Coffee was reportedly discovered 1300 years ago by an Ethiopian goat herder, Kaldi, who noticed the frisky behaviour of his herd and decided to try some of the bright red berries on which they had been nibbling.
Coffee was later cultivated by monks who needed to stay awake during nightlong religious ceremonies.
Coffee drinking spread throughout Arabia and the Arab world, as caravans and traders travelled from country to country. Traders took coffee to Java in Indonesia during the 17th century. This soon
became a major coffee producing area.
The world's first coffee shop opens
in Constantinople in 1475. It is followed
by the establishment of two coffee houses
in 1554.
Coffee enters Europe through the port of Venice in 1600. The first coffee house opens in Italy in 1654.
The first coffee house in England was opened in Oxford in 1650. Coffee houses are called "penny universities" (a penny is charged for admission and a cup of coffee).
Coffee is grown in 80 countries on four continents and plays an important role in the economy of 50 countries, roughly 25 million people.
In world trade, coffee is only second to petroleum in value.
In a good year (without drought or frost) Brazil grows three trillion pounds of coffee, making it the world's leader
producer and exporter of coffee.
Countries like Brazil and the United States consume more than 20 million pounds of coffee a year.
Jamaican Blue Mountain
coffee is one of the world's most eminent coffees. Certified Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans are large and have a distinct blue-green colour before roasting.
It takes about 3,500 handpicked coffee beans to make one pound of coffee.
Nescafé instant coffee was invented in 1938 by the Nestlé company as it assists the Brazilian government in solving its coffee surplus problem.
BEAN SAID...
Over the centuries, much
has been said about coffee. It was:
Condemned by a Pope of the 17th century
Touted as a cure for dropsy, scurvy, and gout
Said to prevent headaches and miscarriages, according to a 1652 British handbill
Reported in 1695 France, by the School of Medicine in Paris, to deprive men of their ... ahem, ahem-- generative powers
Welcomed by the Catholic Church in the 17th century as great for its priests because it induced chastity.
These days coffee continues to make the headlines as a possible benefit, or detriment, for various ailments.
IMMORTALISED
Coffee has also been immortalised in music, from Bach to Bob Dylan. Bach's Coffee Cantata paid tribute to the drink, and at the same time poked fun at the German movement that was under way to prevent women from drinking coffee because it was thought to cause sterility.
Bob Dylan, much later on, sang One more cup of coffee for the road .
Locally, of course, there's the song that goes: 'Mi caafee, mi caafee, mi bowl a bwiling caafe in di mawnin'.
A TWO-BEAN TALE:
While there are hundreds of coffee blends, there are only two types of coffee beans: Arabica and Robusta.
Arabica: Known as the 'aristocrats', this is the bean of choice for coffee connoisseurs. It accounts for 76 per cent of all commercial coffees sold. This bean is harder than the Robusta and is richer, tastier and more aromatic. It also has the ability to pollinate itself, making it more purebred because of fewer mutations and variations over the years.
Robusta: This coffee is grown primarily in East and West Africa, Central Africa and Asia. Although Robusta beans blend well with Arabica, on their own they are less flavourful and are therefore less expensive. The trees are hardy and can survive with far less rainfall than the Arabica.
