Coffee

Where did coffee originate? Coffee lovers around the world today may be numbering in the millions, but only a small number could be fully aware on the beginnings of this well-loved beverage. The history of coffee is definitely as rich as its flavor, spanning numerous centuries and dating as far back as 6th century A.D.

The oldest coffee legend

In the 6th century AD, farmers from Yemen were already growing coffee cherries. According to legend, a goat herder in Ethiopia was bewildered to discover that his goats were showing inexplicable energy after consuming a particular kind of cherries. After this goat herder tried the berries for himself and found that he too felt a surge of energy, Muslims discovered a way to extract the brew from the cherries, transforming the beans into a heady beverage. Thus, coffee became a secret beverage of the Muslims for a while, revitalizing them even during lengthy periods of worship. When 900 AD came round, coffee was already commonplace in the entire region of Arabia. From this period until 1500 AD, coffee farming practices were still a well-kept secret, although coffee beans were already exported to other places.

Coffee invasion in Europe

Before long however, Europeans found a way to bring coffee seedlings into their own lands. By 1615, merchants from Venice were able to bootleg a coffee plant out of the Yemen borders and into Europe. This time, coffee was used for its therapeutic purposes, being sold both as a drink and as a health remedy. When the Dutch got hold of the Ethiopian territory, they were able to bring coffee plants into Holland.

When it was discovered that Holland’s climate was not conducive to coffee farming, the Dutch brought the plants to other regions. When the first coffee shop opened its doors to the public in Oxford, England by the year 1650, women were forbidden to enter the shops. It was only three years later, when a teahouse was opened, that women found a place to converge.

The love story behind coffee Arabica

A Brazilian coast guard officer found two things he loved when he visited Cayenne in French Guyana in 1727: one, the coffee and two, the Governor’s wife. It was this affection that led him to acquire a few seeds which he took back to Brazil, initiating the Arabica coffee variety production in the country. Brazil eventually became the world’s largest coffee producer in 1800.

Afterwards, coffee traveled from country to country, spreading its popularity as a principal beverage of choice. The British introduced coffee to Jamaica in 1730. In 1774, Americans expressed a predilection for coffee during the Boston Tea Party, as a sign that they are replacing tea with coffee, due to the exorbitant taxes levied on tea trading. Costa Rica acquired coffee from Cuba, and this eventually spread to Mexico. The Island of Martinique cultivated coffee in the 1700s and Hawaii in 1825.

Present day coffee and coffee houses

Coffee houses are popular in Arabia; however they are as popular in Europe as well. From the 1600′s to the mid 1900s, coffee shops had already proliferated in Paris, reaching to approximately 3,000 in number. Presently, coffee is second to oil in terms of the most traded commodity worldwide.

Yogi Shinde is the webmaster offering coffee maker reviews on various brands of coffee makers like Braun, Krups, Mr Coffee and many others, helping you find the best coffee maker to suit your needs.

Author: Yogi Shinde
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Import duty tariff

Have you ever wondered, as you’re sitting in your favorite coffee shop or perhaps at your own kitchen table, sipping your morning cup of gourmet coffee, where that wonderful drink originated at? If you live in the United States, you can thank a man by the name of Alfred Peet. In 1955, Alfred Peet moved to California from Amsterdam, Holland. To his despair, he couldn’t find a decent cup of coffee anywhere. As the son of an Amsterdam coffee trader, he knew good coffee when he drank it.

In 1966, Peet opened a small coffee store in Berkley, California, and began to sell his dark roasted beans. At the time there was one other North American store selling quality coffee, but they were in Vancouver, Canada. From that time until now, Peet’s has served the gourmet coffee needs in Southern California.

While gourmet coffee didn’t come to the States until 1966, coffee has been around since the 9th century, when Ethiopian shepherds notice that their goats would “dance” and had more energy after eating wild coffee beans. Since Islam prohibits the use of alcohol, coffee provided an alternative to wine. From there it spread to Egypt and Yemen. It wasn’t until it reached Arabia that coffee beans were roasted and brewed to make a drink.

At first, this drink was not well received by the Islamic people. In 1511, it was forbidden by the court at Mecca. The drink was so popular, though, that this was overturned in 1524 by the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Selim. It was also banned for a time in Egypt and Ethiopia, before being accepted as an acceptable Muslim drink. This was largely due to the rulers at the time liking the taste of the beverage, therefore decreeing it acceptable.

