Coffee's Beginnings - The Early Days

Coffee wasn't originally consumed in the form we know it today; as a hot beverage made from boiling water. That practice began around 1000 A.D. Until that time use of the drink was largely linked to medicinal or religious purposes by the Arabs. Soon the feeling of exhilaration from the caffeine of the drink became a sought-after side effect. A popular Arab legend tells of Sheik Omar, who experimented with brewing some coffee from raw wild coffee berries he found in his travels during his exile from Mocha. Thanks in part to the beneficial effects of the caffeine, the Sheik survives his exile and upon his return to Mocha, introduced his new way of preparing the drink.

The Arabs refined their methods of preparing the drink over many years. For over 300 years, coffee drinkers drank the grounds right along with the boiled water. Then, they began drinking the liquid alone, leaving the grounds to settle at the bottom of the cup. As methods for preparing coffee became more refined, the popularity of the drink spread first through coffee houses, known as qahveh khaneh, and then into the home where elaborate ceremonies became associated with consumption of the drink. Soon coffee had became such an important part of the lives of the Arabs that in Turkey a husband who refused to provide his wife with the drink could be divorced by her!

The Spread of Coffee to the Christian World

Coffee had been a part of Arab culture for centuries but not so in the western European world. Venetian fleets sailed the known world trading spices, silks, and perfumes with the East. It is believed that coffee come to Venice from Constantinople as part of this trade. There was only one problem. When the drink reached Rome the priest attacked it and forbid it consumption.

The priests believed that the coffee was the drink of the devil. That Satan had invented the drink for the Moslem infidels as a substitute for the wine they were forbidden to drink. Since wine in the Western Christian world was sanctified by Christ and used in Holy communion, coffee must then be of the Anti-Christ. If a Christian drank this devil brew they would risk eternal damnation is how the argument went.

It wasn't until the late 1500's that Pope Clement VIII settled the dispute. He asked that the brew be brought before him. Intrigued by its powerful aroma, he sipped the coffee. It was delicious. The Pope blessed the coffee, and baptized it on the spot. He reasoned that banishing this drink from the Christian world would be a larger sin. With the Pope's blessing, imports of coffee to Italy and the Western world came flooding in paving the way for the first western coffee houses.

The English word "Coffee" comes from the Latin name of the genus Coffea. The genus Coffea is a member of the Rubiaceae family which has over 500 genera and 6,000 species that are largely tropical trees and shrubs. All species of Coffea are woody and range in size from small shrubs to trees over 30 feet tall. The species Coffea arabica gives us the arabica beans known the world over. Arabica beans are largely drunk on their own where as the Coffea robusta is usually a lower grade bean used primarily as a blend with arabica beans to make them go farther.

The Revolutionary Drink

The coffee houses that sprung up in France, England, and eventually the Americas proved to aid the spread of new and sometimes radical political opinions. In 1675 Charles II issued a "Proclamation for the Suppression of Coffee Houses" in an attempt to quell the liberal ideas being discussed by the patrons. All parties rebelled, and eleven days later the coffee houses reopened. The Parisian coffee houses are credited as a testing ground for the ideology that led to the French Revolution.

Across the ocean in Boston, the Boston Tea Party was planned in the now famous Green Dragon coffee house in 1773. And, in New York the Merchants coffee house was site of the Government headquarters in the days following the outbreak of the American Revolution. Later, as American soldiers forged into battle in the Mexican War and the Civil War, they protected their coffee beans as their most precious rations.


Coffee Trivia

• Coffee is big business: It is second only to oil as a commodity on world markets.
• The coffee industry employs more than 20 million worldwide.
• Coffee is the most popular beverage worldwide with over 400 billion cups consumed each year.
• Every day, Americans drink over 300 million cups of coffee.
• Over 53 countries grow coffee worldwide, but all of them lie along the equator between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
• The heavy tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773, which caused the "Boston Tea Party," resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. Drinking coffee was an expression of freedom.
• Over the last three centuries, 90% of all people living in the Western world have switched from tea to coffee.
• Count Rumford, an eccentric American adventurer who settled in Paris, France, perfected the French Drip Pot around 1800.
• Australians consume 60% more coffee than tea, a six-fold increase since 1940.
• Iced coffee in a can has been popular in Japan since 1945.
• October 1st is the official Coffee Day in Japan
• "Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and as sweet as love" - Turkish Proverb

COFFEE FACTS AND FIGURES

• Dark roasted coffees actually have LESS caffeine than medium roasts! The longer a coffee is roasted, the more caffeine burns off during the process.
• A scientific report form the University of California found that the steam rising from a cup of coffee contains the same amounts of antioxidants as 3 oranges. Antioxidants are heterocyclic compounds, which prevent cancer and heart disease. Coffee is good for you!
• Coffee must have at least 97% of its caffeine removed to qualify as decaffeinated in the United States. A 5-ounce cup of decaffeinated coffee contains less than 5 milligrams of caffeine.
• During roasting, coffee beans become 18-23% lighter and 50-100% larger.
• It takes approximately 42 coffee beans to make a shot of espresso.

COFFEE CULTIVATION

• An acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of coffee cherries. This amounts to approximately 2000 pounds of beans after milling.
• Arabica coffee trees produce up to 12 pounds of coffee cherries a year, depending on soil and climate.
• The arabica coffee tree is an evergreen and in the wild grows to a height between 14 and 20 feet.
• The aroma and flavor of coffee resides in microscopic beads of an oily substance called coffee essence or coffeol. It is not, however, actually oil, as it dissolves in water.
• The white jasmine-scented coffee flower only lasts two to three days, then becomes a green cherry.
• The coffee "bean" is actually the seed of the coffee cherry. Two beans grow face-to-face within each cherry, and there are about four thousand beans in a single pound of specialty coffee.
• Occasionally a single round bean, called a "Peaberry," will form instead of the normal 2 flat ones.
• Hawaii is the only state of the United States in which coffee is commercially grown. Hawaiian coffee is harvested between November and April.