The History of Coffee
The history and development of the beverage that we know as coffee is varied and
interesting, involving chance occurrences, political intrigue, and the pursuit of
wealth and power.
According to one story, the effect of coffee beans on behavior was noticed by a
sheep herder from Caffa Ethopia named Kaldi as he tended his sheep. He noticed
that the sheep became hyperactive after eating the red "cherries" from a certain
plant when they changed pastures. He tried a few himself, and was soon as
overactive as his herd. The story relates that a monk happened by and scolded him
for "partaking of the devil's fruit." However the monks soon discovered that this
fruit from the shiny green plant could help them stay awake for their prayers.
Another legend gives us the name for coffee or "mocha." An Arabian was banished
to the desert with his followers to die of starvation. In desperation, Omar had
his friends boil and eat the fruit from an unknown plant. Not only did the broth
save the exiles, but their survival was taken as a religious sign by the
residents of the nearest town, Mocha. The plant and its beverage were named Mocha
to honor this event.
Originally the coffee plant grew naturally in Ethopia, but once transplanted in
Arabia was monopolized by them. One early use for coffee would have little appeal
today. The Galla tribe from Ethiopia used coffee, but not as a drink. They would
wrap the beans in animal fat as their only source of nutrition while on raiding
parties. The Turks were the first country to adopt it as a drink, often adding
spices such as clove, cinnamon, cardamom and anise to the brew.
Coffee was introduced much later to countries beyond Arabia whose inhabitants
believed it to be a delicacy and guarded its secret as if they were top secret
military plans. Transportation of the plant out of the Moslem nations was
forbidden by the government. The actual spread of coffee was started illegally.
One Arab named Baba Budan smuggled beans to some mountains near Mysore, India,
and started a farm there. Early in this century, the descendants of those
original plants were found still growing fruitfully in the region.
Coffee was believed by some Christians to be the devil's drink. Pope Vincent III
heard this and decided to taste it before he banished it. He enjoyed it so much
he baptized it, saying "coffee is so delicious it would be a pity to let the
infidels have exclusive use of it."
Coffee today is grown and enjoyed worldwide, and is one of the few crops that
small farmers in third-world countries can profitably export.
Coffee Timeline:
Excerpt from UTNE READER, Nov/Dec 94, by Mark Schapiro, "Muddy Waters"
Prior to 1000 A.D.: Members of the Galla tribe in Ethiopia notice that they get
an energy boost when they eat a certain berry, ground up and mixed with animal
fat.
1000 A.D.: Arab traders bring coffee back to their homeland and cultivate the
plant for the first time on plantations. They also began to boil the beans,
creating a drink they call "qahwa" (literally, that which prevents sleep).
1453: Coffee is introduced to Constantinople by Ottoman Turks. The world's first
coffee shop, Kiva Han, open there in 1475. Turkish law makes it legal for a woman
to divorce her husband if he fail to provide her with her daily quota of coffee.
1511: Khair Beg, the corrupt governor of Mecca, tries to ban coffee for feat that
its influence might foster opposition to his rule. The sultan sends word that
coffee is sacred and has the governor executed.
1600: Coffee, introduced to the West by Italian traders, grabs attention in high
places. In Italy, Pope Clement VIII is urged by his advisers to consider that
favorite drink of the Ottoman Empire part of the infidel threat. However, he
decides to "baptize" it instead, making it an acceptable Christian beverage.
1607: Captain John Smith helps to found the colony of Virginia at Jamestown. It's
believed that he introduced coffee to North America.
1645: First coffeehouse opens in Italy.
1652: First coffeehouse opens in England. Coffee houses multiply and become such
popular forums for learned and not so learned - discussion that they are dubbed
"penny universities" (a penny being the price of a cup of coffee).
1668: Coffee replaces beer as New York's City's favorite breakfast drink.
1668: Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse opens in England and is frequented by merchants
and maritime insurance agents. Eventually it becomes Lloyd's of London, the
best-known insurance company in the world.
1672: First coffeehouse opens in Paris.
