Coffee Is A Historic Beverage, And It Makes For A Great Gift

So where did this famed drink come from? We drink it out of habit, we drink it for flavor; whatever the reason, it is surely a popular beverage. For some of us, it keeps us up during the day, or for late night study sessions. a fantastic dark beverage that wakes us up in the morning. Ahhhhh, coffee...

However, Homer, and according to Arabian tales speak of a mysterious bitter black beverage with powers of stimulation that could have been this drink. The most notable dates point to around 800b.c. In the East it was widespread at every level of society, since the earlier era. Coffee, for Americans, is three hundred years old.

From there it spread to Egypt, Yemen, and Arabia, where it became a part of daily life. No matter how it actually was created, the fact remains that the coffee plant started in Africa, in an Ethiopian region known as Kaffa. After relating his observations to a monk, they boiled the berries and made a beverage that could disperse sleep and weariness. In 1400 a Yemeni goat herder observed his flock eating reddish berries, then becoming excited and restless. About the year 1000, coffee was being used for medicinal purposes.

By the 20th century, various forms of coffee were developed for the public. Much later, around 1727 coffee growing started in Northern Brazil. However, due to an increasing demand for the new beverage, and high taxes on shipping, there was experimentation with growing the crops in various other countries. In the late 1500s coffee was a commodity, being sold in Europe.

This was marketed in the 1920s. They developed the process of taking the caffeine out of the beans without losing any flavor. Decaffeinated coffee was first founded in 1903 when Ludwig Roselius, a German coffee importer, gave a batch of damaged coffee beans to researchers.

Instant coffee was first mass produced from the invention of George Constant Washington, an English chemist living in Guatemala. While waiting for his wife one day to join him outside for coffee, he observed on the spout of the silver coffee urn, a fine powder, which looked to be the condensation of the coffee vapors. This excited him and led to his founding of soluble coffee.

In 1906 he started experiments and put his invention, Red E Coffee, in the markets in 1909. Nestle', in 1938, trying to aid Brazil with their coffee surpluses created freeze-dried coffee. Nescafe was started and first introduced into Switzerland. Instant coffee became a fad after 1956 when commercial television was the new craze.

And now in the US alone, 400 billion cups of coffee a year are consumed. Coffee is one of the world's largest commodities, second only to oil. From a remote area in Africa, to millions of shelves and homes worldwide, coffee has became a fixture everywhere.

The author has been a passionate coffee drinker for many years. She has tasted coffees from all over the world, and believes in serving and entertaining her guests with only the best.

She has catered hundreds of events and affairs and is known for her attention to details, especially regarding picking the perfect coffee.

Coffee ...Nectar of the gods

After he had finished telling the shepherd just what a sinner he had been the monk set upon his journey but not before he had added a little something to his backpack and supplies. After a few hours had passed along came a wandering monk who, after being informed of the plants amazing qualities proceeded to scold the poor shepherd and lecture him on his foolish indulgence. To his pleasant surprise the shepherd began to feel wide awake and he too became very alert. Now being a little weary and extremely tired the shepherd decided to try the berries and see if the end results would be the same for him as they had been for his flock. Not only were they unusually alert but they also appeared to be extremely hyperactive. After about fifteen minutes or so the herder started to notice that his sheep were behaving in an odd manner. Before he could stop them some of his herd had began to gnaw away at this unusual berry. About 850 A.D it is said that a lone shepherd and his flock came across a strange and mysterious plant growing upon a secluded and forgotten hillside.

Its hard to believe that each year we consume a staggering four billion cups and there are many among us who would not contemplate starting their day without it. In no time at all word of its qualities began to spread and coffee was to evolve into one of the most valued drinks ever known to the human civilisation. Here it was to be held as a holy delicacy but was eventually to be unlawfully exported by a trader by the name of Baba Budan. Its widespread consumption first commenced in the wilds of the Ethiopian outlands before then moving on to the heart of Arabia . Coffee, had now well and truly arrived and the news began to spread! Soon the endless hours of prayer no longer seemed so wearisome, in fact they became easy to endure with the help of this exciting new drink. When the monk reached his monastery his fellow holy men also decided to try this new and enchanting beverage.

This is also by a figure in the region of about twenty five percent. Drinking coffee on a daily basis is also thought to help lower your chances of developing colon cancer. This is known to be a bronchodilator which helps those who suffer with the disease to breathe a little more easily. It is said that folk who suffer from the complaint of asthma and drink coffee have an average of at least 25% less symptoms due to a substance in the coffee named theophylline. Although coffee is usually thought of as a sleep suppressant there are many who think that it also has many health benefits.

I tend to place numerous orders via the web and I always make a point of recording blend, country, and from exactly whom I purchased. Sitting at home I can now search out an almost infinite variety of coffees from all over the world and order them at the click of a mouse. With the aid of the wonderful web, trekking around the local neighbourhood to try and find some new exciting coffee blends has became a thing of the past. Never before have we been able to so easily get hold of such a large and voluptuous variety of blends, tastes and tantalising aromas from all over the world. One of the swiftest growing trends of the last few years has to be the rising popularity of buying coffee via the internet. Its curious that the vast majority of folk have no idea of the different tastes and delights that this king of all drinks has to offer us.

Not only will you impress your friends, your tastebuds will be thrilled as well. Go on and try some new varieties. Now you know the history of this magical bean I hope that if in the days to come you are thinking of visiting your local coffee shop you recall the information you have read on this website and make the most of this wonderful drink.

Latte or Cappuccino?