Is it a coffee clutch, or klatch, or klatsch? And exactly what is it anyway. Decerning minds want to know. So we looked it up:

From the American Heritage Dictionary....klatch or klatsch    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (kläch) n. A casual social gathering, usually for conversation.

From Everything You Pretend to Know About Food: And Are Afraid Someone Will Ask by Nancy Rommelmann p134 " A coffee klatsch is any social gatering where coffee is served. The term is derived from Kaffeeklatsches ("coffee and gossip"), the coffeehouses that sprang up in and around Berlin in the late eighteenth century, in flagrant disregard of Frederick the Great's ban on coffee. It seems the king felt coffee a corruptinng luxury and sought to limit its consumption to the nobiltiy. The edict went so far as to appoint Kaffeeriechers (coffee smellers), spies dispacthed to the streets to sniff out offenders; this, despite the fact that Frederick himself was a large imibier of the brew, boiling his beans not in water, but champagne. By the end of the century, however, Frederick's edict was overruled, and Berlin was awash in Kaffeeklatches as its Viennese neighbor was in Konditoreisen ((pastry shops)."

There now don't you feel better to have that burning (or maybe it should be brewing) question resolved.

Sean.

[This message was edited by Admin on Sat November 15 2003 at 11:32 AM.]