A Face in the Crowd is a 1957 American satirical drama film directed by Elia Kazan and starring Andy Griffith (in his film debut), Patricia Neal and Walter Matthau.  The screenplay by Budd Schulberg is based on his short story "Your Arkansas Traveler" from the 1953 collection Some Faces in the Crowd.  The story centers on Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes, a drifter who is discovered by the producer (Neal) of a small-market radio program in rural northeast Arkansas, and who rises to great fame and influence on national television.  The character was inspired by Schulberg's acquaintance with Will Rogers Jr.  The successes of Arthur Godfrey and Tennessee Ernie Ford were also acknowledged in the screenplay.  The film launched Griffith into stardom, but it received mixed reviews on its release.  Subsequent reappraisals have been kinder to the film.  In 2008, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Face_in_the_Crowd_(film)   

Graham flour is a type of coarse-ground flour of whole wheat named after Sylvester Graham.  It is similar to conventional whole-wheat flour in that both are made from the whole grain, but graham flour is ground more coarsely.  It is not sifted ("bolted") with a flour dresser after milling.  A report from 1913 claimed that bread made from graham flour had a protein content of 12.1%--only slightly less than white wheat flour and essentially the same as whole wheat flour.  Graham flour is named after Sylvester Graham (1794–1851), an early advocate for dietary reform.  Graham despised the discarding of nutrients such as germ and bran when making flour for white bread.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_flour    

A painting by Rene Magritte shattered an auction record for the surrealist artist, selling for more than $121 million at Christie's in New York.  The seminal 1954 painting had been valued at $95 million, and the previous record for a work by Magritte (1898-1967) was $79 million, set in 2022. 

After a nearly 10-minute bidding war on November 19, 2024.  "Empire of Light" ("L'Empire des lumieres") was sold for $121,160,000, "achieving a world-record price for the artist and for a surrealist work of art at auction", according to auction house Christie's.  The painting--depicting a house at night, illuminated by a lamp post, while under a bright, blue sky--is one of a series by the Belgian artist showing the interplay of shadow and light.  https://www.barrons.com/news/magritte-painting-nets-auction-record-of-121-million-33dc3787    

Jersey Mike’s, the quickly expanding sandwich chain, is being acquired by asset management giant Blackstone.  Blackstone and Jersey Mike’s did not immediately disclose financial terms in their November 19, 2024 announcement.  But a source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Associated Press that the transaction would value Jersey Mike’s at around $8 billion, a figure previously reported by The Wall Street Journal.  https://apnews.com/article/jersey-mikes-acquired-blackstone-transaction-d45eb865f912eb39bbd7ac8ad8a86fcd   

Delta is teaming up with Shake Shack to serve burgers at 30,000 feet.  Delta’s first-of-its-kind partnership with Shake Shack will begin on flights out of Boston on Dec. 1, 2024 with plans for expansion to other U.S. markets throughout 2025.  Customers sitting in First Class on routes over 900 miles will be able to pre-select a Shake Shack Cheeseburger as their meal option.  https://news.delta.com/now-boarding-delta-serve-shake-shack-burgers-flights    

arctophile (plural arctophiles)  noun   Someone who has a fondness for teddy bears, usually a collector of them. [from 1960s]   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/arctophile#English   

November 20 is World Children’s Day, which is recognized by the United Nations to promote international togetherness and the importance of improving children’s welfare.  It commemorates the Declaration of the Rights of the Child which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on November 20, 1959.   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2877  November 20, 2024

If we can "overact" or "overreact", why can't we "underact" or "underreact"?  Well, we can.  The latter two aren't that common, but the words are bona fide members of the English language.  Similarly, if one can "oversee", why not "undersee"?  Both have been in the dictionary for hundreds of years, but since we rarely "underdo" these things, they’re not as familiar.  Understand?   

