Coffee, Tea and MeRT Cunningham |

Good Tasting Water makes Good Tasting Tea

RT Cunningham — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:09:15 +0000

Everyone knows that tap water tastes horrible. That is, of course, unless all you drink is tap water and you get used to the taste. For everyone else, the choices are drinking bottled water or filtered water from your own water lines (or tap). Julie from Inspired Water sent me some links to a fairly new tap water filtration pitcher but before I mention any more about it, I'll let you in on some of my experience.

Home Water Filtration Systems

When I bought my previous house in 1994, the first thing I did was to have a full-home water filtration installed. The cost was over $3,000, but that cost included a large multiple stage filter (motorized, it used salt to clean the filters) in the garage, a reverse osmosis unit under the kitchen sink and all parts and labor.

The water supply to the garden hoses, to the laundry room, to the bathrooms (we had three) and to the kitchen sink were all filtered by the unit in the garage. The reverse osmosis unit under the sink was fed the same filtered water. There were two faucets on the sink. One was for the regular, filtered tap water and the other was a smaller faucet for the pure drinking water produced by the reverse osmosis unit.

The filtering unit in the garage would not need to be replaced for 15 years – we sold our house at the 12-year mark. Certain filters in the reverse osmosis filter had to be replaced yearly. I estimate the cost of the filter replacements and the salt pellets (which lasted about a month) to be around $200 a year.

Now that I live in the Philippines, my choices are limited. I'm stuck using bottled water from a water dispenser and I can tell the difference in the showers and toilets. The tap water here is extremely hard. I only drink bottled water and use it for both coffee and tea. I would like more choices, but the other choices aren't affordable to someone like me on a fixed income. Not only that, but availability is an issue. Replacement parts and supplies may or not be obtainable locally.

Kitchen Sink Filtration Systems

When filtering water at the kitchen sink only (as opposed to a full-house system), there are two options. One is a filtering unit that attaches to the faucet and the other is a filtering pitcher you hold under the faucet. Either option is better than plain tap water.

With the on-the-faucet option, you have to consciously change the settings to get filtered water or regular tap water. This is what my older son uses in his kitchen. I can't count how many times people have forgotten to turn the knob to off before washing dishes or washing their hands.

With a filtering pitcher, you don't have to remember to change anything (other than the filter in the pitcher when it needs to be replaced). Filtering pitchers are also relatively inexpensive compared to all other options. The water-purifying pitcher by Mavea is what Julie wrote me about. She provided a link to a Time magazine article, "Thinking Big", which basically reviews the pitcher. She also sent me a link to a YouTube video about a tea challenge comparing tap water to the Mavea water-purifying pitcher and here it is:

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Is Coffee Beginning to Get Scarce?

RT Cunningham — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:54:04 +0000

It may not be time to start hoarding grind coffee, instant coffee or coffee beans just yet. According to reports, however, a coffee scarcity is just beginning. Whenever something starts becoming scarce, prices go up. Have you noticed prices going up for coffee yet?

Coffee Exports to Drop

According to Bloomberg Businessweek, "Coffee Exports to Drop Amid 'Scarcity,' ICO Says".

The chief exporters, Colombia and Brazil, just aren't capable of producing more coffee right now. I don't know what the deal is with Colombia, but Brazil apparently received too much rainfall last year.

Stock market investors are having a field day, expecting prices to rise even further than they already have.

Home Grown Coffee

It may be time to start thinking about buying coffee grown in your home country. It wasn't by design, but I've been buying a local brand of coffee since I've lived in the Philippines: Nescafé. I buy the instant coffee that comes in 200 milliliter jars, at a cost of 215 pesos or a little less than USD $5.00 per jar. It's grown, packaged and produced by Nescafé Philippines even though it's not locally owned. The price hasn't gone up in the last year, of that I'm sure.

It's far cheaper than any of the imported coffee products and tastes better than most. Nescafé is also sold as canned iced coffee, just like other well-known brands. I have been trying to put aside some money to buy a decent automatic drip coffee maker but… not only have I not set aside the money, I haven't actually seen a decent automatic drip coffee maker since I started looking around.

