It is impossible to imagine the modern world without coffee. The aromatic invigorating drink has firmly entered the cultural traditions of many countries and peoples. Wherever you find yourself, there is always the opportunity to get a cup of freshly brewed coffee, without which many cannot imagine starting the day. However, this was not always the case.
Where did the victorious march of coffee across countries and continents begin? So, the history of coffee is the most interesting.
The birthplace of coffee
Today, as a thousand years ago, coffee trees grow in the wild in the highlands of the Abyssinian Plateau, stretching across Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan. But only Ethiopia is considered the birthplace of coffee—or rather, one of its historical provinces.
Legends say that it was here that an amazing drink was invented, which subsequently conquered the whole world.
Indirect confirmation of this version is the name of coffee itself, which is believed to come from the name of the province of Kaffa, where coffee trees first began to be grown in order to supply precious beans to other countries. In Kaffa itself, the drink is called “buno” and is brewed not in a metal cezve, but in a special clay vessel with a narrow, thin neck.
In Ethiopia, coffee is made exclusively by the eldest woman in the family. The process is a special ritual: first, a fire is lit in the hearth, adding a grain of incense to it for aroma. A thin layer of grain is poured onto a metal dish, fried and immediately crushed in a special mortar, then poured into a ceramic vessel - jebena, filled with water and slowly cooked over coals.
The drink turns out to be extremely strong, so the first portion is traditionally served to men. Women drink the second portion, and the third goes to the children. This kind of coffee drinking lasts for an hour or even longer, but what’s the rush? Here you can spend whole days having a friendly conversation - for example, listening to legends about the origin of the Buno.
The Legend of the Shepherd Kaldim
The most famous version attributes the honor of discovering the miraculous properties of coffee beans to a simple shepherd. The legend even preserved his name - they say that this worthy man was called Kaldim. He always carefully observed the behavior of the herd and noticed one feature: after eating leaves and berries from one of the bushes, the goats became unusually cheerful, active and could not calm down for a long time.
The shepherd broke off several branches of the bush and went to the abbot of the nearest monastery to consult. The priest, apparently, was busy, so he threw the branches into the burning hearth and cursed the unlucky shepherd. But while the abbot was reading the notation to the shepherd, an amazing aroma floated through the cell.
The branches were immediately removed from the flame, the grains were crushed and filled with water. The resulting drink actually had strong invigorating properties, so it was very useful for the monastery brethren to maintain strength during all-night prayers.
The Legend of the Archangel and the Prophet
Muslims say that one day the prophet Mohammed fell ill and completely lost his strength. Meanwhile, the enemies of Islam learned about this and gathered a large army. Mohammed prayed to Allah all night, and the next morning an archangel appeared to him, in whose hands was a vessel with a dark aromatic liquid. The prophet drank a wonderful drink, was filled with divine power, jumped on his horse and defeated forty enemy knights in a fierce battle. Since then, Muslims all over the world have been drinking coffee and praising Allah.
The Legend of the Wise Sheikh
One day, the ruler exiled the famous doctor Sheikh Omar to a desert region for freethinking, hoping that the impudent man would die there of hunger. An inquisitive sheikh discovered a wonderful tree on the mountain slopes, the fruits of which gave him and his faithful disciples incredible vigor and strength.
A year later, the ruler sent his servants to make sure that the sheikh was dead. However, he miscalculated: Sheikh Omar was cheerful, cheerful and healthy. Then the scientist was allowed to return, and he brought amazing grains from exile, from which he then brewed an aromatic drink that restores strength.
Most likely, this legend is based on real facts. In the 16th century, the famous sage Sheikh Al-Qadir actually lived in Yemen. He was extremely fond of coffee and considered it a cure for many ailments; he drank the divine drink himself and treated it to numerous visitors. The sheikh’s recordings have survived to this day, in which he speaks about coffee in the most enthusiastic terms.
Goats helped us learn about coffee
Interesting facts and legends about coffee, of which there are many, indicate that this drink is very loved and consumed for a long time. It first became known in Ethiopia. The shepherd Koldi saw that the goats were eating berries, after which they became active and did not sleep even at night.
When he tried them himself, he noted that he became more alert. He shared his observation with others, and people began to eat these berries. And only after some time they began to prepare a drink from the grains. Such stories about coffee are distinguished by their originality.
History of Coffee in the Arabian Peninsula
Around the 12th century, coffee tree seedlings were brought from Ethiopia to the Arabian Peninsula. In Yemen, conditions for growing these plants turned out to be extremely favorable.
