helped Rosee set up his first business.

    It was the start of a gastro-financial revolution. By 1675 there were more than 3,000 coffeehouses in England and Rosee had branched out in Europe, establishing Paris’ first coffee shop in 1672.

    His coffee house eventually inspired Procpopio Cuto to open the Café Procope which brought together the likes of Votaire, Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson and sparked the French enlightenment.

    And by 1688 Edward Lloyd, encouraged by the success of Rosee, had opened his own coffeehouse – Lloyds of London. It became an important meeting place for sailors, merchants, and ship owners and Lloyd kept them up to date with reliable shipping news. It was here that the modern insurance industry and stock market was born.

    And Turkish coffee, or kahve, had been responsible.

    The endlessly inventive milky, frothy, frappa-latte-chinos churned out by Starbucks today bear little resemblance to the thimbles of muddy exotica enjoyed by the 17th century renaissance gentleman. But if you visit Izmir today you can still taste a drink which has changed little in half a millennium.

    And all in a setting that inspired Homer to pen The Iliad and encouraged Alexander the Great to stop conquering for a while and take in the view.

    sunset cruise 1642316c

    Prepared by boiling finely powdered roasted beans in a pot – or cezve – the coffee is left to settle into a thick, strong, sludge. The drinker can usually manage around four or five sips before the dregs at the bottom become too viscous to finish.

    So ingrained is coffee in Turkish culture that the Turkish word for breakfast, kahvaltı, means “before coffee” while the word for brown is kahverengi, literally “the colour of coffee”.

    The Turks believed coffee to be a strong aphrodisiac and a spouse refusing to drink it was a legitimate cause for divorce.

    In Izmir you would be pushed to find a more tranquil or historically important spot to enjoy a cup than by the harbour. Dubbed “beautiful Izmir’ by the Turks, the city sits barely more than a few feet above the tideless Aegean, surrounded by mountains.

    The climate is balmy and Mediterranean but the scorching summers are cooled by the refreshing sea breezes.

    The palm lined promenade of Kordon is bustling with bars, restaurants and coffee houses and gives off an exotically evocative aroma of Shisha pipes, spices and, of course, coffee.

    It faces west making it an ideal spot to catch the setting sun as it sinks into the harbour. The impressive Konak pier was designed by Gustave Eiffel. Its lattice work is based on the same engineering which holds up the Eiffel tower and the Statue of Liberty.

    Almost all of the great ancient empires, the Lydians, Persians, Romans and Ottomans, to name but a few, have seen their empires rise and fall between the walls of Izmir.

    And looking out across the water over to the mountains it is easy to see why settlers chose the port more than 8,500 years ago.

    Legend has it that the city was founded by the Amazons and was originally named Smyrna after the warrior-queen of Hellenistic mythology. The city was the birthplace of Homer and The Iliad was first recounted on the banks of the Meles stream, between 750-700 BC.

    Modern day Izmir, however stands on a slightly different spot to the original footprint of Smyrna, a curiosity brought about by Alexander the Great who according to legend was visited by the goddess Nemesis in a dream having stopped to rest on Mt Pagus, a hill outside the walls of the original city. Nemesis ordered the city be moved to the hillside.

    Whether anyone seemed to object to such a whimsical uprooting of an entire city is not recorded. The oracle of Claros predicted the citizens would be four times happier than before.

    Undoubtedly the city continued to prosper, largely driven by its location on important trade routes. Aristotle even travelled to give lectures nearby for three years.

    Strabo, the ancient geographer wrote that Izmir was the most beautiful Ionian city of the time, even rivaling nearby Ephesus.

    And a visit to Ephesus gives some hint as to how astonishing Izmir must have been in ancient times.

    At its height, Ephesus was the capital of the Asian part of the Roman Empire and housed a population of 200,000. Although only partly excavated Ephesus is a vast sprawling reminder of how advanced ancient cultures were. It is still possible to walk down one of the multitude of ruined streets on a busy day in the tourist season and not encounter another soul.

    Cleopatra, Marc Anthony and St Paul all visited the city and it held the magnificent Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Although the temple has now gone, the façade of the Celsus Library is arguably one of the most beautiful and impressive examples of Roman architecture left standing. It was the third largest library in the classical world. Visitors entering the library can still pass the same four female statues representing wisdom, character, judgement and experience.

