Everyday Aesthetics 2 – The Stirrer
In certain cafes and restaurants, I wouldn’t be able to stir my coffee without the ubiquitous wooden stirrer. So for me this is an absolute everyday essential (see footnote below). Everyday Aesthetics 2 – The Stirrer
It’s recyclable, it’s cheap and hygienic and it works. You cannot spoon in sugar but I don’t take sugar anyway, but for those who do, there’s the small packages that pour of course. (Sugar itself has a fascinating history that I’ll turn to in a future article)
This video is me stirring my coffee in Wetherspoons where you can have as many refills as you wish for something like £1.24. Give the place credit.
Coffee has a long and interesting history that allegedly dates to the 9th Century in Ethiopia.
According to a popular legend, an Ethiopian goat farmer discovered the stimulating effects of coffee when he noticed that his goats became more energetic after eating coffee berries.
The early use of coffee in Ethiopia soon spread to other parts of the world. Coffee was first consumed as a beverage in Yemen in the 15th Century and it began to spread to other parts of the Arab world. By the 16th century, coffee had become a popular drink in Persia, Turkey, Egypt, and the Ottoman Empire.
In the 17th Century, coffee made its way to Europe, thanks to the trading Dutch, who began to import coffee from Java. Coffee quickly gained popularity in Europe, and coffeehouses started to become popular social and business and trading places.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, coffee became an important trading commodity and countries such as Brazil, Columbia and Ethiopia became major coffee producers.
Today, we have an estimated 2.25 billion cups of coffee consumed each day.
Everyday aesthetics.
An art form that creates anaesthetic appreciation of the experiences of daily life.
Everyday aesthetic experiences are beyond traditional art forms like painting, drawing or
sculpture and are found in the ordinary and routine activities of everyday life
such as cooking, cleaning, talking a walk or gardening.
Furthermore, home furnishings, fashion and clothing, the visual appeal of food and drink and
the sensory experience of fragrances and bouquets. All being everyday
aesthetics.
Aesthetics to highlight those essential, maybe hidden and taken for granted but vital
objects that we cannot live without in our modern day to day living.