Christmas: The Origins and Traditions

Christmas: The Origins and Traditions

In Tbilisi, Parsek1 Merges Comic Books with Specialty Coffee

We take a look at how this innovative café has changed the face of comics and coffee in the capital of Georgia. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Parsek1 When it comes to coffee and comic books, Japan is a longtime leader in the field. Manga cafés have been around for decades, combining […]


U.S. Coffee Championships 2023 Denver Qualifiers Reach New Heights

The next group of coffee champions moves on to nationals at the Denver qualifiers. BY KATE VAN PETTENSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE Photos by Matthew Temple and courtesy of Specialty Coffee Association The high-flying world of U.S. CoffeeChamps competitions reached new heights as coffee professionals flocked to the Denver qualifiers for the 2023 season, hosted in […]


The coffee industry’s biggest competition: The story of the World Barista Championship

Every year, the global coffee industry gears up for one of its most exciting and groundbreaking competitions: the World Barista Championship. For more than two decades, the WBC has been one of the biggest catalysts for change and innovation in specialty coffee, and continues to set even higher standards for baristas around the world to […]


5 Amazing Coffee Drinks in Reno, Nev.

Here are some standout specialty drinks you can try in the Biggest Little City in the World. BY EDDIE P. GOMEZSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE Photos by Eddie P. Gomez Reno, Nev., has more cafés per capita than just about any other place in North America. And because it is a snowier-than-usual winter in northwestern Nevada […]

Christmas: The Origins and Traditions

The Origin Story of Turtle Island Coffee in Vancouver, B.C.

A new Indigenous-owned coffee company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, called Turtle Island Coffee has launched with the goal of exposing more people to high quality specialty coffee and Indigenous…


10 (More) Minutes With Helena Oliviero

Today we continue our conversation with Helena Oliviero about her coffee career and life on a Colombian finca. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Helena Oliviero Barista Magazine: Let’s talk about living on a Colombian coffee farm, Finca Palma Roja. How do you spend your days? What’s usually happening on a busy coffee […]


Brewing at Home and On the Road with Darrin Daniel

We check in with the Cup of Excellence executive director to learn his current coffee-brewing habits. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Featured photo by Emre via Unsplash Brewing coffee is, for many coffee professionals, more than just a job.   They usually brew coffee every day, both for themselves and their customers. Perhaps they do it […]


Joven and Atucún Join Forces to Empower Young Farmers

The two brands have collaborated to create a unique coffee bar and support young farmers in the coffee and cacao industries. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE…

Christmas: The Origins and Traditions

Three Questions with IWCA Executive Director Blanca Castro

When International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) Executive Director began her job years ago at the Guatemalan coffee association Anacafé, she knew next to nothing about coffee.  “I just pretended that…


Thread Coffee Roasters Opens Tailor-Made Roastery in Baltimore

The interwoven actions of Thread Coffee Roasters in Baltimore are finding exponentially more space this week with the grand opening of a brand-new production roastery and training lab. The worker-owned…


Congrats to the Top-Ranking Qualifiers at U.S. CoffeeChamps Denver

Dozens of coffee professionals competed at qualifiers this weekend in Colorado for coveted spots at the U.S. Coffee Championships next month. BY J. MARIE CARLANBARISTA MAGAZINE ONLINE Cover photo by J. Marie Carlan For competitive coffee professionals in the USA, the U.S. Coffee Championships are the place to be. Over the weekend, the second USCC […]


An In-Depth Look at Gruppo Cimbali’s Coffee Technician Wheel

The Coffee Technician Wheel is a new tool that helps technicians understand the complexity of coffee extraction. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Edgardo Ferrero and Espresso Academy Coffee technicians are responsible for a complex set of tasks related to the production and extraction of coffee. They manage customer requests and need to […]

Christmas: The Origins and Traditions

Christmas: The Origins and Traditions

minimum dose size?

Jan 31, 2024 |

I use the Hario switch to brew my coffee and am trying to reduce my caffeine consumption. Hence I would like to brew smaller cups of coffee. I am currently using 10g of coffee with 160g of water. (1:16 Ratio) I am wondering if there is a minimum amount of coffee...

Christmas: The Origins and Traditions

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, we all know the basics of the holiday: the celebrated birthday of Jesus Christ is the religious origin, while Santa Claus traveling the world to deliver presents is the more folklore, albeit commercial, tradition. But where does the holiday really come from in history, and what are the true origins of some of the most famous traditions surrounding the season?

