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Brewing Up Some History

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The history of coffee travels way back in time around 850 BC to a legend in Ethiopia. The story claims that a goat herder by the name of Kaldi first discovered coffee berries. Kaldi noticed that his goats became livelier after eating red berries off of a local shrub. After tasting the berries himself, Kaldi became convinced that these berries do in fact make one happier and provided a renewed energy. The news of this energy-invoking fruit quickly spread throughout the region.

Monks heard about the fruit and dried it in order to carry it to distant monasteries. They reconstituted these berries in water and drank the liquid in order to give them increased energy for a more concentrated time of prayer. The berries eventually made their way from Ethiopia to the Arabian peninsula, and were first cultivated in what is present-day Yemen.

The country of Turkey, however, lays claim to first roasting the beans. By roasting the beans and then boiling them over water, they created a water-downed version of what we enjoy today.

In 1600, the coffee bean finally made its way to Europe through the port of Venice. Many from the Catholic faith thought that coffee should be banned, however, the pope firmly supported the drink as he was already a coffee drinker. The first coffeehouse in Europe eventually opened in Italy in 1654. Coffee houses quickly spread across the continent and became places to go to for intellectual conversation. Many of Europe’s great minds could be found sitting around these coffeehouses using the beverage to stimulate thought.
In the 1700s, coffee eventually made its way to America by Captain John Smith, founder of Virginia at Jamestown. Eventually coffee was made the national drink of the colonized United States by the Continental Congress in protest to the high taxes placed on tea by the British crown.

Finally, in 1822 within the country of France, the prototype of the first espresso machine was produced. Espresso, a more recent way of preparing coffee, was perfected and first manufactured by the Italians. Italy now has over 200,000 espresso bars as espresso is an essential aspect to Italian culture.

In 1908 the first drip coffeemaker was created and the rest is history! Coffee is second only to oil in terms of dollars traded worldwide. The history of coffee and its consumer demand continues on into the present.

Next Page: Grinding Up the Basics

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