earwitness (EER-wit-nis) noun   One who testifies or can testify to something heard.  [From ear, from Old English eara + witness, from Old English witness.  Earliest documented use:  1539.]  https://wordsmith.org/words/earwitness.html    

diachronic (dy-uh-KRON-ik) adjective  Relating to changes occurring over time.  [From Greek dia- (across) + khronos (time).  Earliest documented use: 1857.]  https://wordsmith.org/words/diachronic.html   

consanguinity (kon-sang-GWIN-i-tee) noun  1. A relationship by blood or by a common ancestor.  2. A close connection or kinship.  [From Latin consanguineus, from con- (with) + sanguis (blood).  Earliest documented use:  1380.]  See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/consanguinity 

NOTES:  The counterpart of consanguinity is affinity, which refers to a relationship formed through marriage rather than by blood.  https://wordsmith.org/words/consanguinity.html    

The Volstead Act  By the turn of the 20th century, temperance societies were prevalent in the United States.  Concerned citizens had begun warning others about the effects of alcohol nearly 100 years earlier.  In 1826 the American Temperance Society was founded to convince people to abstain from drinking.  Not long after, the Women's Christian Temperance Union pledged not only to ban alcohol and drugs, but to improve public morals.  The anti-Saloon League was formed in 1893 and eventually became a powerful political force in passing a national ban on alcoholic beverages.  Women were strongly behind the temperance movement, for alcohol was seen as the destroyer of families and marriages.  Men would often spend their money on alcohol, leaving women with no money to provide for their children.  Factory owners also supported temperance as well because of the new work habits that were required of industrial workers--early mornings and long nights.  The amendment worked at first:  liquor consumption dropped, arrests for drunkenness fell, and the price for illegal alcohol rose higher than the average worker could afford.  Alcohol consumption dropped by 30 percent and the United States Brewers' Association admitted that the consumption of hard liquor was off 50 percent during Prohibition.  These statistics however, do not reflect the growing disobedience toward the law and law enforcement.  The intensity of the temperance advocates was matched only by the inventiveness of those who wanted to keep drinking.  Enforcing Prohibition proved to be extremely difficult.  The illegal production and distribution of liquor, or bootlegging, became rampant, and the national government did not have the means or desire to try to enforce every border, lake, river, and speakeasy in America.  In fact, by 1925 in New York City alone there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.  The demand for alcohol was outweighing (and out-winning) the demand for sobriety.  People found clever ways to evade Prohibition agents.  They carried hip flasks, hollowed canes, false books, and the like.  Neither federal nor local authorities would commit the resources necessary to enforce the Volstead Act.  For example, the state of Maryland refused to pass any enforcement issue.  Prohibition made life in America more violent, with open rebellion against the law and organized crime.  https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/volstead-act 

November 12, 2024  Samantha Harvey has won the 2024 Booker Prize for her science fiction novel Orbital.  The novel follows six astronauts as they orbit the Earth for one day of their nine-month space mission.  Harvey's astronauts–who hail from the U.S., Russia, Italy, Britain and Japan–see 16 sunrises and sunsets in the 24-hour time span of the novel.  Orbital also won the Hawthornden Prize for imaginative literature and was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction.  https://www.npr.org/2024/11/12/nx-s1-5184530/orbital-by-samantha-harvey-wins-2024-booker-prize   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue  2876  November 18, 2024

sycophantic (sik/sy-uh-FAN-tik) adjective  Excessively flattering or fawning, especially in an attempt to win favor or gain advantage.  

[From Latin sycophanta (informer, slanderer), from Greek sykophantes (informer, slanderer), from sykon (fig) + phainein (to show).   Earliest documented use: 1698.]  