I don't think Nescafé is sold as grind coffee. I could be wrong, but I've never seen anything but what I mentioned (and that includes their pricier brand, Taster's Choice). If coffee exports are indeed dropping and prices are rising, then it's in my best interest to just continue drinking what I've been drinking – Nescafé instant coffee.

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Are you Tired of Coffee Studies yet?

RT Cunningham — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:51:12 +0000

I don't know about you, but I am. One day I'll read a report on a coffee study that says coffee is bad for you. The next day I'll read a report that says coffee is good for you. One report will talk about the negative effects of caffeine. The next report will talk about the positive effects of caffeine. Are there really any coffee studies that provide a balanced view? Who pays for these studies? The latest study I read has a huge gaping hole in it.

The Morning Jolt

This report, "Wake up, coffee drinkers – that morning cup doesn't really make you more alert, study finds", states things that are obvious without stating what should be obvious.

Basically, the story reports that non-coffee drinkers become alert in the morning as quickly without coffee as coffee drinkers do with coffee. The study, as far as I can tell, doesn't take into consideration that not all non-coffee drinkers drink caffeine-free beverages in the morning. Some of them drink soda or hot tea, both of which contain caffeine. Of course, it doesn't seem to take decaffeinated coffee into consideration either.

What it leaves out, the big gaping hole, is the effect that coffee (with caffeine) has on people who don't drink coffee regularly. From my own experience with people like that, coffee has a stronger effect on them than any of the so called energy drinks.

It's Just Coffee

Regardless of any health benefits or lack thereof, most people I know drink coffee just because they like to drink coffee. It has nothing to do with being alert or getting a jolt from the caffeine in the morning.

It's not like regular coffee is man-made or anything, like soda and energy drinks. Coffee is made from the seeds of the coffee fruit, from the coffee plants, which are called coffee beans simply because they look like beans. Pure coffee grounds or pure instant coffee is made from ground up coffee beans (although you can eat chocolate-covered coffee beans at your own peril).

The only way that consuming coffee could be any more natural would be to eat the fruit as it comes from the plant. I hear they don't taste too good, but I've never tried one.

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Beware of Chinese Coffee Makers

RT Cunningham — Thu, 20 May 2010 19:59:52 +0000

Here's an interesting news piece I just came across. You can read my advice after skimming over the information:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2010
Release #10-238 Firm's Recall Hotline: (800) 925-6278

Walmart Recalls General ElectricÂ® Coffee Makers Due to Fire Hazard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product.

Name of Product: General ElectricÂ®-branded 12-cup digital coffee makers

Units: About 900,000

Importer: Walmart Stores Inc., of Bentonville, Ark.

Hazard: The coffee maker can overheat, posing fire and burn hazards to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: Walmart has received 83 reports of overheating, smoking, melting, burning and fire, including three reports of minor burn injuries to consumer’s hands, feet and torso. Reports of property damage include a significant kitchen fire and damage to countertops, cabinets and a wall.

Description: This recall involves General ElectricÂ®-brand 12-cup coffee makers sold in white or black. The digital coffee maker has programmable functions and plastic housing. The GE logo is printed on the base of the coffee maker and the model number is printed on the bottom of the base. Model numbers included in the recall are:

Note: by clicking on an image below, you can view a larger version. [Please go to the CPSC to view the actual images.]

No other models are included in this recall.

Sold exclusively at: Walmart stores nationwide from March 2008 through January 2010 for about $30.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled coffee makers and return the product to any Walmart for a full refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Walmart at (800) 925-6278 between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's website at www.walmart.com

—

CPSC is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about it by visiting https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products – such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals – contributed significantly to the decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054. To join a CPSC e-mail subscription list, please go to https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. Consumers can obtain recall and general safety information by logging on to CPSC's Web site at www.cpsc.gov.

My Advice

Always be aware of where any product you purchase originates from. There will always be a sticker, plate or something attached to any appliance stating where it's made or assembled. In this case, it would say "People's Republic of China".

