James's Weblog

Arabica / Robusta / Canephora

Coffee Cherries, by Scot Nelson (on Flickr)
Photo: Scot NelsonA little exchange on Facebook last week made me think it was time to write a basic guide to the two most common types of coffee. This will be very familiar ground to any readers with a keen interest in coffee, but may be new ground for some.

There are three species of the Coffea genus - three kinds of coffee plant that cannot be interbred. Only two are grown commercially.

The good quality coffee plant is Coffea Arabica, and accounts for about 80% of the world's coffee production. There are a number of varietals within this one species. Most of the time, you get red ripe cherries to pick, inside each of which are two flat seeds. This is the coffee that has the best taste, although the quality of what is grown varies enormously. Please don't make the mistake that some branding and marketing executives want you to make - if it says Arabica on the packet it must be good. The preparation, roast and subsequent

Blog Category:

Coffee

I can't grow plants

I cannot grow plants.

It's true that I'm not very good at gardening, or even at caring for house plants. But that's not what I mean. Even if I do remember to water them, put them in the right place, prune them, leave them alone when they need it - I can't make them grow. I cannot turn my care of the plant into cellulose and chlorophyll.

Which is also one of the most humbling, frustrating and relieving aspects of pastoral ministry.

Blog Category:

Pastoral Ministry

PHP 5.5 release and Drupal

Yesterday, the PHP group announced the first stable release of PHP 5.5. This is great news. I shall compile it very shortly so that it can optionally be used on this server. That will allow me to test my various Drupal sites against PHP 5.5, to see if there are any issues.

However the arrival of PHP 5.5 signals the imminent end of PHP 5.3. Back in December 2012, PHP announced that

Blog Category:

Drupal Planet

How to brew espresso

Two of the people from Has Bean Coffee have produced a free e-book on how to brew espresso, and how to tune that process until you are getting the exact drink you want.

When this was first written, it was only available to those who had an iOS device - which was not me.

However they've just turned it into a 23-page PDF document, which means the rest of us can now read it too.

So go read their book called Espresso Training.

Blog Category:

Coffee

Is God anti-gay?

I've known Sam Allberry for about 15 years now. I've long appreciated his clarity as a teacher, preacher and writer. I now admire his courage and honesty as well.

Sam has a new book coming out shortly, entitled "Is God Anti-Gay?" That's a good question. Many people assume that the answer is no, by which they mean that God has no objections to someone fully embracing a gay lifestyle. Alternatively, once one says God does have objections to this, you are saying that God is anti-gay.

Sam sets out to steer the reader through this particular minefield. It is his deep conviction that a gay lifestyle and identity is not something that God is content for a person to embrace. And yet Sam also wants to affirm, equally passionately, that this does not make God anti-gay. The Christian gospel is good news, and it is good news for everyone - including those who experience same-sex attraction. Sam has had to think these things through from the perspective of his first-hand experience.

Blog Category:

Living

Cascara

Coffee Cherries Today, I'd like to introduce you to cascara.

It's not a kind of make-up.

It's not a sequence of waterfalls.

It's a byproduct of the coffee producing process, which most people in these shores haven't heard of. Yet in the coffee producing regions it is turned into a drink in its own right.

Meet: Cascara

Blog Category:

Coffee

Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier

Image Credit: José Carlos Figueiredo

Sometimes, during our evening services, there is plenty of time for discussion. Recently, we were having a session looking at the name of God, and I was asked a question. I answered it as best I could, but I've been thinking about it some more since. I think I could have done a little better. In case this is helpful, I'll put it here.

The question was whether we could call God our creator, redeemer and sanctifier.

Blog Category:

Theology

Hang up if someone phones you from Windows

I just got a call. The caller display showed "international". The accent was foreign.

Operator: "Hello, this is N calling from the technical department of Windows Computer Systems. Could I speak to the main user please."

Me: "I'm sorry, there is no company called Windows Computer Systems."

Operator: {Silence}

Me: "It doesn't exist. Where did you say you were calling from?"

Operator: {Hangs up}

Blog Category:

Consumer Awareness

Technology

And you don't want to meet him when he's angry

I feel prompted to post part of Psalm 2 this morning

¹Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
²The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
³“Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”

Blog Category:

Psalms

Current Affairs

Useful modules: Spambot

Drupal websites don't always need to allow users to register themselves with an account. This site doesn't, for instance. Anonymous commenting is turned on. The contact form is enabled for anonymous users. And those are the only thing that any member of the public would need to do - other than read. So nobody needs to set themselves up with a login.

Blog Category:

Technology

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