NOTES:  How did the meaning of sycophant shift from "fig-shower" to "informer" and then to "flatterer"?  There are two main theories, though neither is confirmed.  One theory suggests that the word originally referred to someone who informed against the theft or illegal export of figs in ancient Athens.  The other theory suggests it referred to someone who made the fig sign, an ancient hand gesture considered rude or accusatory in some cultures, but a good luck or fertility symbol in others.  If the former is correct, when the word entered the English language its meaning shifted from "informer" to "flatterer".  Both denote insincerity, as an informer curries favor with someone while secretly betraying them.  A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg  October 24, 2024  

diachronic (dy-uh-KRON-ik) adjective  Relating to changes occurring over time.  [From Greek dia- (across) + khronos (time).  Earliest documented use:  1857.]  https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/diachronic 

NOTES:  Diachronic analysis considers how something, such as a language or culture, evolves over time.  This contrasts with a synchronic approach, which examines a phenomenon at a specific point in time. https://wordsmith.org/words/diachronic.html  

dictionary attack (plural dictionary attacks)  noun  (computing, cryptography)  An attempt to illegally access a computer network, website, etc., that uses a list of words (from a dictionary) to try to guess decryption keys or passwords. [from 1980s]   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dictionary_attack#English  

Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau published their formal proposal for the World Wide Web on November 12, 1990.  

November 8, 2024  An AI robot’s painting of British computer scientist and codebreaker Alan Turing has sold for $1.08 million, becoming the most valuable artwork by a humanoid robot ever to change hands at auction and raising new questions about the role of artificial intelligence in art.  The sale price far exceeded the pre-auction estimate of $120,000-$180,000, with the work attracting 27 bids before going to an undisclosed buyer, according to Sotheby’s, which handled the sale in New York.  The painting, titled “AI God:  Portrait of Alan Turing,” was created by Ai-Da, a humanoid robot artist with a black bob and robotic arms, which communicates using large language models and was invented by British gallerist Aidan Meller.  https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/08/style/ai-da-portrait-alan-turing-record-sale-intl-scli/index.html 

Frank Auerbach, a towering figure of British art history who plotted new paths for painting with his thick, smeary portraits, died on November 11, 2024 in London at 93.  Auerbach’s paintings of a select group of models redefined portraiture, a genre that has traditionally lent itself to psychological clarity and close attention to detail.  But starting in the 1950s, Auerbach began making portraits of people close to him that were so dense with paint that they bordered on abstraction.  Facial features faded into way into swirls of grey, and roiled backgrounds threatened to consume the sitters posed before them.  https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/frank-auerbach-british-painter-dead-1234723626/ 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2875  November 13, 2024

According to the Institute of Museum and Library Services, there are 35,000 small museums in the U.S.  In perspective, that’s 10,000 more than all Starbucks and McDonald’s in the USA combined.  Look at the list and you’ll only see 28 because three museums are grouped together since they relate to the same subject.  https://www.neverstoptraveling.com/small-museums    

Fluffernutters—two slices of white bread slathered with peanut-butter and marshmallow goop—were a lunchbox staple for some.  For the elementary school set, it’s a pretty optimal snack, one that fully dispenses with the vague pretense of fruit in a PB&J in favor of a maximum sugar rush.  We know it’s not good per se, but it holds a place of perverse regional pride that only comes from nostalgia.  In 2006, when Massachusetts Senator Jarret Barrios proposed legislation that would forbid schools from serving fluffernutters more than once a week, it caused such a public uproar that Democratic Representative Kathi-Anne Reinstein declared, “I’m going to fight to the death for Fluff.”  It’s not a coincidence that Campbell’s condensed soups started cropping up in recipes for everything from cakes to casseroles in the mid-20th century.  The company distributed recipes claiming that harried housewives could make their lives easier by swapping a canned product for a homemade béchamel sauce.  Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup debuted in 1934 and quickly became the default base for tuna noodle casserole, turkey tetrazzini, and even Mormon-style funeral potatoes.  Minnesota’s tater tot-loaded hot dish also incorporated cream of mushroom base, which earned the soup a nickname:  “the Lutheran binder.”  But the one that really takes the cake is green bean casserole, composed of only six ingredients, three of which are canned Campbell’s products.  In 1955, Dorcas Reilly invented the recipe for a “Green Bean Bake” in the company’s test kitchen and the rest is history.  https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/american-food-traditions-that-started-as-marketing-ploys.  Thank you, reader.             

