I love coffee. I make no claims to being a coffee snob, I'm more of an addict if I had to label it. I don't need to frequent the monopolistic empires to get my fix, any cup of Joe or aromatic Java will do as long as it has that homey warm coffee smell, I'm happy.
Since I'd not done a write up on it before I sat down to do some research and let me tell you, there is a lot to talk about. But since I'm more into history than process, I'll just share some of the things I found interesting and thought you might too. Though who knows, maybe this will be the start of a TCC mini series.
COFFEE -- The Legend
According to legend, the story of coffee began with monastic goats. Yeah, I said goats.
There was a monastery in Yemen, in Arabia, that kept goats that grazed on the hillsides nearby. After grazing in a particular field, the goatherd complained to the head holy man that the goats were exceedingly keyed up and frolicky and did not settled down for the night.
Upon investigation, they found some unknown shiny-leafed bushes with bright red berries that the goats had been nibbling on. So the head holy man thought to try them out himself. While goat bellies can handle raw berries, he thought to boil them and see what happened.
The concoction was nothing to write home about, but he knew that the taste of some cereals improved after toasted so he thought to try the same with the red berries. He crushed the toasted berries, added some water and a touch of honey to sweeten it and voila...the first cup of coffee!
The head holy man found that consumption of the beverage made him more lucid and alert. He found he was able to stay at prayers longer than his brothers and felt more awake than they in the matins. So he shared this magical elixir with them. And they called it kawah meaning "that which excites and causes spirits to rise." And it was good.
COFFEE -- The History
In other non-legend findings, it was discovered that in the high central plains of Ethiopia, tribes would crush the coffee beans and mix then with fat to eat as a high energy treat.
Ancient Africans would ferment the ripe coffee fruit (the red berries) and turn it into wine.
As with many early versions of popular foods and beverages, coffee was used medicinally as a tonic as well as a religious ceremonial beverage.
Eventually it became a popular social drink and coffee houses cropped up in Constantinople, Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus, and all the capitals of the Islamic world. Coffee houses became a place to gather and talk about your affairs as well as the affairs of state which became a politically dangerous pastime that led one sultan to ban the sale and consumption of coffee under penalty of death. This would not be the last time coffee houses became a hotbed of political consternation.
Gradually people made their way back to coffee under the hand of the next ruler and the business of coffee houses began once more.
For a long time coffee was a close-guarded commodity among Arab nations. Only boiled coffee beans were allowed to be exported to prevent cultivation of the plant elsewhere and to maintain their monopoly on the product. But as with all well-kept secrets, it eventually got out.
In the 17th century, it is said that a seedling was smuggled to India and then to the Dutch East Indian island of Java, where coffee plants thrived. So successful was the cultivation there, that to this day "java" is synonymous with a good cup of Joe.
In 1714, the French were able to obtain a live cutting which they transported to the West Indian island of Martinique. It is historically rumored that the seedling is the ancestor of all coffee plantations in the West Indies as well as Central and South America.
The 1800s saw the rise of the mass consumption of coffee.
Throughout the Enlightenment, coffee houses sprang up throughout England and Germany. Once again they became the intellectual centers, where people gathered to exchange thoughts and ideas. In England they were known as "penny universities" where anyone could come to fill their craving for intellectual conversation for the penny cost of a cup of coffee.
As was wont to happen when people gather to share thoughts, politics made its way back into the coffee house. In the New World, the Green Dragon Coffee House in Boston was deemed by Daniel Webster to be the headquarters of the revolution.
Throughout the Industrial Age, coffee became the beverage of choice for factory workers, for what other beverage would help them survive the long grueling work day (remember, this was when 16-hour days with only the Sabbath off was common practice).
There really is so much more to say, but I'm tired of writing so will leave you with this, perhaps to be continued another time. I have a couple of coffee recipes coming up that I think you are going to like.
So I am signing off here, but want to leave you with this, that when you enjoy that hot cup of brewed aromatic goodness in the morning (or whenever), you aren't just drinking coffee, you're drinking in history.
Thank you monastic goats.
NOTES
Cup of Joe -- origin (1) because coffee is the everyday Joe's beverage of choice; (2) Josephus Daniel, Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson, in 1913 abolished wine in the officer's mess leaving coffee as the strongest drink on board, earning it the nickname
Cup of Jamoke -- origin, referring to a blend of Java and Mocha coffees
Bean Belt -- the area on Earth between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn where all coffee is grown; Hawaii is the only U.S. state that grows coffee
A Hot Commodity -- coffee is the second most common traded commodity, the first being fuel oil