Macro shot of a Christmas tree with ornaments

(Photo by Rodion Kutsaev via Unsplash)

We broke this down on our Fueled By Death Show a few years back and you can watch that whole episode at the bottom of this blog!

In ancient times, many people celebrated this time of year as the Winter Solstice and regarded this season as a time of rebirth.

In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule, which started on December 21 and ran through January. Cattle were slaughtered so they wouldn’t have to be fed during the harsh winter, and that meant many were able to enjoy fresh meat, possibly the only time all year long. Also, the wine and mead that had been fermenting all year was ready to drink in earnest during this time too.

Another Norse tradition during Yule was for the men to bring home large logs to be set ablaze. These fires would signal the beginning of the feast and would last as long as the logs would burn, sometimes up to 12 days. This is where we get the notion of the “yule log” today.

In ancient Rome, people celebrated the pagan holiday Saturnalia, which happened to fall upon December 25. While there was no mention of the date of the birth of Jesus in early Christianity or the Bible, Pope Julius I declared his birthday to be December 25 in the 4th century, as a way to absorb the pagan holiday into Christianity. 

During the Middle Ages, Christmas was a celebration of drinking in the streets, with a carnival much like a Mardi Gras-type celebration.

By the 17th century, the Puritans banned Christmas in England and continued to keep it banned in the new colonies of America—the holiday was outlawed in Boston until 1681.

It wasn’t until the 19th century that Christmas was widely celebrated again. This was due in large part to the success of Charles Dickens classic holiday tale, “A Christmas Carol.”

The most iconic figure associated with the holiday, Santa Claus, actually has origins in ancient times as well. The earliest mention of Saint Nicolas, the monk, dates back to 280 A.D.

Santa’s popularity grew many centuries later thanks to Washington Irving, who declared “Sinter Klaas”—the Dutch way of saying Santa Claus—the true patron saint of New York.

Coca-Cola and their timeless depictions of Santa in the 1930s cemented the version of him that we know today—belly like a bowl full of jelly, big, white beard, rosy cheeks, red and white suit, etc.

One early tradition of the Christmas season that has been lost to time is the telling of ghost stories around the fireplace—let’s bring that one back!

Watch the full episode of Fueled By Death Show with more information on the origins and traditions of Christmas right here:

Christmas: The Origins and Traditions

Perfect Little Beans

Chinmey Hill Coffee uses specialty-grade beans with zero primary defects (such as black beans or sour beans) and less than five secondary defects (such as broken beans). This is important because primary defects will greatly affect the taste of the coffee. Having zero defects allows the coffee to be the most optimal flavor.

Window for Optimal Flavor

Chimney Hill Coffee ships our coffee the same day it was roasted, so you will receive it before it enters the window of optimal flavor.  This means you’ll never miss the opportunity to enjoy the coffee’s peak flavor.

Coffee Ratings

Coffee undergoes many scoring processes by professionals who achieved their Q Grader certification. Coffee is first graded when it’s green. If there are defects the coffee is determined to be “not-specialty grade”. For those coffees that pass green grading, they are sample roasted and cupped. (Cupping is the official term for critically tasting and scoring coffees. The official cupping form is standard worldwide, and where the 100-point scoring system comes from.) A coffee’s dry fragrance, wet aroma, flavor, aftertaste, body, acidity, balance, and overall impression are taken into consideration while uniformity issues and defects, will lower the overall score.

Specialty Coffee

Specialty coffee, coined by Erna Knutsen in 1974, refers to a coffee that receives a quality grading score of 80 percent or higher. While “premium” or “gourmet” seem like they’re synonymous with “specialty,” they simply are marketing terms with no defined standards. Specialty coffees are grown in specific and ideal micro-climates, and have distinctive and unique flavor profiles, with little to no defects.

Third-Wave Coffee

We’re currently in the third wave of coffee. The first wave of American coffee put pre-ground, vacuum-sealed cans in kitchens across America. The second wave started with the late ‘60s introduction of Peet’s coffee (by Alfred Peet) through the proliferation of Starbucks. The third wave of coffee focuses on origin transparency, nuanced flavors, and artisan roasting. The term “third wave” is synonymous with specialty coffee.

Christmas: The Origins and Traditions

Shopping cart0
There are no products in the cart!
Continue shopping
0