Home Coffee Reviews Coffee Drinks Coffee Search Coffee By Region Coffee Terms Coffee History Quick Search GO Featured Coffee JavaBerry Black Estate Reserve, Kona, Hawaii See Review Contact Form Name Note Coffee History The history of our beloved beverage goes back thousands of years and is an interesting account that could fill hundreds of pages. Fortunately for you, I have diluted it down to the major points. A Brief History of the Beverage Known Today as Coffee... Coffee is one of the most commonly consumed beverages on the planet. It was first revealed in Eastern Africa in an area known today as Ethiopia. A fashionable legend refers to Kaldi, a goat herder, who saw his goats acting unusually playful after eating berries from a bush. Curious about this behavior, Kaldi tried eating the berries himself. He found that these berries gave him a new energy. Gossip of this new energy fruit quickly spread throughout the region. After Monks heard about this incredible fruit they dried the berries so that they could be transported to distant monasteries. They reconstituted these berries in water, ate the fruit, and drank the liquid to provide stimulation for a more awakened time of prayer. Coffee berries were taken from Ethiopia to the Arabian peninsula, and were first cultivated in what is known today as the country of Yemen. Coffee then traveled to Turkey where beans were roasted for the first time over open fires. The roasted beans were crushed, and then boiled in water, creating a crude version of the beverage we enjoy today. Coffee first arrived on European soil by means of Venetian trade merchants. Once in Europe this new beverage fell under harsh criticism from the Catholic church. Many felt the pope should ban coffee, calling it the drink of the devil. To their surprise, the pope, who was already enjoying coffee himself, blessed coffee, declaring it a truly Christian beverage. In the 1700's, coffee was brought to the Americas by means of a French infantry captain who was said to cared for one small plant on his long journey across the Atlantic. This lone plant, was planted on the Caribbean Island of Martinique, and became the forerunner of over nineteen million trees on the island within fifty years. It was from this unassuming beginning that the coffee plant made its way to the rest of the tropical regions of South and Central America. In the present day, coffee is a colossal global industry employing more than twenty million people. Coffee ranks second only to petroleum in terms of dollars traded worldwide. With over 400 billion cups consumed every year, coffee is the world's most popular beverage. Astonishing as it is, in Brazil alone; over five million people are employed in the cultivation and harvesting of over three billion coffee plants. In the United States, sales of niche/specialty coffees in the United States have reached the multi billion dollar level, and are growing considerably on an yearly basis. Coffee Timeline Prior to 1000 AD 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 AD 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 fails 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. 1529 The Turkish Army surrounds Vienna. FranzGeorg 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. 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. Coffeehouses 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. 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. 1700 By 1700 there were nearly 2000 coffee houses in London. King Charles II banned coffee houses because they were regarded as hotbeds of revolution; the ban lasted 11 days. 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 Sebastian 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 Boston Tea Party, Americans revolt against King George's Tea Tax and coffee is soon after proclaimed the national beverage. 1775 Prussia's Frederick the Great tries to block imports of green coffee, as Prussia's wealth is drained. Public outcry changes his mind. 1800's Experiments made with brewing methods, steam pressure espresso first produced 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 standard occasion. The derogatory term "Kaffee Klatsch" 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 Luigi Bezzera patents first 'restaurant' espresso machine. 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 processor 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). 1920 Prohibition goes into effect in United States. Coffee sales boom. 1938 having been asked by Brazil to help find 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 first espresso machine to use higher pressure than steam , through spring powered lever system. Cappuccino is named for the resemblance of its color to the robes of the monks of the Capuchin order. 1960 Faema produces first pump driven espresso Today Coffee is the world's most popular beverage. More than 400 billion cups are consumed each year. It is a world commodity that is second only to oil.
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