Cthulhu: The true history of the cosmic entity

Cthulhu: The true history of the cosmic entity

Medium-sized farms play an important role in specialty coffee

For many consumers and industry professionals, specialty coffee and direct trade are inextricably linked. Building strong and mutually beneficial working relationships between producers and roasters is often seen as a cornerstone of establishing a truly sustainable supply chain. So with this association between specialty coffee and direct trade, there can be a narrative of smaller-sized […]


Weekly Coffee News: Grounds for Health Week + Iconic SF Shop Closes

Welcome to DCN’s Weekly Coffee News. Keep up with all the latest coffee industry stories and career opportunities by subscribing to DCN’s newsletter. Tell our editors about your news here. Registration Opens for Inaugural…


3 Elements Coffee: Supporting Veterans, One Cup at a Time  

The Australian roasting company helps to create opportunities for veteran communities.  BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of 3 Elements Coffee  Brisbane, Australia-based 3 Elements Coffee, founded by Navy veteran Terry McNally in 2016, has a mission to support the transition of ex-military personnel into the commercial workspace. To help achieve their goal and raise […]


4 Cool Cafés to Try Out in Kuala Lumpur

The Malaysian capital is often visited in a hurry, but visitors who take the time to explore will discover a welcoming city, thanks in part to its friendly specialty cafés. BY TANYA NANETTI SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos by Tanya Nanetti Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, is often a stopover on vacations, quickly left behind […]

Cthulhu: The true history of the cosmic entity

Understanding the Process: Koji Fermentation

Continuing our series on coffee processing, we learn about koji fermentation, a unique process usually associated with the brewing of sake. BY TANYA NANETTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of Forest Coffee If brewed properly, a cup of coffee can offer countless variations of flavor and aroma. The quality and complexity of these attributes depend on many different […]


Weekly Coffee News: Grounds for Health Week + Iconic SF Shop Closes

Welcome to DCN’s Weekly Coffee News. Keep up with all the latest coffee industry stories and career opportunities by subscribing to DCN’s newsletter. Tell our editors about your news here. Registration Opens for Inaugural…


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…


Lvl Up Coffee Hits High Scores In Normal, Illinois

Specialty coffee in the central Illinois town of Normal has reached a new stage of quality with the opening of Lvl Up Coffee Bar. Brought to life by coffee roaster…

Cthulhu: The true history of the cosmic entity

Conflict in the Red Sea: Why coffee roasters need to prepare for shipping delays

Like many other industries, conditions in the coffee supply chain can change quickly, and in turn, have a huge impact on all actors and stakeholders. Price volatility is one of the more pertinent – which is influenced by many factors. These include fluctuations in supply and demand, extreme or unexpected weather events, global economic downturn, […]


Exploring the Potential of Drones in Coffee Production 

New drone technology has the potential to revolutionize coffee farming from the air. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Cover photo by David Henrichs via Unsplash In an ever-evolving technological landscape, coffee producers have begun turning to drones in an attempt to increase efficiency and operations. These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer a wide range of […]


Competition, Cold, and More from the 2024 U.S. Coffee Competition Qualifiers in Houston

The first round of qualifiers for the 2024 season of the United States Coffee Competitions featured the U.S. Barista, Cup Tasters, and Roasters qualifying competitions. BY KATE VAN PETTENSPECIAL TO BARISTA MAGAZINE Photos courtesy of U.S. CoffeeChamps The first round of qualifiers for the 2024 season of the United States Coffee Competitions took place January […]


A Look at Digital Coffee Future’s Digital Origin Education Program

The new program connects coffee producers to one another, provides them with educational resources, and more. BY VASILEIA FANARIOTISENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT Photos courtesy of the Cocaerol, Comal & Amprocal cooperatives in Honduras Since 2021, Digital Coffee Future (DCF) has been working on a digital training program to address the needs of coffee producers. In September […]

Cthulhu: The true history of the cosmic entity

Cthulhu: The true history of the cosmic entity

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...

Cthulhu: The true history of the cosmic entity

STAR SPAWN AND ELDER ONE

This horrifying creature from the deep has terrorized the imaginations of many since its creation in 1928. The origins of Cthulhu are rooted firmly in the mind of H.P. Lovecraft and permeate his extensive body of work.

Lovecraft had a disturbing dream in 1919 and wrote about in two letters to his friend Rheinhart Kleiner in 1920. In his dream, Lovecraft is trying to sell a sculpture he made to a museum of antiquity. The curator argues with Lovecraft asking how he could try to sell something new to a place that values antiques. 

“Why do you say this thing is new? The dreams of men are older than brooding Egypt or the contemplative Sphinx, or garden-girdled Babylon, and this was fashioned in my dreams.” Lovecraft remembers saying in his dream.

Pretty deep and meta, but I suspect the dreams of H.P. Lovecraft were pretty interesting to say the least, considering what he was able to create in his lifetime.

Lovecraft likely drew on many different literary inspirations to create Cthulhu. Alfred Tennyson’s 1830 sonnet “The Kraken” and William-Scott Elliot’s 1896 “The Story of Atlantis” were both probable influences on the author.

The short story “The Call of Cthulhu” was first published in Weird Tales in 1928, and not only gave birth to the creature but also the shared fictional universe that would make its way into many stories by Lovecraft, later referred to as the Cthulhu Mythos.

Cthulhu rising from a stormy sea

In that original short story, the narrator tells the tale of his great uncle who possessed a strange sculpture that depicted a creature with characteristics of an octopus, a dragon, and a human. The story then uncovers the origins of the Great Old Ones, which Cthulhu is a part of, and the cult that still worships them. 

The cult continuously chants “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn” throughout the story which means “In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”

The story concludes with the narrator learning of a cursed voyage of sailors that actually encountered the lost city of R’lyeh and unwittingly awoke the creature. The first description of Cthulhu compares it to a mountain that walks and the sailors go on to say,

“It lumbered slobberingly into sight and gropingly squeezed Its gelatinous green immensity through the black doorway. … The stars were right again, and what an age-old cult had failed to do by design, a band of innocent sailors had done by accident. After vigintillions of years, Great Cthulhu was loose again and ravening for delight.”

This idea of a great cosmic being that when awakened will wreak havoc upon the world, sometimes even ruling the world, is not a new idea. Yet H.P. Lovecraft took this theme and added far more mythos and history to the tale, weaving the Great Old Ones and Cthulhu itself throughout a lot of his work.

Others have taken up the cause to continue the legacy of the Cthulhu Mythos in literature, most notably author and Arkham House Publishing founder August Derleth.

Cthulhu has continued to spark the imagination of people all over the world, and the creature has been featured many times in comic books, horror anthologies, movies, TV Shows, video games, and even music – most notably Metallica’s song “The Call of Ktulu” from the album Ride the Lightning.

H.P. Lovecraft was a master of horror and the macabre and proved once again with his story The Call of Cthulhu. He cites his fictional creation the Necronomicon in the story as well asperfectly summing up the true meaning behind Cthulhu itself: “That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die.”

Check out the recent Sunday Science mini-episode of our podcast: The Science of Sea Monsters!

 

RELATED: Our 6 part Science of Halloween will get you in the spooky mood

 

Cthulhu: The true history of the cosmic entity

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.

Cthulhu: The true history of the cosmic entity

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