In my experience, most Chinese appliances are just as good as appliances made anywhere else. The final decision about quality and safety always rests with the consumer. If you don't see an origin tag anywhere on an appliance, you should check to see if it's only missing on that particular piece because tags do come off. If like items are missing tags, please report it to the management.

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Seattle's Best Coffee Reinvents Itself

RT Cunningham — Thu, 13 May 2010 02:00:51 +0000

When I woke up this morning, I found an unusual e-mail message waiting for me. It announced that the Starbucks Headquarters had received a stealth makeover by Seattle's Best Coffee during a midnight operation. Obviously, this is nothing more than a publicity stunt since Starbucks owns Seattle's Best Coffee. What's really happening is that Seattle's Best Coffee is reinventing itself with new logos and product lines in order to better compete in the global market. Anyway, the video they put up on YouTube is interesting:

If you want to learn more about the changes at Seattle's Best Coffee, be sure to read the press release. The most notable change is the partnership with AMC theaters. Now you can get good coffee to drink while watching the latest blockbuster movie. Of course, you'll probably need it more for the slow-paced dramas (to keep you awake) than the action-packed adventures.

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Breaking the Sugar Addiction

RT Cunningham — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:36:05 +0000

This may not seem like something important to you, but sugar addiction is as bad as any other addiction. The problem is that it's a hidden addiction. We don't even realize we're addicted to sugar because it comes from a plant, we consume it a lot and it doesn't seem to cause any ill effect in most people. We're all wrong about it, but it takes a bit of explaining to get you to understand my point of view.

Added Sugar vs. Natural Sugar

Americans consume a lot of added sugar, even when we aren't trying to. Read the label on some of the processed foods you buy. There are products containing added sugar when you don't even think sugar is necessary. Of course, Americans aren't the only ones that seem to have a lot of added sugar in our diets. When I was in Saudi Arabia in 1991, and on more than one occasion, I watched a person adding sugar to a can of Pepsi. Isn't Pepsi (or any soft drink) sweet enough already?

Unlike added sugar, processed from either sugar cane or sugar beets, natural sugar is good for you. Packages labeled as "raw sugar", which means it comes from the fluid of the sugar cane but isn't processed into granulated or powdered sugar, is good for you too. Natural sugar (fructose) comes directly from plants and is absorbed by the human body. The processed sugar is called sucrose. Sucrose is linked to obesity, diabetes and gout. Now, if you sit down and eat two bunches of bananas, the fructose isn't going to be very good either (along with too much potassium) but unless your name is Gilligan, you're not going to eat too many bananas.

Artificial Sweeteners

I know a lot of people who drink diet soft drinks instead of the regular versions (containing either sugar or high fructose corn syrup) because they say it doesn't taste as sickly sweet as the regular versions. It's hilarious to watch people eat donuts or other fattening foods while sucking down diet soft drinks (and the people doing it are heavier than they should be). Well, maybe not so hilarious for them.

At least sugar is nutritive. Artificial sweeteners serve no purpose other than sweetening and have been linked to all kinds of conditions and diseases. One particular artificial sweetener, used in sugar-free chewing gum, is used in hospitals as a laxative.

How to Give Up Sugar

This is something I'm trying to do, but it's difficult to say the least. I now drink iced tea without any sugar or sweetener of any kind. I don't drink soft drinks except when being used as mixers for alcoholic beverages (rarely), but I never drink diet soft drinks.

Drinking coffee without sugar is impossible for me right now. I've managed to cut it down from 2 teaspoons per cup to 1 teaspoon per cup, with no added coffee creamer, but I can't drink it black yet. The reason? I'm still drinking instant coffee instead of fresh-brewed. I can drink fresh-brewed coffee black, but I have to make it weak until I get used to it without sugar.

Sugar and Weight Loss

Sugar is touted as only having 16 calories per teaspoon. The problem is not in the calories. The problem is in how your body processes energy sources. Stored fat will not be touched until the amount of sugar in your blood is low. Sugar in your blood is an immediate source of energy. Your body will use what's immediate and fast before it will touch anything else, like carbohydrates. Reduce your sugar intake enough and you should be able to feel the results within a month as the stored fat is turned into carbohydrates.