1675: The Turkish Army surrounds Vienna. Franz Georg Kolschitzky, a Viennese who
had lived in Turkey, slips through the enemy lines to lead relief forces to the
city. The fleeing Turks leave behind sacks of "dry black fodder" that Kolschitzky
recognizes as coffee. He claims it as his reward and opens central Europe's first
coffee house. He also establishes the habit of refining the brew by filtering out
the grounds, sweetening it, and adding a dash of milk.
1690: With a coffee plant smuggled out of the Arab port of Mocha, the Dutch
become the first to transport and cultivate coffee commercially, in Ceylon and in
their East Indian colony - Java, source of the brew's nickname.
1713: The Dutch unwittingly provide Louis XIV of France with a coffee bush whose
descendants will produce entire Western coffee industry when in 1723 French naval
officer Gabriel Mathieu do Clieu steals a seedling and transports it to
Martinique. Within 50 years and official survey records 19 million coffee trees
on Martinique. Eventually, 90 percent of the world's coffee spreads from this
plant.
1721: First coffee house opens in Berlin.
1727: The Brazilian coffee industry gets its start when Lieutenant colonel
Francisco de Melo Palheta is sent by government to arbitrate a border dispute
between the French and the Dutch colonies in Guiana. Not only does he settle the
dispute, but also strikes up a secret liaison with the wife of French Guiana's
governor. Although France guarded its New World coffee plantations to prevent
cultivation from spreading, the lady said good-bye to Palheta with a bouquet in
which she hid cuttings and fertile seeds of coffee.
1732: Johann Sevastian Bach composes his Kaffee-Kantate. Partly an ode to coffee
and partly a stab at the movement in Germany to prevent women from drinking
coffee (it was thought to make them sterile), the cantata includes the aria, "Ah!
How sweet coffee taste! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter far than
muscatel wine! I must have my coffee."
1773: The Boston Tea Party makes drinking coffee a patriotic duty in America.
1775: Prussia's Frederick the Great tries to block inports of green coffee, as
Prussia's wealth is drained. Public outcry changes his mind.
1886: Former wholesale grocer Joel Cheek names his popular coffee blend "Maxwell
House," after the hotel in Nashville, TN where it's served.
Early 1900's: In Germany, afternoon coffee becomes a standard occasion. The
derogatory term "KaffeeKlatsch" is coined to describe women's gossip at these
affairs. Since broadened to mean relaxed conversation in general.
1900: Hills Bros. begins packing roast coffee in vacuum tins, spelling the end of
the ubiquitous local roasting shops and coffee mills.
1901: The first soluble "instant" coffee is invented by Japanese-American chemist
Satori Kato of Chicago.
1903: German coffee importer Ludwig Roselius turn a batch of ruined coffee beans
over to researchers, who perfect the process of removing caffeine from the beans
without destroying the flavor. He markets it under the brand name "Sanka." Sanka
is introduced to the United States in 1923.
1906: George Constant Washington, an English chemist living in Guatemala, notices
a powdery condensation forming on the spout of his silver coffee carafe. After
experimentation, he creates the first mass-produced instant coffee (his brand is
called Red E Coffee).
1907: In less than a century Brazil accounted for 97% of the world's harvest.
1920: Prohibition goes into effect in United States. Coffee sales boom.
1938: Having been asked by Brazil to help find a solution to their coffee
surpluses, Nestle company invents freeze-dried coffee. Nestle develops Nescafe
and introduces it in Switzerland.
1940: The US imports 70 percent of the world coffee crop.
1942: During W.W.II, American soldiers are issued instant Maxwell House coffee in
their ration kits. Back home, widespread hoarding leads to coffee rationing.
1946: In Italy, Achilles Gaggia perfects his espresso machine. Cappuccino is
named for the resemblance of its color to the robes of the monks of the Capuchin
order.
1969: One week before Woodstock the Manson Family murders coffee heiress Abigail
Folger as she visits with friend Sharon Tate in the home of filmmaker Roman
Polanski.
1971: Starbucks opens its first store in Seattle's Pike Place public market,
creating a frenzy over fresh-roasted whole bean coffee.
1979: Mr Cappuccino opens for business!
2007: NEW STA IMPAINTI COFFEE ROASTER
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