By the 15th century, coffee was common throughout the Middle East, Persia, Turkey and North Africa. The word “coffee” came from “caffé” in Italy in the 16th century. Before that it was called, in Arabic, “qahwa”. In Venice traders started buying coffee from Africa and the Middle East, and in 1645 the first European coffee house opened.

The Dutch defied the Saudi Arabians prohibition on exportation of coffee by smuggling seedlings from Aden into Europe in 1616. They were also the first country to import coffee on a large scale. They took plants to Java and Ceylon, where they started exporting to the Netherlands in 1711.

Coffee arrived in the United States during the colonial period. When it was first imported, it was not widely drunk in the United States. It wasn’t until the revolutionary war and the shortage of tea, that Americans began drinking it on a regular basis. After the War of 1812, America’s taste for coffee grew and it became a common drink.

As the consumption of coffee grew, so did the companies cultivating, roasting and grinding. The larger companies used (and still do) a blend of Arabica and Robusta beans for a commercial blend, while gourmet coffee is roasted from the Arabica bean alone. Arabica beans are considered the tastiest of the three types of bean and also the most expensive.

Today, coffee is the life-blood of the third world countries that produce it. Over a hundred million people depend on the growth, production and exportation of this flavorful bean.

The next time you pour yourself a wonderful cup of your favorite gourmet blend, consider the origins and history of the coffee bean and how it came to be in your favorite store. The rich history of gourmet coffee is almost as rich and full-bodied as the drink itself which will surely give you even more of that warm and cozy feeling that only a nice cup of coffee can give!

Katya Coen provides information on gourmet coffee for Coffee Online – the site for coffee lovers.

Author: Katya Coen
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Panasonic Lumix G2

When I think of “coffee beans”, instantly I think of the coffee industry’s biggest heavy hitters like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts to name a few. My senses are aroused with thoughts of a hot, steamy and rich cup of java. The strong intoxicating exotic smell and distinct taste of a good cup of coffee is appreciated many people the world over and has been for many, many years.

Coffee was first discovered and consumed around the 9th century in the highlands of Ethiopia. After being introduced, coffee consumption spread quickly to the Muslim world followed by Europe and later the Americas. The history of coffee that followed after has certainly been interesting and controversial. Coffee in earlier years has been associated with religious ceremonies in Africa and Yemen as well as being associated with rebellious political groups in Europe. The cultivation of the coffee bean has caused much debatable conversation in the past due to certain medical effects and conditions that have been disputed many times over throughout the years.

A coffee bean is the seed of a coffee plant. Coffee beans contain endosperms that contain caffeine. Once the coffee seeds have been removed from the plant, the seeds are roasted and this process causes several physical and chemical changes. The coffee bean is then brewed to create the ever popular product and beverage known as coffee.

Coffee is one of the world’s largest traded commodities after oil. The coffee bean is a primary source of income for many third world countries mainly African countries and much of Central American countries. Coffee beans from different countries have different characteristics such as flavor, aroma and body, such as the well known coffee originating from Colombia as an example.

Brazil is the largest coffee exporting country and in recent years Vietnam has inched in at a close second. The legendary Colombian coffee is rated third largest in export.

In our modern society of recent times there are many different variations and presentations of the coffee beverage. There is the common brewed and roasted hot cup of coffee, the espresso, café latte, cappuccino, café macchiato and the iced coffee served cold. To match so many variations of the coffee bean, the marketing distribution of coffee has many unique creative forms aside from the traditional self brewed method. The roasted coffee bean can be distributed as instant coffee, freeze dried, canned coffee and coffee is being sold right out of vending machines.

Yaser Dorri, an American scientist, has proposed that the smell of coffee can restore and increase appetite. Our civilized society may want to reconsider our much anticipated ritual of an after dinner coffee. Our evolving society may want to possibly embrace the thought of coffee as what it truly is a stimulant that if going to be incorporated in your daily dietary consumption should be best utilized in conjunction with a healthy and positive needed acceleration and or stimulant in your body’s system and process. Simply put; coffee before dinner would be more logical and practical. Coffee as a stimuli at night is not favorable unless intentional. Remember with any consumption; being responsible and moderate will always keep you safe and healthy.

