Coffee History continues
Botanical evidence indicates that Coffea Arabica originated on the plateaus of central Ethiopia, several thousand feet above sea level.
Coffee makes up the genus Coffea of the family Rubiaceae. Arabian coffee is classified as Coffea Arabica, Robusta coffee as Coffea Canephora, and Liberian coffee as Coffea Liberica.
Initially, coffee was brewed from green, unroasted beans to yield a tea-like beverage. By the late 13th century, Arabians roasted and ground coffee before brewing it. Ironically, coffee was usually brewed by Arabian men, and then drunk by Arabian women to alleviate menstrual discomforts.
Coffee cultivation was rare until the 15th and 16th centuries, when extensive planting of the trees occurred in the Yemen region of Arabia. From Yemen the use of coffee beans spread throughout the Arabian peninsula and later via the Othman Empire to Turkey. At that time, coffee was used for it's medicinal properties and as a ritual drink. The world's first coffee shop, Kiva Han, opened in Constantinople in 1475.
The modern coffee drink was invented
at the end of 15th century, when roasting and crushing the
coffee beans before extracting them with hot water grew in
acceptance.
Turkish people claimed coffee to be an
aphrodisiac and husbands kept their wives well supplied. If the
husband refused, it was a legitimate cause for a wife to divorce!
Legend also has it that the Arabs, protective of Coffea Arabica, refused to allow fertile seeds to leave their country. Transportation of the plant out of the Moslem nations was forbidden by the government. Around 1650 a Moslem pilgrim from India named Baba Budan snuck seeds out of Arabia. He planted his seeds in the hills in Mysore, India where they flourished.
Introduced into Europe in the early 1600's, coffeehouses quickly appeared. The Arabs used so much coffee that the Christian church denounced coffee as "the hellish black brew." But Pope Clement VIII found it so great tasting that he baptized it and made it a Christian beverage saying "coffee is so delicious it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it."
In 1607, Captain John Smith
founded the colony of Virginia at Jamestown. It's believed that he
introduced coffee to North America.
In 1652, the first coffeehouse opened in England. A cup of
coffee sold for a penny.
In 1672, Paris coffeehouses opened.
In 1675, Franz Georg
Kolschitzky, a Viennese who had lived in Turkey, opened central
Europe's first coffee house. He also established the habit of
refining the brew by filtering out the grounds, sweetening it, and
adding a dash of milk.
In 1683, coffee made its way to Austria. Franz Kulczycki
opened its first Viennese coffeehouse.
Along with the increase in popularity of coffee in Europe and
especially England, the Dutch began to cultivate it in their
colonies during the 17th century.
In 1715, the Jesuits started coffee cultivation in Haiti.
In 1721, the first coffee house opened in Berlin.
In 1723, French naval officer, Gabriel Mathieu do Clieu,
stole a seedling and transplanted it to Martinique. That cutting was
the start of coffee plantations in Latin America. Within 50 years an
official survey recorded 19 million coffee trees on Martinique.
In 1773, Americans revolted against King George's Tea Tax and
the Continental Congress declared coffee the official national
beverage.
In 1825, coffee was taken to Hawaii.
By 1887, coffee had made its way to Tonkin, Indo-China.
In 1896, coffee was taken to Queensland, Australia.
Before World War II, due to
the economic importance of coffee exports, a number of Latin
American countries made arrangements to allocate export quotas so
that each country would be assured a certain share of the United
States coffee market.
In 1940, the first coffee quota agreement was arranged and
was administered by an Inter-American Coffee Board.
In the 1950's, New Guinea began cultivating coffee.
In 1962, the idea of
establishing coffee export quotas on a worldwide basis was adopted,
when an International Coffee Agreement was negotiated by the United
Nations.
During the 5 year period, while the agreement was in effect, 41
exporting countries and 25 importing countries acceded to its terms.
The agreement was renegotiated in 1968, 1976, and in 1983.
In 1968, the term OCS was
coined for the Office Coffee Service Industry. 30 years later,
Discount Coffee.com would create a new Industry. (See 1998)
In 1989, world coffee prices plunged when participating
nations failed to sign a new pact.