     

    Legend has it that Mary, the mother of Jesus, came to live near Ephesus with St John shortly before her death. Both Christian and Muslim pilgrims still travel to the small house on Mount Bulbul in which locals believed she died on August 15th every year. The grave of St John is also to be found nearby, under a later basilica.

    Izmir finds itself at the crossroads of civilisations. It was the east of the west and the west of the east where culture, religion and mystics gathered and fused into elaborate tapestry. Mosques, synagogues and churches still sit happily side-by-side in testament to its embracing and liberal attitude.

    It is no wonder that amid such a convivial atmosphere of acceptance that the coffee houses flourished when they were first introduced in the middle of the 15th century. And with them came a whole mysticism of their own.

    While the Chinese were staring into tea leaves, a similar way of telling the future was being decoded from the coffee grounds in Turkey.

    Even today the locals are quick to swipe your cup away and peer into the dregs to pick out the shape of a butterfly or a ring or a mounted rider.

    And the mysterious potency of coffee travelled with the beans to London. It was said the new drink could stop headaches, cure wind, gout, scurvy, prevent miscarriages and sore eyes.

    It is unsurprising that coffee took on such allure given the area from which it originated. Izmir has been famed as a spot for healing since ancient times.

    The Agamemnon Spas which were cited by Homer are now known as the Balcova Spas and it is said their thermal waters can cure upper respiratory conditions, chronic infections, rheumatism, metabolism and skin problems. The spas at Cesme are also said to cure genealogical, urinary and liver problems. In the volcanic landscape of Alacati herbal baths are prepared using the waters which are renowned for treating bone and joint disorders.

    The region is also peppered with Turkish bath houses. So if you don’t wish to drink the mud there will always be someone nearby to coat you in it.

    Yet it is likely the famed good health of Izmir’s inhabitants was largely to do with the diet of its people.

    Despite straddling two continents the cuisine of Izmir is far more European than Asian.

    The oldest olive oil workshop in the world is found just 38km away in the fishing village of Urla, which dates from 4000BC. Aubergines, peppers and pumpkin and figs are all are all staples. Izmir’s Kofte, salted fish, and sardines cooked in vine leaves are famed throughout Turkey. In almost every street, carts sell freshly baked simit – a ring of bread coated in sesame seeds which is often eaten for breakfast.

    Inland the plains are famed for aniseed, artichokes, onions, melons and tangerines as well as some of the only mastic tree gardens in the world. Herbs grown for salad dishes include mallow, stinging nettle, dandelions and teasel.

    The fishing boats still bring in a steady stream of red mullet, guilt headed bream, sea bass and whiting while the vines of huge vineyards soak up the sun on the mountainside.

    It is through its trade of such wines, food and oils as well as ongoing traditions of jewellery making and textiles that Izmir has flourished.

    The ancient Agora is one of the best-preserved Roman market places in the world, its vast three story arches standing testament to the importance of commerce in the city.

    The modern equivalent, the Kemeralti is similarly evocative. The old bazaar is a cavernous maze of jewellers, carpet sellers and, of course, coffeehouses.

     

    So the next time you are handing over your change for a cup of coffee, it’s worth remembering the role Izmir played. And not only in the coffee. For the world’s first parchment was created here in ancient times which would eventually lead to paper, cardboard and the cup holding your drink. The first metal coin was also struck in nearby Sardis.

    Izmir’s story is fascinating and well worth exploring. I could go on. But, strangely, I feel like stopping for a cup of coffee.

    Details:

    We stayed at the Movenpick in Izmir and flew with Turkish Airlines.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/turkey/8678795/Wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee-in-Turkeys-beautiful-Izmir.html

  • First Turkish coffee museum opened in Istanbul

    First Turkish coffee museum opened in Istanbul

    Source: ANSAmed

    Turkish coffee, one of the country’s symbols, now has its ”first museum” where visitors can learn how to make it correctly and have the opportunity to receive a certificate.

    Turkish coffee, one of the country’s symbols, now has its ”first museum” where visitors can learn how to make it correctly and have the opportunity to receive a certificate.

    The newspaper Hurriyet reports that the museum, opened in cooperation with Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry, is considered the ”first place where Turkish coffee is cooked and served in the most prominent way”, as described by the Turkish Coffee Culture and Research Centre. The ceremony was conducted on Saturday in the presence of Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay.