Tania Penwell provides information on coffee beans and other java related topics for Coffee Xpert – your online guide to coffee.

Author: Tania Penwell
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Humorous photo captions

Did you know that the coffee plant actually grows into a tree? The coffee tree is an evergreen tree. Its broad leaves are a very shiny green with pointed ends that are sleekly reminiscent of arrowheads. Their leaves grow in pairs one on each side of their long thin branches as they flower and seed from the base of each pair of leaves growing along the stems or branches. Their tiny blooms flower into five petals with yellow stamen, as the seedpods progress into berry like cases for the seed. Inside each seed, two beans are usually found these beans are what are used to make coffee. The berries of the coffee plant can display as green in unripe berries, red in ripe berries and black of over ripened berries. The coffee plant can be rooted from cuttings as well as grown from seed and thrives best in shaded areas.

The coffee plant is native to Ethiopia then transported to Yemen of Africa. There these coffee beans were chewed raw for the extra energy that they provided the people. In Yemen Europeans found the plant as it was taken to Europe to be transplanted there. Arabians first made a drink with the green coffee beans however; by not having been roasted, the drink did not offer the brunette russet flavor of coffee, as we know it to be. The idea to roast the coffee bean before boiling it is believed to enter the picture back in the 1400s.

From Europe, the Venetian mercantile decided that coffee should be introduced to the wealthy people there and charged outrageous prices for the coffee that they purchased. Although it was suggested that coffee be banned it was however baptized by a pope of that time, coffee then gains great popularity as a good hearty drink. At that time while being introduced to the French, they upheld the brilliant Arabians for being so ingenious to have introduced the world to the strong drink of coffee and opened the first coffee house in Paris. Coffee houses have flourished since that time. Eventually, coffee made its rounds into Austria and Poland.

Introduced in the seventeen hundreds, to the new world by aid of colonial officials, coffee came to America as a high value cash crop and is today only second to oil, as a valuable trade commodity. Billions of dollars every year are in used in spending for the purchase of coffee, the world round. While a bit later the Boston Tea Party called for drinking coffee an American patriotic duty. Although the ruler of Prussia attempted to block the imports of coffee, the public outcry of injustice turned these thoughts of this around.

The year of 1886 found Maxwell House coffee to be named after a hotel in which the drink was served. The nineteen hundreds saw the introduction of the Hills Brothers packing roast coffee into tins, which were vacuum-sealed, thus bringing about the end of coffee mills and local roasting shops. The American soldiers of WWII were issued instant Maxwell House coffee in their kits of ration, while in America the widespread issue of hoarding led the coffee to be rationed.

As for coffee, Johann Sebastian Bach said it best in 1732 within his lyrical gist of the Coffee Cantata, Mm! how sweet the coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, mellower than muscatel wine.

Bradley Thornton loves his coffee and likes to share his knowledge on the subject. One thing he specialises in is single serve coffee. Find out more by visiting the Keurig coffee maker website where you can explore the different Keurig coffee machine models such as the Keurig B50 coffee maker.

Author: Bradley Thornton
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Android phones

The coffee plant originates from the highland forests of Ethiopia. It is believed that the first plants were found growing wild in the region of Kaffa, where coffee derives its name from. A popular legend tells of a goat herder named Kaldi. One day he noticed his goats behaving in a strange manner. They were full of energy, playfully chasing each other and bleating loudly. He noticed they were eating red berries from the bushes nearby. Feeling tired and slightly curious, Kaldi decided to try some of the berries. To his delight his fatigue quickly faded into a fresh burst of energy.

Kaldi was so impressed by the berries, that he filled his pockets with them and ran home to show his wife. “They are heaven-sent” she declared, “You must take them to the Monks in the monastery”. At the monastery, Kaldi told the Abbot how these berries had had a miraculous energising affect on himself and his goats. The Abbot clearly displeased, hurled the berries into the fire, proclaiming them as the “Devil’s work”.

