Just had an extremely lame argument with princess (these things happen). I found the subject of the argument interesting enough to make a blog entry though. Anyway, this argument was about the definition of the word

MOCHA

Apparently, I had borrowed, from my sis, a handout on table etiquette by SHATEC, and in the glossary at the back, I found this description for Mocha:

'Refers to a strong, slightly bitter tasting coffee.'

Obviously this has to be wrong, right? They missed the point completely. Mocha is, simply put, coffee with chocolate added. What do you know, this was actually able to trigger an argument between us.

So it was the word of Singapore's premier tourism and hospitality institute against that of NAFA's greatest coffee expert. Who triumphs?

In any case, princess, as the defence lawyer (aka attorney), produced this definition of mocha from epicurious.com:

mocha
[MOH-kah]

1. Originally the word "mocha" referred only to a very fine coffee grown in Arabia and shipped from Yemen's port of Mocha. Today, this strong, slightly bitter coffee is still available but not as popular as it was in the 16th and 17th centuries. 2. A hot coffee-and-chocolate beverage. This flavor combination is also used in desserts, icings, candies and sweet sauces. See also CAFE MOCHA.

Oh well. This threw me off. Her argument, though, was less convincing than the evidence. She said that mocha is different from cafe mocha - which isn't strictly so, the names are already so interchangeable.

My argument was that they left out the more common definition of mocha as we know it today - coffee with chocolate added. To this she said they did not need to include it. The argument ended in a lame stalemate after she realized I was not going to concede defeat.

After she went off, I poked around for more information on this mysterious Mocha bean which I had hitherto known nothing about. As I read, I realized my historical knowledge on coffee was indeed quite lacking. However, other sites mentioned that

the Mocha bean was prized for its chocolatey flavour.

Thus, there is really no argument. The three of us (me, her and Shatec) are all half-right. I was wrong in that I said Shatec was completely wrong. Shatec was wrong in that they still missed the point of mocha, which is the chocolatey flavour which is the defining characteristic of mocha, whether it be the bean, or the coffee-and-chocolate drink.

However, I shall be reminded to think every time I see mocha on the menu, and also keep an eye out for the said coffee beans. Middle Eastern beans are, of course, my least favourite because of their light body, but still I look forward to finding and drinking a cup of the true Mocha.