The History Of Coffee

Coffee - THE Drink of Choice

Did you know coffee is the most consumed beverage on the planet.

The Beginning of Coffee

Along with these people, other Africans of the same period also have a history of using the coffee berry pulp for more than one occasion like rituals and even for health. It looks as if the first trace came out of Abyssinia and was also sporadically in the vicinity of the Red Sea around seven hundred AD.

It became so popular among the Arabs that they made it their signature Arabian wine and it was used a lot during rituals. Roasting and boiling the bean was how they made this drink. The Arabs started making a drink that became quite popular called gahwa--- meaning to prevent sleep. It is speculated that trade ships brought the coffee their way. Coffee began to get more attention when the Arabs began cultivating it in their peninsulas around eleven hundred AD.

After the coffee bean was found to be a great wine and a medicine, someone discovered in Arabia that you could also make a different dark, delicious drink out of the beans, this happened somewhere around twelve hundred AD. After that it didn't take long and everyone in Arabia was drinking coffee. Everywhere these people traveled the coffee went with them. It made its way around to India, North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean, and was then cultivated to a great extent in Yemen around fourteen hundred AD.

Other countries would have gladly welcomed these beans if only the Arabs had let them. The Arabs killed the seed-germ making sure no one else could grow the coffee if taken elsewhere. Heavily guarding their plants, Yemen is where the main source of coffee stayed for several hundred years. Even with their efforts, the beans were eventually smuggled out by pilgrims and travelers.

Coffee Shops Appear

Around 1475 the first coffee shop opens in Constantinople called Kiv Han two years after coffee was introduced to Turkey, in 1554 two coffee houses open there. People came pouring in to socialize, listen to music, play games and of course drink coffee. Some often called these places in Turkey the "school of the wise", because you could learn so much by just visiting the coffee house and listening to conversations. In the sixteen hundreds coffee enters Europe through the port of Venice. The Turkish warriors also brought the drink to Balkans, Spain, and North Africa. Not too much later the first coffee house opens in Italy.

There were plenty of people also trying to ban coffee. Such as Khair Beg a governor of Mecca who was executed and Grand Vizir of the Ottoman Empire who successfully closed down many coffee houses in Turkey. Thankfully not everyone thought this way.

Coffee Tips Arrive

In the early sixteen hundreds coffee is presented to the New World by man named John Smith. Later in that century, the first coffee house opens in England. Coffee houses or "penny universities" charged a penny for admission and for a cup of coffee. The word "TIPS" (for service) has it's origin from an English coffee house.

Early in the 17th century, Edward Lloyd's coffee house opens in England. The Dutch became the first to commercially transport coffee. The first Parisian café opens in 1713 and King Louis XIV is presented with a lovely coffee tree. Sugar is first used as an addition to coffee in his court.

The America's Have Coffee

Coffee plants were introduced in the Americas for development. By close to the end of the seventeen hundreds, 1,920 million plants are grown on the island.

Evidently the eighteen hundreds were spent trying to find better methods to make coffee.

The Coffee "Brew" in the 20th Century

New methods to help brewing coffee start popping up everywhere. The first commercial espresso machine is developed in Italy. Melitta Bentz makes a filter using blotting paper. Dr. Ernest Lily manufactures the first automatic espresso machine. The Nestle Company invents Nescafe instant coffee. Achilles Gaggia perfects the espresso machine. Hills Bros. begins packing roasted coffee in vacuum tins eventually ending local roasting shops and coffee mills. A Japanese-American chemist named Satori Kato from Chicago invents the first soluble "instant" coffee.

German coffee importer Ludwig Roselius turns some ruined coffee beans over to researchers, who perfected the process of removing caffeine from the beans without destroying the flavor. He sells it under the name Sanka. Sanka is introduced in the United States in 1923.

George Constant Washington an English chemist living in Guatemala, is interested in a powdery condensation forming on the spout of his silver coffee flask. After checking into it, he creates the first mass-produced instant coffee which is his brand name called Red E Coffee.

Prohibition goes into effect in United States. Coffee sales suddenly increase. Brazil asked Nestle to help find a solution to their coffee surpluses so the Nestle Company comes up with freeze-dried coffee. Nestle also made Nescafe and introduced it to Switzerland.

Other Interesting Coffee Tidbits

Today the US imports 70 percent of the world's coffee crop. During W.W.II, American soldiers were issued instant Maxwell House coffee in their ration kits.

In Italy, Achilles Gaggia perfects his espresso machine. The name Cappuccino comes from the resemblance of its color to the robes of the monks of the Capuchin order.

One week before Woodstock, the Manson family murders coffee heiress Abigail Folger as she visits with her friend Sharon Tate in the home of filmmaker Roman Polanski.

Starbuck's Hits the Coffee World

Starbucks opens its first store in Seattle's Pike Place public market in 1971. This creates madness over fresh-roasted whole bean coffee. Coffee finally becomes the world's most popular beverage. More than 450 billion cups are sold each year by 1995.

