Tuesday, 12 August, 2014
by Mel Winter

I heard The Killers Indie Rock n Roll the other day and I had to giggle to myself, "a coffee shop with a cause, man I'll freak you out!"

Oh how far we've come. The coffee landscape has changed so much over the years. As consumers we've changed our ordering, we expect to know the journey our coffee has taken to get to the cup and we want a professional making it.

via Truth Facts (such funny infographics, check it out)

Coffee can be so complex these days (and I believe it should be taken this seriously), but there does come a point when you've found a coffee spot that makes all the right ethical and environmentally friendly choices, that you just want the coffee to taste good, plain and simple.

Then I heard about the new trend when I was at my local artisanal bakery. Toast. Yes you read right, toast. San Francisco, the same city at the forefront of the artisan coffee movement, is leading the charge on the new foodie trend. But wait there's a story. This reporter went deep, deep down into the Toast phenomenon to investigate one woman's story of toast (and coconuts). A coffee shop with a cause.

Apparently the trend is spawning a new job opportunity, the toaster. It is an artistry undiscovered (heavy sarcasm). The reactions to said trend vary from the amazed to the ridiculous. I have to say these trends do have a way of turning the simple into something 'special'. The New Yorker article is my favourite,

"Artisanal toast, one might posit, represents our intensifying obsession with and fetishization of food. Every meal is special and important, every dish should be elevated, revered, and broadcast—even something as pedestrian as toast."

True that the simply satisfying things in life like bread and butter are being taken to an extreme here, but gosh darn it, bread and therefore toast, truly is one of the pleasures worth fighting for in this world. So maybe over-priced toast is ridiculous, but maybe simplicity carries a high price tag these days because it's just so hard to come by.

Would you pay R40 for two slices of toast? You know, with the right bread and the right butter, I think I might.

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