History of Coffee

As everyone knows by now, I basically run/function on coffee. This morning after my run, I decided to refrain from having my morning coffee...a little experiment. The results: advil around noon and a nap at 3pm. Needless to say I have a hard time functioning without coffee. This little experiment made me wonder where/when/why exactly this coffee addiction happened, not specifically for me, but for society in general. So here begins the history of coffee...

There are legends as to how coffee was discovered, of which one story refers to a goat herder who was amazed at his goats behavior after chewing on some red coffee berries. Historians know with more certainty that coffee was grown in Yemen in the 15th century, and was brought into Yemen and Arabia through the port of Mocha (famous coffee name even today) from Sudan. Mecca put restrictions on these berries so that they could not be grown elsewhere.

Yemen authorities encouraged use of coffee as opposed to Kat, which when chewed produced similar effects of coffee. Kaveh kanes (aka coffee houses) were first founded in Mecca. Each Kaveh kanes was unique and a place for social gathering including singing, games and gossip. "Arabian coffeehouses soon became centres of political activity and were suppressed," at times being banned over the next few decades (early 1600's). Throughout the next two centuries coffee spread to Asia, Europe and the Americas, becoming extremely popular in Italy and London.

It wasn't until 1720 that coffee began to be grown in the Americas. The story of Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu and his journey from France back to the America with a coffee plant has become one of legend, some even refer to it as the romantic story of the history of coffee. However romantic this story, it was truly the Dutch who first introduced the coffee tree in Central and South America, where today it remains their main cash crop. 1885 is an important date in US coffee history since it was when coffee was first produced in Hawaii (picture of a coffee farm on the Kona coast of Hawaii). It is the only state to produce coffee and one of the finest!

Coffee in the US started in Seattle in cafes and spread the "latte" culture which today can be found in every city in America. Coffee is growing on global level too, you can now find coffee house in London, Tokyo and Sydney. "Coffee is crucial to the economies and politics of many developing countries; for many of the world's Least Developed Countries, exports of coffee account for a substantial part of their foreign exchange earnings in some cases over 80%." (International Coffee Organization)

The rest of coffee's history is still to be written. So keep consuming your morning coffee, because who could imagine a world without coffee. Tea (too weak), hot chocolate (to sweet) and cola (ewwhh carbonation) just don't cut it. Coffee is my drink of choice, whether it be morning, afternoon or night (or currently 1:23am) I love my coffee!