People swear by low carbohydrate diets when they should be swearing by low sugar diets. Carbohydrates have never been the problem. A low carb diet is like a band-aid solution, fixing the symptoms but not the underlying cause. If you don't believe me, cut out everything that contains sugar for a couple of days and follow a strict low carb diet at the same time. You will run out of energy and start burning muscle tissue to keep your body functioning.

This is not to say that a low carb diet isn't worth following when attempting weight loss. You just have to be as careful with it as any diet you may follow. I think it's easier, in the long run, to simply cut out the sugar.

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Do you drink Flavored Coffees or do you use Flavored Coffee Creamers?

RT Cunningham — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:35:25 +0000

It sounds like an either/or type of question, but it's not intended as such. When I ask whether you drink flavored coffees or used flavored coffee creamers, what I'm really asking is if you do, which do you prefer? Personally, I prefer drinking coffee without any creamer whatsoever, but that's just me.

Flavored Coffee

While you can find major brands of coffee who sell flavored coffee as well as the unflavored kind, it usually makes more sense to buy flavored coffee that's a specialty of a particular company.

Now, someone needs to throw me a bone here. Back in the early 1980s, I used to drink an instant flavored coffee (so to speak) called Cafe Viennese, but it wasn't produced by General Foods. It came in the same kind of tin, but that's the only similarity. For the life of me, I can't remember the brand name and I can't find it by searching on Google. It was really only a flavored coffee in the sense that it had chocolate added to it.

Despite the fact that flavored coffees exist, most people prefer to use non-dairy flavored coffee creamers.

Flavored Coffee Creamers

Do dairy flavored coffee creamers exist? I've seem hundreds of non-dairy flavored coffee creamers, but I don't think I've seen a flavored coffee creamer with real milk or cream.

Some of the liquid coffee creamers come in specialty containers and some of them come in what looks like milk cartons. These types of non-dairy coffee creamers are probably the easiest to use. There are flavored coffee creamers in powdered form, like Coffee-mate's Hazelnut coffee creamer, but I don't think they're nearly as popular. There's something about pouring liquid into liquid that people seem to prefer.

A Word of Caution

And that word is "trans fat" (that's actually two words but who cares?). One of the things you'll see on some containers of flavored coffee creamers, as well as the unflavored kind, is the notation of "no trans fats" or "0 percent trans fat" or something to that effect.

Don't believe everything you see on a label. The US FDA allows labels to carry a "no trans fat" banner if the trans fat percentage is below a certain threshold. If it's a powdered non-dairy creamer, it's guaranteed to have some percentage of trans fat simply because it's made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. There's absolutely no way around that chemical process.

If I'm going to put any kind of coffee creamer in my coffee, I'm going to put a dairy product. At least I know where it came from and I know it has mostly natural ingredients. Of course, that isn't always the case and labels should always be studied before a product is purchased.

Flavored Coffee Creamer Taste

Every once in a while (like once every couple of years), I like to drink flavored coffee. Most of the time, it's just by adding chocolate. I do like the taste of Irish Cream, Hazelnut and Cinnamon, and these three flavors seem to be available everywhere in the US, including convenience stores like Circle K.

Most of the time, I drink my coffee black with two teaspoons of sugar. I can drink it without sugar if I make it weak, but I like my coffee strong. I once spent a month on a US Navy ship where we ran out of everything but coffee. No sugar, no soda and no milk. The only beverages to choose from were unsweetened black coffee and water. That's where I learned to drink weak coffee without sugar or coffee creamer.

My parents always drank plain, black coffee when I was growing up. No creamer and no sugar. In fact all of their siblings drank it the same way. The only thing I can figure out is that they were born and raised before and during the Great Depression of the 1930s and got used to drinking it that way.

