Legend says that coffee was
discovered by a goat herder in Ethiopia. The goats in his field
seemed to be extremely lively after eating the coffee berries.....he
tried them and found that he too felt quite stimulated! The Arabica
tree is indigenous to Ethiopia and has been known there since the
beginning of recorded history.
Humble Beginnings...
In its early history, a dried
version of the coffee bean was eaten either straight or mixed with
grain... sort of an early version of granola. It was well suited for
consumption while traveling long distances. Coffee was eventually
transported to Yemen where a form of sun tea was made of the coffee
cherries. It would become fermented after some time... coffee
"wine", if you will. In its early years, it was considered a
medicinal beverage probably because of its energizing effect.
When Muhammed arrived in Medina
around 620 A.D., he was appalled by the rampant drunkenness there
and decreed that the faithful should no longer consume alcohol.
Coffee (known there as Qishr) replaced alcohol and is still used
there today, in the form of coffee sun tea or as a beverage brewed
by boiling water.
In the early 1400's, brewed
coffee as we know it was first developed. This is about the time
that metal pots that could boil water came into use. Rather than
roasting the beans first, the coffee cherries, leaves, and seeds
were simply boiled in the water.
The first coffee house was
established on the Piazza di San Marco in Venice in 1792. Soon
after, the French and Austrians began opening coffee houses of their
own. From these humble beginnings, coffee spread rapidly throughout
Europe and the developed world.
Americans were introduced to
coffee around 1683. New York, known as New Amsterdam at the
time, was a city of tea drinkers. William Penn, founder of the
Pennsylvania colony, was the first recorded coffee drinker of this
era. He hired a New York importer to secure a stash of coffee
for his own personal use.
