Coffea Arabica in Oxford

I had an amazing day with my son in Oxford today!:) A day of parallel narratives - his on pirates, dodo bird and magic; mine on...well, coffee, of course. I have started reading "The Coffee House: A Cultural History" by Markman Ellis, book I have picked up in Oxford library with the intention to study the history of this beverage over Easter holidays. In one of his first chapters Ellis describes the early days of coffee in the UK with references to early descriptions of herbs. When I was a little girl I loved the idea or saving dried plants in a book and I was really enjoying making my own little herbaria of particular families of plans as biology homework in primary school. So you can imagine my excitement today when I realised that my son's favourite local museum, Museum of Natural History hosts not only skeleton of a T-Rex but also one of samples of coffee plant! Source of my most pleasant addiction, exhibited!:) Magnificent in itself but when combined with childhood memories of books, magic of "Name of the Rose" and other book related adventures, my passion for nature - truly sublime!

Sylwia Presley