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The Top Coffee Brands according to Consumer Reports

RT Cunningham — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 07:53:34 +0000

My friend, Lin, has already done the research at Consumer Reports for the lists I'm presenting. Unlike the top 10 coffee brands by sales, these are lists of the best tasting coffee. All I'm doing is regurgitating her lists as bite-sized morsels of information.

The Top 10 Caffeinated Coffee Brands with a "Good" Rating

Starbucks House Blend – $11.37 per pound, 26 cents per cup
Green Mountain Signature Nantucket Blend – $11.21 per pound, 23 cents per cup
Dunkin' Donuts Dark Roast – $11.39 per pound, 28 cents per cup
Allegro Blend Light Roast (Whole Foods) – $13.32 per pound, 32 cents per cup
Archer Farms Breakfast Blend (Target) – $8.56 per pound, 29 cents per cup
Kickapoo Organic Driftless Morning – $13.32 per pound, 32 cents per cup
Peet's House Blend – $12.91 per pound, 30 cents per cup
Sam's Choice House Blend Medium Roast (Walmart) – $8.00 per pound, 18 cents per cup
Eight O'Clock Original – $7.35 per pound, 16 cents per cup
Melitta Classic Blend Medium Roast – $7.08 per pound, 11 cents per cup

Top 10 Caffeinated Coffee Brands with a "Fair" Rating

Caribou Daybreak Morning Blend – $11.52 per lb, 42 cents per cup
New England Breakfast Blend – $7.12 per lb, 11 cents per cup
Folgers Gourmet Selections Morning Café – $8.29 per lb, 9 cents per cup
Chock full o' Nuts Original – $4.75 per lb, 12 cents per cup
Maxwell Breakfast Blend Mild – $5.00 per lb, 4 cents per cup
Folgers Breakfast Blend Mild – $5.39 per lb, 6 cents per cup
Bucks County Breakfast Blend – $11.95 per lb, 44 cents per cup
Maxwell House Original Roast Medium – $4.94 per lb, 5 cents per cup
Maxwell House Master Blend Mild – $4.72 per lb, 4 cents per cup
Folgers Classic Roast Medium – $5.69 per lb, 5 cents per cup

Decaffeinated Coffee Brands with a "Good" Rating

Allegro Organic Decaf Blend Medium Dark (Whole Foods) – $18.65 per lb, 42 cents per cup
Starbucks Decaf House Blend – $12.36 per lb, 28 cents per cup
Peet's Decaf House Blend – $12.80 per lb, 29 cents per cup
Caribou Daybreak Morning Blend Decaf – $13.99 per lb, 46 cents per cup
Archer Farms Breakfast Blend Decaffeinated (Target) – $9.05 per lb, 34 cents per cup
Seattle's Best Blend Decaf Light Roast – $9.59 per lb, 15 cents per cup
Kickapoo Organic Decaf Breakfast Blend – $14.65 per lb, 32 cents per cup
Sam's Choice Organic Blend Decaffeinated – $8.00 per lb, 18 cents per cup
Bucks County Decaf Breakfast Blend – $11.70 per lb, 42 cents per cup

Decaffeinated Coffee Brands with a "Fair" Rating

I have no prices on these:

Maxwell House Decaf Original Roast Medium
Eight O'Clock Decaffeinated Original
Dunkin' Donuts Dunkin' Decaf
Folgers Classic Decaf Medium coffees.

I honestly don't agree with the taste testers of Consumer Reports, but taste is something as individual as fingerprints. What you like and what I like may be complete opposites.

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What are the Top 10 Coffee Brands?

RT Cunningham — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:11:57 +0000

While attempting to find out what the top 10 coffee brands are, I discovered a problem. I can't seem to find any data more recent than the end of 2008, and I can't tell if this data is reflecting global sales or if it's US-centric. There are those that will argue that the majority of real coffee drinkers are in the US, but after having been around the world, literally, I can't agree. Perhaps it's true in overall volume, but not in percentage.

