A Brief History Of Coffee

The second, after crude oil, largest selling commodity, and the second world's most popular beverage, coffee, has a history of 700 years. Originating in Africa, has made an adventurus travel to the Arab Peninsula, Europe and Latin America and was associated with wars, colonialists, pirates, noblemen, and religious leaders.

The history of coffee orginates in Africa and, more specifically, in Ethiopia. Local shepherds noticed that when their animals consumed the fruits of the native bush Cafea Arabica, soon became hyperactive Although this story, lost in the depths of time, can not be ruled out as a legend, it is certain that the local populations did not brew coffee beverages but simply chewed their seeds or grinded them into small "energy" balls.

As early as the 15th century, coffee is first recorded as a beverage, in Islamic shrines in present-day Yemen. Coffee had a rapid spread on the Arabian Peninsula, where its preparation was standardized, in a way that is not very different from the one we are familiar with nowadays, namely by roasting grains and boiling them - except that before consumption cinammon and other spices where added to the drink, while this early coffee taste would seem bitter by current standards.

Coffee has been standardized, widely loved and spread firstly in  the Arab world. As the Muslim religion forbids alcohol, coffee has taken its place as a means of entertainment and coffee houses have become the prime points of social gathering. Although several Muslims used coffee for religious reasons, as they helped them stay awake during evening prayers, attempts were made at times to ban it as a stimulant both from fanatical imams and from the Christian church of Ethiopia, without any success.

Although the Arabs strictly forbade the export of plants or coffee beans, coffee trade was free. The firsts European that tasted coffee were the people of Venice, due to the city’s close ties with the Arab world. Although there was a suggestion to the then Pope to excommunicate coffee as an "Islamic habit," he was excited by his taste, and he baptized  it as Christian drink, sparking his popularity. Slowly, coffee spread across Europe, initially in England and France and then further north, as the new favorite habit of Europeans.

Colonization played a key role in the spread of coffee across the globe. The beginning was made by the Dutch, who managed to acquire the precious coffee beans and began cultivating the coffee tree in the Dutch colonies of Indonesia. Respectively, the French colonialists sent coffee trees to Martinique, which sparked the spread of coffee throughout South America, which today holds scepters in world coffee production.