History of Coffee
History of Coffee
History of Coffee
By Ashley Miller
The Story of coffee is rich with legend, intrigue, smuggling and
romance. And it all began farther back than most of us would
guess.Today coffee has grown to be one of the worldś most
traded agricultural commodities and favorite beverages. But how
did it begin?
CIRCA A.D. 800-900
Discovery of coffee berries first reported
Legend has it that Kaldi the goat herder noticed that his goats became quite energetic
after eating the berries of a certain shrub. Intrigued he tried one himself and found that it
made him more active and energetic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF0bfK9wakI
First cup of coffee
• A monk who came across Kaldi • The monks hailed this discovery
and his dancing goats grew curious as a gift from the lord. Now they
and picked up some berries from will be able to awake for their
the shrub.He crushed them into a prayers
powder and added boiling water.
(This may have been the first ever
cup of coffee.)
Circa 1000
• Arabian traders bring coffee back to their homeland across the red sea into
Yemen.
• The beans are first roasted and the plant first cultivated on plantations
• They boiled beans to make a drink called Qahwa(literally that which
prevents sleep.)
• Coffee travels with the spread of Islam. As Islam spread to North Africa,
the Mediterranean and Asia coffee spreads along with it.
First Coffee houses appear 1450-1650
• Coffee houses appear throughout the Arabian world
• Women were not allowed!!!
• Men meet to socialize, play games, and drink coffee.
• Coffee used for medicinal purposes
• Under Turkish law,a man who did not provide enough coffee for his wife
could be sued for divorce.
Dutch begin coffee exporting 1690
• A venetian merchant fell in love with coffee in Turkey. He brought it back
to sell in Italy and coffee quickly spread throughout Europe.More coffee
houses opened and more coffee is needed to meet the demand.
• The Dutch smuggler a coffee plant out of the Arab Port of Mocha. They
are the first to commercially cultivate and transport coffee.
Coffee makes it way to Brazil 1714-1727
• A naval officer steals coffee a coffee seedling from Louis XIV who received it
as a gift from the Dutch.
• The seedling is believed to be the father of many coffee Arabica trees alive
today in the former French colonies of Central and Latin America.
• Brazil breaks the Dutch and French monopoly by seeds that were given to
Brazilian Lieutenant colonel Francisco De Melo by his mistress.On parting she
gives him fertile seeds concealed in a bouquet. Brazil turns into one of the
worldś largest coffee producing country and turns coffee from a beverage for
the elite into a drink for everyday people
Coffee Innovation hits its Stride
1900-1910
• RW Hills developed a process that removed air from coffee packages, the
so-called vacuum packaging. This process kept beans fresh much longer.
This was great news for the customer but bad news for local roasters.
• Luigi Bezzera, an Italian businessman, invented the first commercial
¨espresso machine in 1901. Rumor has it that he wanted his workeds to
have shorter coffee breaks, so he created a machine that sped up the
process of brewing, hence the name espresso.
Germans discover Decaffeination
1900
• According to another legend, Ludwig Roselius and Karl wimmer, German
coffee importers, accidentally figured out a way to decaffeinate coffee in
1903. One of their shipments of coffee was soaked in seawater while the
taste was still good the beans had lost most their caffeine. Because they
did not want to sell salty coffee the importers researchers discovered how
to extract caffeine using solvents and steam.
1900-1970
• 1901 George Washington mass-produces the first instant coffee
• 1908 German housewife invents first coffee filter
• 1933 Dr Ernesto develops first automatic espresso machine
• 1938 Nestle commercializes instant coffee-Nescafe is born
• 1945 first non steamed based espresso machine is invented
• 1966 specialty coffee comes to the United states
1971...
• Starbucks opens its first store in Seattleś Pike Place Market!
• Started in a brainstorming session that referenced the first mate (Starbuck)
in Melvilleś Moby Dick. The name evoked the romance of the high seas
and the seafaring tradition of early coffee traders.
• The rest as we say is our history!