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed are two terms that developed independently of each other.  Bright-eyed supposedly comes from the late 1500s, while bushy-tailed is said to have hailed from 1865-1870, though no direct source is clear for either of them.  They were seen together for the first time in talking about a squirrel, which did, in fact, have bright eyes and bushy tail.  In St. Clair County, Michigan, Its History and Its People, published in 1912 by William Lee Jenks, we can read about the impossible attempt to capture the following in a painting, . . . o see the wild pigeon, chewink, fox sparrow, bobolink, scarlet tanager, the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed squirrel, the graceful motions of water birds . . .  https://writingexplained.org/idiom-dictionary/bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed    

Quincy Jones–who, according to his publicist, “passed away peacefully” November 3, 2024 at age 91–was practically everything, everywhere, all at once, and therefore nearly impossible to pin down.  He was a producer, composer, arranger, instrumentalist, impresario, author, mentor, magazine founder, the celebrity father of celebrity children.  Jones released 16 albums under his own name, 10 of which topped the Billboard jazz charts.  As performer/composer/producer, his “Soul Bossa Nova,” from 1962, with its perky flutes and farting brass, was his best-known song:  Jet Age insouciance distilled.  It would go on to become a key track in the lounge-music revival of the 1990s, inextricably associated with the Austin Powers film franchise, which adopted it as a theme song.  Jones was the arranger on the 1964 recording of Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” which, five years later, the Apollo 10 astronaut Eugene Cernan played on a cassette while orbiting the Moon.  https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/music-impresario-quincy-jones-91-is-dead  

To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

   Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

   With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

   And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

      To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

   With a sweet kernel; to set budding more . . .    

See the rest of the poem at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44484/to-autumn

http//librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2873  November 4, 2024

Here are some of the types of flash fiction:

Sudden fiction/Short short stories  The terms sudden fiction and short short stories refer to longer pieces of flash fiction, around 750 to 1,000 words.  However, the definition varies and may include pieces up to 2,000 words, such as in the series that helped popularize the form, Sudden Fiction and New Sudden Fiction.

Postcard fiction  Postcard fiction is just what it sounds like—a story that could fit on a postcard.  It's typically around 250 words, but could be as much as 500 or as few as 25.  An image often accompanies the text to create the feeling of looking at a postcard, with the reader turning it over to read the inscription on the back.

Microfiction/Nanofiction  Microfiction and nanofiction describe the shortest forms of flash fiction, including stories that are 300 words or less. Microfiction includes forms such as drabble, dribble, and six-word stories.

Drabble  Drabble is a story of exactly 100 words (not including the title). Just because the form is short doesn't mean you can skimp on the basics of a good story.  It should have a beginning, middle, and end, and include conflict and resolution.  You can read examples of drabbles at 100WordStory.org.

Dribble/Mini-saga  When writing a drabble isn't challenging enough, you can try your hand at writing a dribble, which is a story told in exactly 50 words.

Six-word stories  Ready to boil down a story and squeeze out its essence?  Try writing a six-word story.  It's not easy, but it's possible to write a complete story with conflict and resolution in six words, according to flash fiction enthusiasts.  Most well-know example of a six-word story, often misattributed to Ernest Hemingway, is, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."  The story evokes deep emotion, causing the reader to ponder the circumstances that brought the character to post the advertisement.  You can read more examples of six-word stories on Narrative Magazine's website (with a free account), which are more carefully selected, or you can browse user-submitted stories on Reddit.  Some authors also write flash nonfiction, composing six-word memoirs.  

https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/fiction/w/identifying-your-genre/7125/short-fiction-forms-novella-novelette-short-story-and-flash-fiction-defined 

“I love libraries.  Libraries and record shops, my second homes, my cathedrals of romance.”  Richard Brautigan

Revenge of the Lawn by Richard Brautigan  First published in 1971, Revenge of the Lawn contains no fewer than 62 ultra-short stories. 