Within minutes the berries started to smoke and the monastery was filled with the heavenly aroma of roasting beans. The other Monks quickly gathered to see what the commotion was. One Monk swiftly raked the beans from the fire and extinguished the embers by stamping on them. The rich smell of coffee obviously agreed with the Abbot’s nose as he ordered the Monk to place the now crushed beans into a jug and cover it with hot water to preserve their divine goodness. He then took a sip from the jug and sampled the rich and fragrant brew that is coffee. From that day on the Monks vowed to drink coffee daily to keep them awake during the long, nocturnal devotions.

No one is exactly sure when coffee was discovered. There is evidence to suggest that coffee beans were used to make a primitive ‘energy bar’ before they were actually brewed as a hot drink. Sometime between 575-850AD, a nomadic mountain tribe known as Galla, used to mix ground coffee with ghee. These bars were consumed by the tribe’s warriors to heighten aggression and increase their stamina during battle. To this day, these bars are still eaten in Kaffa and Sidamo (Ethiopia).

Some authorities claim that coffee originated from the Arabian Peninsula rather then Ethiopia, stating that coffee was cultivated in Yemen from around 575AD. An Islamic legend tells of how Sheikh Omar discovered coffee growing wild while living as a recluse near the port of Mocha (Yemen). He is said to have boiled some berries, and discovered the stimulating effect of the infusion, which he administered to the locals who were stricken with a mysterious illness and thus cured them. However it is more likely that coffee spread to Yemen through Sudanese slaves. These slaves are thought to have eaten coffee beans to help them stay alive as they rowed ships across the Red Sea between Africa and Arabian Peninsula.

Evidence suggests that coffee was probably not enjoyed as a beverage until around the 10th Century. It is at this time that the oldest known documents describing the beverage coffee were written. Two Arabian philosophers: Rhazes (850-922AD), and Avicenna of Bukham (980-1037AD); both refer to a drink called ‘bunchum’, which many believe is coffee.

As the Quran forbids Muslins from drinking alcohol, the soothing, cheering and stimulating effects of coffee made it a popular substitute in Islamic countries for wine. The first coffeehouses are said to have been established in Mecca (Saudi Arabia). Known as the Kaveh Kanes, they were public places where Muslims could socialise and discuss religious matters.

The relationship between Islam and coffee has not always run smoothly though. Some Muslims believed coffee was an intoxicant and therefore is banned by Islamic law. In 1511, the governor of Mecca, Khair Beg, saw some worshippers drinking coffee in a mosque as they prepared for a night-long prayer vigil. Angered, he drove them from the mosque and ordered all coffeehouses in Mecca to be closed. This incited the pro-coffee Muslims and a heated debate soon ensued. In this dispute, two unscrupulous Persian doctors, the Hakimani brothers, who were infamous for testifying on the side of the highest bidder, condemned coffee as an unhealthy brew. The doctors had good reason for wanted it banned, for it was popular cure among the depressed patients who would otherwise have paid the doctors to cure them. The matter was only resolved when the Sultan of Cairo, Khair Beg’s superior, intervened, demanding that a drink that was widely enjoyed in Cairo should not have been banned without his permission. Khair Beg soon paid for his insolence, as when in 1512 he was accused of embezzlement; the Sultan sentenced him to death.

By the late 16th Century, the use of coffee was widespread throughout the Arabia, North Africa and Turkey. The nutritional benefits of coffee were thought to be so great that coffee was considered as important as bread and water. So much so that a law was passed in Turkey making it grounds for divorce if a husband refused his wife coffee.

Wherever Islam went, coffee was sure to follow. With the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, coffee quickly spread to the Eastern Mediterranean. However, it is believed that no coffee seed sprouted outside Africa or Arabia until 17th Century, as coffee beans exported from the Arabian ports of Mocha and Jidda, were rendered infertile by parching or boiling. Legend has it that this changed when a pilgrim named Baba Budan, smuggled fertile coffee beans out of Mecca, strapped to his stomach. Returning to his native India he successfully cultivated the beans in Mysore.

James Grierson is the owner of Galla Coffee: http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk – Uk online retailer of designer coffee accessories. Through the Coffee Knowledge section of his website he aims to help people understand more about coffee and give them tips on how to make great tasting coffee in their home.

Check out http://www.gallacoffee.co.uk/acatalog/Coffee_Knowledge.html for more articles or if you have a question send it to: coffeeknowledge@gallacoffee.co.uk

Author: James Grierson
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Canada duty rates