BLACKWINE TREES

By Hersius

Blackwine trees are associated with the Thentis Mountain range. Book 12, p.21.

The Thentis Mountain range changes color as the various elevations reflect several principal commercial enterprises. At the base of the range, yellow signals vast Sa-Tarna fields. At the lower elevations of the slopes, the color changes from yellow to blue due to vast Veminium flower fields. Above that, the color changes to the medium green of the leaves of the blackwine trees. Two or three times a year, the green of the blackwine tree belt is punctuated by dots of white as the trees blossom. At higher elevations, the needle trees show as a dark green band. Above timberline the rocks and soil have a bluish tint. The range is capped by snowy peaks.

Blackwine is a bitter variety of coffee, but which variety is not made clear. Book 5, p.106, Book 16, p.247. There are some 60 known existing species of coffee trees on Earth, with varieties within those species adapted to particular environmental conditions. Only 10 species are cultivated commercially, and of these only 1 dominates the world market. The bean is housed in an edible fruit called a cherry. Varietal differences include height, preferred temperature range, resistance to frost, resistance to disease, resistance to droughts, need or lack of need for shade, color of blossoms, size of cherries, color of cherries, size of beans, shape of beans, flavor of the beans, cellular density of the beans, amount of caffeine content in the beans, number of crops per year, number of days per bloom, size of yields, and color and size of leaves.

The Gorean variety was either selected or selected and then modified to flourish in the Thentis Mountains. Blackwine is a prominent drink in the Books, yet a description of a blackwine tree is not detailed. I therefore provide here my sample conjectural description of a Thentis blackwine tree.

The Thentis blackwine tree stands about the height of a man. It is naturally slender but if topped and pruned to remove roughly a foot of its height, the trunk thickens to a diameter of 2 to 3 inches. The pruning also improves the flowering. The branches are pruned to extend no more than 5 feet from the trunk, which places them at about the same distance above ground as the root system extends below ground. Seeing the area over which the root system lies permits optimal fertilization. The root system resists drought and disease. The trees resist frost well, with bark rarely cracking due to cold. The trees do not require shade, and the leaves are very large and very broad. The leaves themselves shelter the fruit. The trees never lose their leaves, and the leaves change color over the life cycle of the tree. The leaves are a coppery green when first growing. Once they are established and before the tree produces any fruit, the leaves become a light green. After about three years, the leaves turn a medium green, signaling that the tree is now of fruit-bearing age. After the leaves have turned to their mature shade of green, the trees produce small white flower blossoms that yield a fragrance similar to that of jasmine. After only a few days, the blossoms fall, signaling that pollination has taken place and that fruit will develop. The gestation period is only 3 months. Thentis trees can have 2 crops per year, with the first crop being larger than the second. The fruit, called a cherry, is small, has a flaming red color, and contains two small green beans within its edible flesh. If you eat the cherries raw with the beans inside, you get a caffeine buzz. Blackwine producers must be concerned with seed stock, fertilizing, pruning, soil conditions, sunshine, precipitation, weeding, pest control, and the drying process.

The Books do not indicate how long blackwine has been on Gor, but it is certain that it came from Earth on a Voyage of Acquisition. Book 5, p.107. This gives it some time line limits. The Books never say whether blackwine preparation has changed over time under the influence of people brought from Earth. People began boiling raw coffee beans into a tea sometime in the 800 to 1000 AD time period. People began roasting the beans sometime in the 1000 to 1200 time period. People began crushing the beans sometime in the 1400s. Coffee plantations were created in various parts of the world in the 1600s, and production was large enough for widespread popularization of the drink by 1800. In the Books, blackwine remains for the most part an elite drink, reflecting Earth trends of over 200 years ago. Online Gor seems to mirror modern trends of nearly everyone drinking coffee. The Books do not say whether blackwine is brewed from raw green or yellow beans or from brown or black roasted beans. The smoky process of roasting doubles the beans in size as the sugars, acids, and some 600 volitile oils recombine to create distinctive flavors. The color of blackwine when it is served is specifically black. Book 16, p.244.

The Books say that most of the blackwine is grown on the slopes of the Thentis Mountains, which leaves open the intriguing possibility that blackwine is grown elsewhere as well. Book 16, p.245.

I wish to call attention to the following websites.

http://www.quetzal-coffee.com/coffeehistory.html?source=Overture