    The Minister, underlining the interest from abroad for Turkish coffee which became clear during the recent presentation of the project in the Far East, stressed the importance of the beverage for Turkish culture and pointed out that this importance was not officially reflected through any initiative, before the museum was opened.

    ”A cup of coffee is remembered for 40 years,” according to a Turkish way of saying, quoted by the Minister. Turkish coffee is made by putting very finely ground coffee in an ”ibrik”, a small kettle usually made of brass, together with water, sugar and sometimes spices like cardamom depending on tradition. The ingredients are boiled three times, making the final result syrupy. Before drinking, it must be left to settle for a few minutes. What remains at the bottom is used for a king of prophecy-making, practiced in Turkey and in the former Ottoman properties in the Balkan area.

    CEO Orhan Hallik of the BKG company that has promoted this and other similar initiatives with Gunay’s Ministry said: ”Here we will serve tourists traditional Turkish coffee. We will enable them to drink the ‘real’ Turkish coffee and experience the way it is cooked and served.”

    There will also be an ”education programme,” in which will be explained ”how Turkish coffee first came to the Ottoman Empire, the opening of the first coffee house, and how it became popular in Europe. We also tell visitors about the unique ritual of cooking and serving Turkish coffee. Those who finish the education program will be given a certificate,” Hallik announced to Hurriyet, though the article does not specify the length of the programme.

    The first certificate was handed out to the Minister who, after the opening ceremony, made a Turkish coffee in the venue’s kitchen. Turkey is proud of its traditions and of everything Turkish and has protected its national culture by law. Another symbol of Turkey in the eyes of the West, smoking, is on its way back on the other hand due to new regulations and campaigns against smoking.

    The Turkish government has issued new health rules that make it even necessary to cover the cigar Clint Eastwood is smoking in a western from the ’60s on television, using a stylised orange flower.

    via Turkey: First Turkish coffee museum opened in Istanbul :: EMG :: SEE news.

  • Coffee no longer grounds for beheading

    Coffee no longer grounds for beheading

    We all know coffee powers us. Now, it’s helping to power the planet. Thankfully, it can no longer get you executed.

    Starting with that last part, NPR’s Adam Cole just recounted the history of coffee prohibition, including 17th-century Ottoman ruler Sultan Murad IV’s habit of walking around Istanbul dressed as a commoner so he could personally decapitate coffee drinkers with his hundred-pound broadsword.

    Murad apparently thought coffee would inspire indecent behavior. Other rulers also banned the drink out of fear it would roil the populace.

    In 17th-century England, however, wives reportedly complained that coffee sapped their husbands’ ability to be suitably indecent with them.

    Flash forward to 21st-century North Dakota, where the Energy & Environmental Research Center at the University of North Dakota is leading a project to turn coffee-processing waste into energy.

    The center is working with Vermont-based energy solutions company Wynntryst produce synthetic gas from coffee residues, plastic packaging, paper, cloth or burlap, and plastic cups coming out of Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Green Mountain sells Keurig individual coffee cups and supplies coffee products to Starbucks and McDonald’s, among others.

    The “syngas” would then be used in an internal combustion engine or a fuel cell to produce electricity and heat or be converted to high-value biofuels or chemicals.

    “The EERC system has already produced power by gasifying forest residues, railroad tie chips, turkey litter, and other biomass feedstocks and burning the produced syngas in an on-site engine generator,” center Deputy Associate Director for Research Chris Zygarlicke said in a news release. “The coffee industry residues will be similarly tested.”

    Based on the outcome of the pilot project, the center plans to propose a full-scale system for use at various Green Mountain sites.

    Speaking of beverages that incite people and can be used for power, Edinburgh Napier University’s Biofuel Research Centre just launched Celtic Renewables Ltd, a company intended to commercialize a process for producing biofuel made from whisky by-products.

    The “biobutanol” is made from “pot ale,” the liquid from the copper stills, and “draff,” the spent grains. It can be used as a direct replacement for gasoline, or as a blend, without engine modification, and with less emissions, according to the company.

    “Scotland’s whisky has a world-wide reputation for excellence and generates huge benefits for our economy,” Fergus Ewing MSP, Scotland’s minister for Energy, Enterprise & Tourism, said in a news release. “It’s fitting, then, that the by-products of this industry are now being used in an area where we have so much promise – sustainable biofuels.”

    Visit seattlepi.com’s home page for more Seattle news.

    via Coffee no longer grounds for beheading | Seattle’s Big Blog – seattlepi.com.