“Music feeds math feeds science feeds painting.”  Stephanie Storey, Oil and Marble:  A Novel of Leonardo and Michelangelo   

"The Raven" is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allan Poe.  First published in January 1845, the poem is often noted for its musicality, stylized language and supernatural atmosphere.  It tells of a distraught lover who is paid a visit by a mysterious raven that speaks a single word.  Sitting on a bust of Pallas, the raven seems to further antagonize the protagonist with its repetition of the word "Nevermore".  The poem makes use of folk, mythological, religious, and classical references.  Poe stated that he composed the poem in a logical and methodical manner, aiming to craft a piece that would resonate with both critical and popular audiences, as he elaborated in his follow-up essay in 1846, "The Philosophy of Composition.   The poem was inspired in part by a talking raven in Charles Dickens's 1841 novel Barnaby Rudge.   Poe based the complex rhythm and meter on Elizabeth Barrett's poem "Lady Geraldine's Courtship" and made use of internal rhyme as well as alliteration throughout.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2872   November 1, 2024 

There are six places around the country that make up the U.S. Mint.  To learn about a facility, click on a city:  Denver, Colorado  Fort Knox, Kentucky  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania  San Francisco, California  Washington, DC  West Point, New York   https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids/about-the-mint/locations  

What Does Bone to Pick Mean?  Pick has several meanings.  One of these is to repeatedly pull at something.  This is the sense the word has in this idiom.  Most sources state that this expression comes from a dog trying to pick off the meat from a bone, and one connotation of this idiom is trying to solve a difficult time-consuming problem.  This is likely related to the fact that dogs often gnaw on a bone for very long periods of time, even when most of the meat is gone.  This type of usage dates back to the 1500s.  https://writingexplained.org/idiom-dictionary/bone-to-pick   

Pizzelle recipe  https://theaugurbit.com/2024/09/29/pizzelle-recipe/ 

Pizzelle are Italian waffle cookies made with flour, eggs, sugar, butter or vegetable oil, and flavoring (usually anise or anisette, less commonly vanilla or lemon zest).  Pizzelle can be molded into various shapes, including in the tubular shape of cannoli.  Pizzelle were originally made in the comune (municipality) of Ortona, in the Abruzzo region of Italy.  Many other cultures have developed a pizzelle-type cookie as part of their culture (for example, the Norwegian krumkake).  It is known to be one of the oldest cookies and is probably to have developed from the ancient Roman crustulum.  Pizzelle are popular during Christmas and Easter.  They are often found at Italian weddings, alongside other traditional pastries such as cannoli and traditional Italian cookies.  It is also common to sandwich two pizzelle with cannoli cream (ricotta blended with sugar) or hazelnut spread.  Pizzelle, while still warm, can also be rolled into a tubular shape using a wooden dowel to create cannoli shells.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzelle  

The phoenix is an immortal bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again.  While it is part of Greek mythology, it has analogs in many cultures, such as Egyptian and Persian mythology.  Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(mythology)  

The phrase  “pigs might fly” is used to indicate incredulity or impossibility, or to mock credulity in others.  This notion is found in the obsolete proverb pigs fly with their tails forward, which redoubles the absurdity.  It is first attested in Against Ierome Osorius Byshopp of Siluane in Portingall and against his slaunderous inuectiues An aunswere apologeticall: for the necessary defence of the euangelicall doctrine and veritie.  First taken in hand by M. Walter Haddon, then undertaken and continued by M. Iohn Foxe, and now Englished by Iames Bell (1581), by Walter Haddon (1516-72), John Foxe (1516-87) and James Bell (floruit 1551-96).  https://wordhistories.net/2017/05/25/pigs-might-fly/  You can find “pigs might fly” designs in fabric and wallpaper.   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2871  October 30, 2024