The Current Coffee Trends

Drink and enjoy! Researchers are even finding many health benefits to drinking coffee. There's no sign of coffee consumption decreasing. We have really come a long way even with our coffee making machines. Now in the 21st century we have many different styles, grinds, and flavors of coffee.

history of the coffee bean

And to many of us - it's simply what we need to get us started in the morning. Coffee today is produced in over 50 countries and is the second most valuable export after oil. Whether you call it java, mud or a shot in the arm, an estimated 2 billion cups are consumed every day around the world - making coffee the most popular drink in the world. Shepherds consumed the coffee by grounding the beans and mixing them with animal fat. One legend has it that a goat herder in Ethiopia observed his goats eating coffee berries and he decided to taste them himself - noting the stimulating effect. Coffee is older than most people think - archaeological evidence suggests that humans were enjoying the taste of the coffee berry around a hundred thousand years ago. Arabia controlled the coffee trade for many centuries as they introduced a law that prohibited the exporting of beans that could germinate. By around 600 AD, the coffee bean on plantations - they called their new concoction qahwa meaning "that which prevents sleep". Despite this restriction, the coffee bean somehow found its way throughout the Middle East - to Persia (now Iran), Egypt and parts of Northern Africa. Coffee beans also found their way to the Mysore area of India - where descendants of those original plants flourished until the early 20th century. In many cases, the beans were literally smuggled out of Arabia. At first, coffee was not enjoyed for its taste, but more as a supplement or source of nutrition. When the coffee bean found its way to Turkey, the Turks began to drink it for its flavor - frequently adding such things as cinnamon or anise. The Turks were also the first to roast the beans over fires and boil the crushed beans in water. And what is generally considered to be the world's first coffee shop was opened in Istanbul - known as Constantinople at the time - in the 15th century. The Dutch were the first to transport and cultivate coffee beans on a commercial basis. With coffee beans smuggled out of Arabia, they established plantations in Ceylon and one of their colonies - Java. Today, Indonesia is the world's third largest producer of coffee. The coffee bean was introduced to Europe during the 17th century. At one point, the beverage was more popular than tea in England and was used as an antidote to the widespread alcoholism of the time. Coffee houses sprang up in such places as Vienna, Paris and London, frequented by the wealthy and fashionable. The Austrians are credited with the practice of adding milk and sugar to coffee. In France, Louis XIV built greenhouses to protect his precious coffee beans from frost. And in the New World, coffee was also a popular drink - the newly formed American colonies declared coffee to be the national drink. Not everybody approved; the Catholics declared coffee should be banned - despite the Pope confessing to being an avid coffee drinker. Today, there are actually more than 60 varieties of coffee in the world, although the beans used for coffee are one of two types - Robusta and Arabica. Around 75% of coffee beans produced are Arabica and are cultivated in Brazil and Central America. Robusta beans produce a stronger blend of coffee and are cultivated in parts of Asia and Africa as well as Brazil. Chances are high that your coffee beans come from Brazil, the world's largest producer of coffee. Brazil produces almost 30% of the world's coffee and also has some of the most advanced processing techniques in the world. In 2006, the gross value of coffee production in Brazil was almost 5 billion dollars and the industry employs several million workers. Coffee isn't usually associated with Asia, but several Asian countries have started to cultivate the coffee bean. In recent years, Vietnam has become a large producer and some of the African coffee producing countries still produce excellent coffee - in particular Kenya and Tanzania Some countries have also started to cultivate specialized coffee beans - Kenya produces a fruity coffee and Indonesia produces the Kopi Luwak - a coffee bean that has been passed through the digestive system of a civet. And Ethiopia - where the coffee bean was perhaps first discovered - is home to a bean that produces a coffee flavored with chocolate, ginger and orange. So whether you prefer your coffee beans with milk, with sugar, strong or with no caffeine - take a moment and enjoy a cup of the world's most popular drink.

And to many of us - it's simply what we need to get us started in the morning. Coffee today is produced in over 50 countries and is the second most valuable export after oil. Whether you call it java, mud or a shot in the arm, an estimated 2 billion cups are consumed every day around the world - making coffee the most popular drink in the world.Shepherds consumed the coffee by grounding the beans and mixing them with animal fat. One legend has it that a goat herder in Ethiopia observed his goats eating coffee berries and he decided to taste them himself - noting the stimulating effect. Coffee is older than most people think - archaeological evidence suggests that humans were enjoying the taste of the coffee berry around a hundred thousand years ago.Arabia controlled the coffee trade for many centuries as they introduced a law that prohibited the exporting of beans that could germinate. By around 600 AD, the coffee bean on plantations - they called their new concoction qahwa meaning "that which prevents sleep".So whether you prefer your coffee beans with milk, with sugar, strong or with no caffeine - take a moment and enjoy a cup of the world's most popular drink.