The History Of Coffee
The history of coffee starts in Africa where legend has it that a goat herder saw his goats acting a
bit more lively after eating the berries of a plant. He did what any good goat herder would do and tried some
himself noting that they gave him renewed energy. News traveled fast and soon Monks were drying the berries and
transporting them from monastery to monastery making for some lively prayer times.
The history of coffee then takes us to the Arabian peninsula where the beans were first cultivated and then on to
Turkey where they were first roasted. Coffee was introduced to Europe by trade merchants in the 1600's and the first
coffee house was opened in the mid 1600's. It was the Dutch who first transported and cultivated commercially
In the early 1700's, the history of coffee in Brazil starts with seeds smuggled from France.
Women had part in the history of coffee - it was a woman who invented the first coffee filter in the early 1900's
and there was a movement in early 1700's Germany to prevent women from drinking coffee as the thinking was that it would
make them sterile! And in the mid 1600's women wanted it outlawed in England to stop men from spending so much time in the
coffee houses!
Instant coffee was invented in 1901, decaffeinated in 1903 and freeze dried in 1938. Today, coffee is the second largest
commodity after petroleum. It employs tens of billions of people worldwide with over 400 billion cups consumed per year!
Sales of Gourmet coffees, in particular, are increasing every year as is online sales for this favorite of drinks.
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