The Cobb salad is an American garden salad typically made with chopped salad greens (authentically romaine lettuce), tomato, bacon, chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, blue cheese (often Roquefort; some versions use other cheeses such as cheddar or Monterey Jack, or no cheese at all) and red wine vinaigrette.  The ingredients are laid out on a plate in neat rows.  It is served as a main course.  Various stories recount how the salad was invented.  One says that it came about in 1937 at the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant, where it became a signature dish.  It is named after the restaurant's owner, Robert Howard Cobb.  Stories vary whether the salad was invented by Cobb or by his chef, Paul J. Posti.  The legend is that Cobb had not eaten until near midnight, and so he mixed together leftovers he found in the kitchen, along with some bacon cooked by the line cook, and tossed it with their French dressing.  Another version of the creation is that Robert Kreis, executive chef at the restaurant, created the salad in 1929 (the year the Brown Derby's Hollywood location opened) and named it in honor of Cobb.  The same source confirms that 1937 was the reported date of the version noted above, with Cobb making the salad.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobb_salad   

List of foods named after people  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foods_named_after_people 

At the start of the 16th century the Opera del Duomo—the committee of officials in charge of the decoration and maintenance of the Italy’s Florence cathedral—had a tricky unfinished project on its hands.  A document from 1501 refers to a massive barely begun statue, “a certain man of marble, named David, badly blocked out and laid on its back in the courtyard.”  The stone was a leftover from a long-running decorative project:  in 1408 the committee had decided to decorate the roofline around the dome of the cathedral with massive statues of biblical prophets and mythological figures.  The first two, put into place in the early 15th century, were a statue of Joshua sculpted in terra-cotta by Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (Donatello) and painted white to look like marble, and a statue of Hercules, sculpted by one of Donatello’s students, Agostino di Duccio.  A statue of David, the Biblical hero who slayed the giant Goliath, had been ordered in 1464.  This commission went to Agostino, and a huge slab of marble was extracted from the Carrara quarries in Tuscany, Italy, for the project.  For unknown reasons Agostino abandoned the project after doing only a little work, mostly roughing out around the legs.  Another sculptor, Antonio Rossellino, was hired to take over the project in 1476, but he backed out almost immediately, citing the poor quality of the marble.  (Modern scientific analyses of the marble have confirmed that it is indeed of mediocre quality.)  Left without a sculptor but too expensive to throw away, the massive slab sat out in the elements for a quarter century.  In the summer of 1501 a new effort was made to find a sculptor who could finish the statue.  The 26-year-old sculptor Michelangelo was chosen and given two years to complete it. Early in the morning on September 13, 1501, the young artist got to work on the slab, extracting the figure of David in a miraculous process that the artist and writer Giorgio Vasari would later describe as “the bringing back to life of one who was dead.”  In 1504, as Michelangelo finished his work, Florentine officials concluded that the statue was too heavy to place in its intended location on the roofline of the cathedral.  A committee of artists, including Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, met and decided that the statue should be placed at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.  In 1873 it was moved indoors to the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence and a replica was erected at the original site.  In the summer of 1501 a new effort was made to find a sculptor who could finish the statue.  The 26-year-old sculptor Michelangelo was chosen and given two years to complete it.  Early in the morning on September 13, 1501, the young artist got to work on the slab, extracting the figure of David in a miraculous process that the artist and writer Giorgio Vasari would later describe as “the bringing back to life of one who was dead.”  https://www.britannica.com/story/how-a-rejected-block-of-marble-became-the-worlds-most-famous-statue    

Vietnam is the world’s second-largest coffee exporter behind Brazil.  Most Vietnamese coffee beans are grown in the Central Highlands, more specifically the Da Lat region.  Here, the climate differs from much of the country, given that much of the area is at a higher altitude.  The combination of mountains, sunshine, rain, and good soil conditions make it good for both Robusta and Arabica beans.  Whilst Western-style lattes and cappuccinos are on the increase, the best Vietnamese coffee is served with a phin.  This is a French-style filter, used for making drip coffee.  Unless you specify, coffee here will be served with sugar, and a fair amount of it too.  This does result in a fabulous-tasting blend, but it can make a drinker hit the ceiling from a caffeine and sugar high, and not come down all day.  https://www.tourhero.com/en/magazine/gastronomy/coffee-in-vietnam-a-way-of-life/   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2870  October 28, 2024