Skookum

I have officially achieved coffee Nirvana.

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon Raven’s Brew Coffee Roasters, a marvelous coffee company in Ketchikan, Alaska. Easily the best coffee I have ever tasted. Extraordinarily high-quality beans, perfectly roasted. Even better, they’re big proponents of sustainability: they use shade-grown, organic, and naturally-processed coffee beans in most of their blends, and support small family growers through their buying practices.

Last week I stumbled upon the

Aerobie AeroPress, an espresso and coffee maker that gives French press quality coffee without the bitterness or sediment. The reviewers, even jaded coffee connoisseurs, were going overboard in their praise (as one friend would say, “raving, foaming at the mouth, falling over backward”), so I ordered one, and made my first cup this morning.

It was, as I said, Nirvana. Silky smooth, full-bodied, rich, incredibly flavorful, and bringing out all the subtleties of the coffee as well as its strengths, even with cream added. A new shipment of Raven’s Brew arrived just yesterday. So today I had my old standby, Wicked Wolf. But I also ordered an old favorite, Skookum Blend.

When we read the Skookum Blend motto—“Halo Wau-wau, Muckamuck Kaupy,” which they translate as “Shut up and drink the coffee”—Adam was as fascinated with their use of Chinook jargon as I was. I had been familiar with only a few words and phrases before: tilikum (friend), tumwater (waterfall, literally “heartbeat water”), potlatch (the great gift-feast which underlay the Pacific Northwest Coast people’s economic and political systems), and of course hyas muckamuck (the “big dogs” who sit at the head table during feasts), but reading the Wikipedia article on the subject was nearly as stimulating as the coffee itself.

It even prompted Adam to write a poem about the coffee. The poem, appropriately enough, is called “Skookum,” which is Chinook jargon for “strong.” (I sent a copy of the poem to Raven’s Brew, but they must have never received it, or surely it would now be printed on their coffee bags or displayed prominently on their website.)

Here, then, is Adam doing a public reading of “Skookum,” from his forthcoming collection Identity Theft:

Skookum

by Adam Byrn Tritt

I had this dream.

A longing. A thirst.

I would go to the Pacific Northwest And live among the tall trees. Wake to cedar and coffee, Fish for salmon, Create.

I would learn from the Chinook, Keep my mythos close to me, Prosper from the green land, Take life as pleasure.

I even learned their Trade Jargon, The Chinook Wau-wau so much the Creole of the Pacific Northwest.

I am called there but It is a battle upstream And I am exhausted, Humpbacked, Old.

I am too busy working to spawn.

Listen to me. As we sit here across this table, As I decide what to wear, Think about how long my day will feel, Taste the dry breakfast I eat of need And not desire, I sip the strong splendor; My salvation in a cup, My blessed Skookum. As I listen to you drone— Your day, our life, How good it all is— All I want to say is Halo Wau-wau, Muckamuck Kaupy:

“Shut Up and Drink the Coffee.”