Storyville Coffee Company, based in Seattle, Washington, is giving all of its profits for May to the International Justice Mission to help free slaves around the world. Company officials talked to The Christian Post about it:

“The cost of giving everything away for one month felt necessary when we stopped to consider the value of a rescued human life,” explained Ryan Gamble, co-president of Storyville Coffee Company, to The Christian Post.

“At first we considered giving a portion of the profit away, but that didn’t feel right. Then we talked about giving all of the profit away, but that didn’t seem like enough either,” he said. “Ultimately we decided that anything less than everything would not be enough.”

I need to buy some coffee.

At first I thought this was ALL THE Evidence YOU’LL EVER NEED to see the World is going to Hell in a Handbasket. Some Sadist asked people whose coffee they preferred, McDonald’s or Starbucks. “Overall, McDonald’s won 43 percent to 35 percent, but if you break down the numbers, you’ll find the stereotypes about ‘latte-drinking liberals’ prevailing. Self-described liberals favored Starbucks 46 percent to 33 percent, while conservatives favored McDonald’s 50 percent to 28 percent. Moderates fall in between, with 44 percent favoring McDonald’s and 37 percent going for Starbucks. Protestants and Catholics favor McDonald’s, while the religiously unaffiliated choose Starbucks.”

But there is a touch of hope. Alisa Harris, the coffee shop beat reporter, writes, “In independent coffee shops, people get their coffee in actual mugs and sit down in actual chairs, and look at art or create it on laptops, and have actual conversations.”

Consumer Reports tests the flavors of 100% Colombian coffee from different brands. Eight O’Clock Colombian coffee won out. I respect 100% Colombian coffee, regardless the brand. Somehow, it always tastes better than the same brand’s regular blend.

Do we have free trade with Colombia yet? They have good guys in office now, right?

In a journal on his three months in the States, printed in 1867, Henry Latham wrote about celebrating Christmas in the Baltimore countryside:

Christmas festivities had begun ; every ten minutes or oftener a gun or a squib was fired off, giving one the idea that the war had not ended yet at Ellicott’s Mills. Christmas is not properly observed unless you brew “egg-nog” for all comers; everybody calls upon everybody else; and each call is celebrated by a solemn egg-nogging. Egg-nog is made in this wise: our egg-nog was made so, and was decided after a good deal of nogging around, to be the brew in Ellicott’s Mills: “Beat up the yolks of twelve eggs with powdered sugar, then beat up with them a pint of brandy, a quart of cream, and a quart of milk; lastly beat up the whites of your twelve eggs, and add them as a head and crown to your syllabub.” It is made cold, and is drunk cold, and is to be commended. We had brought a store of sugar-plums, as the children all expect presents at this time. They hang up their stockings on Christmas Eve, and in the morning find them filled with goodies. At New York this is done by Criskindle (Christ kinde) and at Baltimore by Santa Claus (San Nicolas).

I always enjoyed eggnog this time of year, but of course, I never make my own, and I doubt it could be called “nogging” even if I drank a whole quart myself. I prefer to buy the Southern Comfort brand. The flavor and thickness of this brand appeals to me most. Mayfield, which I believe is a great diary brand primarily in my region, has good flavor but it’s too thin. Borden tastes bad, and I don’t remember the others we rejected. Hood has some flavored eggnogs in my area, and they taste good, just not as good as Southern Comfort (which is non-alcoholic if you need to ask–do they sell alcoholic eggnog in grocery stores?).

I haven’t tasted the benefits of mixing my nog with brandy, though I’ve done that a few times. I see that George Washington had his own recipe which used rye whiskey, rum and sherry–a stout drink of the stout-hearted. I couldn’t handle it.

Do you like eggnog? Do you prefer one brand over another, or do you have a homemade recipe?

Ten thousand Starbucks employees are helping rebuild New Orleans‘ parks, schools, and houses while in town for a convention. “This is the largest single volunteer corporation effort I’ve ever seen, and I’ve worked with hundreds of corporations,” one community leader said.

Ahoy! Did ye’av a bonnie day of it today, young reader? Mayhap, ye’d like to cap it off with a mug o’ rum, or grog if the barkeep has nothing better? As ye may know, rum comes from Caribbean sugar cane. Me matie Scurvy Carl says,

Converting cane into sugar is an industrial process that produces byproducts: cane juice and molasses. Caribbean islanders soon began converting these byproducts into cheap liquor, known first as Kill-Devil, then later as Rumbullion, and then simply as rum. This was powerful stuff. An early critic referred to it as “hot, hellish, and terrible.”

And right he is too. Let’s see if we can’t call for something out of the bung hole, eh. Aye.

Rob Baedeker writes in Forbes Traveler:

This is what happened to the unsuspecting gentleman who tried to order an old-fashioned cup of joe at Café Grumpy. The barista enthusiastically explained the characteristics of the different single-cup options on the menu. In the space of a few minutes, the customer’s order transformed from “just a cup of coffee” to a custom-brewed, medium-bodied roast with mild acidity, a blueberry fragrance and lingering chocolate on the finish.

If that sounds like an experience you’d like, check out this list of interesting, possibly beautiful, and definitely aromatic coffee shops in America. If you just want a cup of the black bean no questions asked, go to a diner.

Don’t you think it would be helpful if all coffeehouses decided what menu item of frappu-nappi-mocha-lattes they will give the tired customer who just wants a cup of joe? Does everyone have to have an education before ordering?

A group of researchers conclude that sleep-deprived rats get juiced a bit on the smell of coffee alone. No taste, no sip, just a whiff. Because you know the best part of waking up is the smell of coffee in your house.

Also, here’s a report on long-term drinking of coffee may keep you from heart disease. And here’s your grain of salt to take with these reports.

In other news, our probe has found white stuff on Mars. Some believe it is the cocaine that lead to the end of Martian civilization. Skeptics doubt this belief.