The Top 10 Coffee Brands

Here are the top 10 coffee brands as reported by the press:

Folgers: $419.0 million in sales. Folgers is by far the largest selling coffee brand with a market share of 21.60 percent. Maybe Folgers coffee really is the best part of waking up.
Maxwell House: $283.7 million in sales. The second largest coffee brand, with a market share of 14.62 percent, Maxwell House was first created in 1892 at a Nashville, Tennessee hotel, the Maxwell House Hotel.
Starbucks: $189.2 million in sales. Although Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, it's the third largest overall coffee brand in the U.S. with a 9.75 percent market share.
Folgers Coffeehouse: $127.9 million in sales. An offshoot of the main Folgers brand, the Folgers Coffeehouse series is a gourmet branded coffee. The Folgers Coffeehouse line, a Proctor & Gamble brand, has a market share of 6.59 percent.
Maxwell House Master Blend: $77.5 million in sales. This gourmet spin-off of the Maxwell brand is part of the Kraft Foods family, and has a market share of 3.99 percent.
Chock full o'Nuts: $44.1 million in sales. The brand started as a New York store in 1932 and evolved into the sixth largest coffee brand with a 2.27 percent market share.
Millstone: $43.5 million in sales. Millstone, with 2.24 percent of the market, was a private coffee brand until Proctor & Gamble purchased it in 1996.
Seattle's Best: $42.8 million in sales. In addition to roasting and distributing coffee, the private company also has stores serving coffee throughout the U.S. and Canada. Seattle's Best has a market share of 2.21 percent. Seattle's Best has been a subsidiary of Starbucks since 2003.
Eight O'Clock: $38.5 million in sales. The brand, with a 1.98 percent market share, was owned by The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company until 2003 when A&P sold it to an investment firm, creating the Eight O'Clock Coffee Company.
Yuban: $37.4 million in sales. This brand, part of Kraft Foods, promotes itself as being environmentally friendly by helping protect the environment and wildlife in coffee growing regions. Yuban has a market share of 1.93 percent.

Missing from the List

The above list comes as no surprise to me. The top selling brands of coffee are also the brands of the companies that advertise their coffee the most. A day doesn't go by without a TV or radio commercial being broadcast about Folgers and Maxwell House. To be honest, I've haven't even tried half of the brands on the list and frankly, I don't intend to try them.

I'm sure there are other good coffee brands (but not necessarily the best coffee brands) that just didn't make it into the top ten, but I can't find any information publicized for them in the press. Those that sell primarily iced coffee (in a can or bottle) or primarily instant coffee wouldn't make it into any list, I'm sure.

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Clouds in my Coffee – Coffee Inspires Art

RT Cunningham — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 08:39:22 +0000

How do you know when something is irrevocably ingrained into cultural society? When it's used as the basis for one form of artistic expression or another. But that's only the half of it. It's also when it's ignored as second nature when used in a form of artistic expression. Can you remember the last time you heard the word "coffee" or the term "coffee cup" in a song? I can't, but at least I can remember the songs.

Coffee and Music

In 1972, Carly Simon released the song "You're So Vain" about a self-absorbed lover. These lines from the lyrics have stood out for at least 37 years:

I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee, and

The song has been covered by other artists and some non-musical celebrities as well. It's been sampled for other songs by still other artists; such is the longevity of a song that merely stayed at the #1 position on certain music charts for three weeks.

The British pop group "Take That" released "Back For Good" in 1995. The term "coffee cup" stood out because it was so near the beginning of the lyrics, even though it was fairly short:

Got your lipstick mark still on your coffee cup

These are only two examples I can think of off the top of my head and I'm sure there are more. Unfortunately, I only listen to music online now and don't hear stuff like this very often anymore.

Clouds and Other Things in your Coffee

If you do a Google image search, using terms like "coffee clouds" or "coffee art", you can find some amazing pictures of artistic designs made on the surface of the coffee inside coffee cups.

While the designs captured won't last very long before someone drinks the coffee, the photos will last forever on the Internet. So, while the original art is temporary, the lasting art is virtually permanent.

What good is artistic expression in the first place if it doesn't have some kind of permanency in cultural society? That's simply food (or a drink) for thought.

(Original Image Source: Parasol Unit and Keith Tyson)

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