The
History of Coffee
In the
Beginning:
Legend
has it, coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder
named Kaldi. One day, he noticed his goats frolicking around
in an unusually spirited manner. He observed that they were
also eating the berries of a nearby shrub.
Not
being one to be left out of all the fun, he decided to try
the berries himself. He was energized and pleased with the
effects the cherries had on him. He told his friends and soon
word spread throughout the region. The rest is history.
Coffee
Timeline:
Here
is an interesting timeline of the history of coffee from the
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).
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.
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