h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There's a Starbucks in Vienna at the opposite side of the street to Sacher, right next to the opera. I think that's a bit... (lacking words today, anyone seen them?)

I was in Vienna in 2004, but I don't remember any Starbuckses.
I do remember the Central Cafe, which was excellent, and which had
good coffee and great desserts...

"America dos'ent know to brew a brew, so QED! and to Americans sorry
but its true the truly great civilisations are India, Japan, China, Great Britain, all of these drink tea, the brew of the gods" [Jackruss]

All of the civilizations that you mention are vastlyolder than that of the U.S. Is long tenure a requirement for developing a great civilization in your opinion? Also, it seems that climate plays a strong role. India, Japan, and China all have terrain suitable for growing tea. Great Britain does not, but she ruled India for a few centuries, so her citizens abandoned the coffee shops of the early 18th century and switched to tea instead. I would argue that coffee was the original nonalcoholic drink in Britain, and tea merely supplanted it because India had so much tea to offer. To the best of my knowledge, the U.S. doesn't grow much tea. However, the state of Hawaii has an excellent type of coffee called Kona.

The other side of the coin is whether the U.S. has (or wants to have) a "great civilization." In some ways I'm greatly disappointed in what the U.S. has contributed to the arts and lifestyles in general, yet in others she has been a great leader. So, you may be disappointed in some of the same things I'm disappointed in, which means that we agree. But you might not see some of the plusses that I see.

I'm sure that there are *many* Americans that do know how to brew tea. We're just not homogeneous. China is peopled by Chinese, and Japan by Japanese. The mix of peoples in the U.S. is much greater, and apt to change over time.

>> I would argue that coffee was the original nonalcoholic drink in Britain

Ooohhh, what an interesting thought. We used to drink Ale because the water was so bad; the great hot drinks of the 18th century, Tea, Coffee and Chocolate all required boiled water of course, which made them safe to drink. Expensive and addictive, but safe.

B

>> I would argue that coffee was the original nonalcoholic drink in Britain<<



Paul is right. We already had coffee houses before tea arrived in Britain


A25734323

Plug your own entry, why don't you?

The coffee houses became quite popular, not least because aristocrats and non-aristocrats could frequent them together. After awhile, some of the aristocrats grew tired of this degree of egalitarianism.

In any event, coffee houses had also become popular in other countries such as Germany and Austria.

Since then, tea has overtaken coffee in Britain, but coffee is still quite popular in the other countries.

YEah but yeah but....those first coffee houses were more like opium dens...than coffee houses...chocolate was here before coffee....
so >> I would argue that chocolate was the original nonalcoholic drink in Britain<< of the heated variety... but milk straight from the animals teat perhaps deserves the honour/honer...

>>Plug your own entry, why don't you?<<


I did, I did!

ah the evils of coffee consumption - Bach wrote a Cantata about that.

He did? Which one?

Well, there were *two* Bachs who wrote cantatas about coffee.

Johann Sebastian wrote the "Coffee Cantata," and his least illustrious son, PDQ Bach, wrote the "Sanka Cantata."

JS was the one I was thinking of

As far as I know there used to be a small café in San Francisco called the Coffee Cantata. I always wanted to go there

Heh! I read that as "which Cantata?" not "which Bach".

"ah the evils of coffee consumption - Bach wrote a Cantata about that."
[Sho]

"He did? Which one?" [Titania]

"I read that as "which Cantata?" not "which Bach".[Mrs. Zen]



I figured that it could go either way, plus I wanted to get PDQ Bach
some undeserved attention . PDQ Bach's alleged music
was actually written by a contemporary composer named Peter
Schickele, and it is hilariously inept.

> PDQ Bach's alleged music
was actually written by a contemporary composer named Peter
Schickele, and it is hilariously inept.<

Could you link?

I don't have any doubt about Bach's total genius...so I'd like to be able to see what I think.

I *always* trust my own instincts about good stuff...not what books tell you is good.

He looks like santa claus - http://www.schickele.com/ -

Here's a link: http://www.schickele.com/

The point of PDQ Bach's music is that it is *deliberately* inept in an amusing way.

He looks quite *stupid*

I'll probably give it a miss.

But thanks.

No worries. My ear isn't good enough to get the jokes anyway.

B

Who wants jokes to do with Bach?

I'm fussy, like with Shakespeare.

(But a French and Saunders Bach joke might be good though...he looks so annoyingly very silly male