HISTORY OF COFFEE

People around the world start the day with a great cup of coffee.  In fact, some people are so wrapped up in their cup of java that they cannot get going with a clear mind unless they have had two or three cups.  Whether drinking coffee in the morning or at night, it tastes great!  The history of coffee is the interesting thing in that no one is 100% sure how far back it goes.

In addition to what we know about coffee, there is also legend that the stimulant of coffee was first discovered prior to the 9^th century by an Abyssinian goatherd by the name of Kaldi.  The legend says that one of Kaldi’s goats was bored and ornery, deciding to chew on coffee cherries while Kaldi took a nap nearby.  Soon, he noticed the goats jumping off rocks and having an abundance of energy.  Intrigued, Kaldi gathered a handful of the cherries, taking them back to his home village of Imam.

As an experiment, one of the religious leaders boiled the coffee cherries in water, drinking the concoction.  Soon, he found that he had more energy, was more alert, and much livelier.  In fact, while he typically felt sleepy during evening prayers, after drinking the mixture, he was wide, awake.  Obviously, as word got out about the magic concoction, people started drinking the coffee too, making it a regular part of their day.

Over time, coffee grew increasingly popular and then in the 16^th century, Mohammedans began to complain.  The problem was they believed the coffee drink to be a threat to religious sobriety.  In fact, their number one concern was that followers would be more interested in stopping for a cup of java than spending time worshipping.  With this, the Mohammedans began to discourage people from drinking coffee, telling them that coffee caused impotence and other illnesses.  Regardless, people kept drinking.

Coffee became so popular that Arabians started guarding the beans, even showing jealousy.  To prepare coffee beans for export, they were boiled first to help destroy any possibility for germination, making the beans a regional prize.  However, sometime around the 16^th century, a religious pilgrim smuggled a coffee seedling to India.  There, the seedling was planted in the Mysore area behind a hut.  Although coffee production continued growing in this area from that time forward, it remained under Arab control through the entire century.

Then by 1615, Venetian traders presented Europe with coffee.  However, Pope Clement VIII was even given a warning that the coffee could be a threat to the church’s holy aims.  A legislature of priests even accused coffee of being Satan’s tools, made to lure worshippers into losing their soul.  What happened is that the pope became curious, asking for a cup to drink.  Immediately, he noticed the aroma of the coffee to be enticing and soothing.  Then when he sipped the coffee, he decided it was so great that he baptized it as a “truly Christian beverage”.

From that time forward, the Dutch planted coffee outside of Arabia on Java Island in 1699.  The first shipment was sent in 1706 to Amsterdam, which also included one seedling.  This plant was places in a botanical garden, which would later become the parent tree of most coffee grown in the western world.  Soon, coffee became popular in Germany actually replacing all other beverages drank at breakfast time.  By the 18^th century, Frederick the Great was concerned, releasing a statement that stated his subjects were drinking coffee at an alarming rate.  He even went as far as pushing beer. 

However, both London and Vienna blessed coffee.  Even so, the Turkish ambassador was responsible for introducing coffee to Paris, which was the beginning of a massive coffee explosion.  Rumor has it that Louis XV spent as much as $15,000 annually on coffee just for his daughters.  In fact, Voltaire is reported to have drunk as much as 50 cups per day.

Although it took several tries, a five-foot tall seedling was successfully transplanted from the Amsterdam botanical garden to a Paris garden.  Shortly after, Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu, a young naval officer, was successful in brining one of the coffee tree’s offspring to the Americas.  According to the story, he went as far as sharing his own water ration with the tree.  Within 50 years, more than 18 million trees grew on Java Island, with the majority growing in Central and South American today.

People in the United States began drinking coffee something in the mid-17th century.  In fact, coffee was licensed to sell in Massachusetts in 1670.  When the British East India Tea Company created plans to develop a profitable market of tea in the colonies, it was stopped by the famous Boston Tea Party, which launched coffee to unmatched heights.  From that time forward, coffee took the lead in popularity, never stepping back to second place again.

Today, coffee is the number one beverage sold in the world.  You can buy coffee grown from around the globe, giving you the opportunity to enjoy foreign flavors.  Interestingly, coffee comes in only second to oil for international trade.  Two-thirds of coffee comes from the Americas but you will find coffee producers in the West Indies, Java, Sumatra, Arabia, Africa, India, and so on.  What makes coffee so unique is that it all has such different flavors and body, depending on the region in which it came.