At first, coffee was consumed as an infusion of raw beans as a medicine, but then they learned to roast and prepare an invigorating drink with a great aroma.
Coffee tree plantations brought incredible profits. The grains were sent to Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, Mecca, and then to the Maghreb countries. Maritime trade was carried out mainly through the port city of Al-Mokha, which involuntarily gave its name to the mocha coffee variety.
Gradually, coffee became firmly established in the daily life of Arabs. Wherever a Bedouin went, among his camping equipment there was always a treasured bag of coffee beans. A charming aroma hovered over cities, small settlements, and even over single camps of travelers.
Mecca, the city where one of the greatest shrines of Islam is located, became a kind of capital of coffee. According to religion, every Muslim is obliged to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his life. Of course, travelers arriving in the city not only performed prayers, but also became involved in the coffee drinking culture. When leaving home, many took with them a supply of roasted grains.
The love for coffee in Mecca reached incredible proportions; it even began to be called the “wine of Islam.” They said that the faithful, while drinking a cup of drink, forgot about the passage of time and even - oh, horror! - missed prayer time. This could not help but worry the high clergy, who in 1511 were forced to convene a special Council on Coffee. The learned men filed a complaint with the ruler Khair Bey.
Legend has it that the bey wanted to personally sort out the issue. Having waited until evening, he put on simple clothes, slipped out of the palace and walked through the streets of the city. Entering the first coffee shop, he took a cup of coffee and began to listen to what the people were talking about. The ruler listened to amazing stories all night, not noticing the passage of time, and woke up only at dawn.
After this, the council of the highest clergy decided that coffee is a drink that corrupts and clouds the minds of the faithful, and drinking it is the same as drinking wine, which, as is known, was prohibited by the prophet himself.
For several decades, Arab coffee lovers had to enjoy their favorite drink in secret. Those caught in the act were sewn into grain sacks and thrown into the sea. However, over time, the ban was forgotten, and the Arabs again began to spend whole days drinking coffee and hookah.
Turkish coffee shops
Coffee beans were brought to Turkey in the 16th century, but at first the bitter drink did not cause much enthusiasm. In the middle of the century, an embassy from Yemen arrived to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Among the gifts, the envoy brought a bag of selected coffee and taught how to properly brew the aromatic drink. The Sultan and his beloved wife, the beautiful Hurrem, were delighted. Following them, the custom of drinking coffee was adopted first by the courtiers, then by ordinary townspeople.
In 1654, the doors of the first coffee shop opened to everyone in Istanbul, and soon similar establishments were opened in all areas of the city. Visitors sat on comfortable cushions, talked, smoked a hookah, and the servants, right before their eyes, brewed new portions of the drink in copper cezves. Soon the technology was brought to perfection, and today we use the same recipes that were in use four hundred years ago.
In Turkey, coffee became so popular that a bride who did not know how to prepare the drink was considered ill-prepared for marriage. If after the wedding a woman discovered that her husband did not have enough money to provide her with coffee, she had every right to file for divorce.
Cocoa with milk.
Cocoa powder is mixed with sugar, a little boiling water is added (100-150 ml per 1 liter of drink), stirred well and while stirring, pour in the rest of the hot milk and bring to a boil.
Serve cocoa in a glass or cup. You can serve cocoa with whipped cream.
Cocoa with yolks. Egg yolks are ground with sugar and, with continuous stirring, gradually diluted with cocoa prepared with milk or cream, cooled to 35-40ºC. Then the drink is heated without boiling, lightly shaken and poured into cups.
Cocoa with ice cream. Cocoa is prepared with milk and sugar, cooled, poured into glasses or glasses and ice cream is placed on top.
Coffee is conquering Europe
For a long time, people in Europe knew practically nothing about coffee. A few knights and priests brought grain from the crusades, but their supplies quickly ran out, and the church looked askance at the infidel drink. But time passed, morals softened, and more or less stable trade relations were established with the countries of the East. Italy was the first to fall under the power of the divine aroma.
The history of coffee in Italy began in the second half of the 16th century. A certain resident of Genoa, Antonio Menavino, having spent more than ten years in Turkish captivity and miraculously freed himself, described his misadventures in a fascinating book. His fondest memories were of coffee and its invigorating properties, to which he devoted many pages of praise in the book.
Catholic priests, whom the Pope sent to the countries of the East on diplomatic and preaching missions, made a great contribution to the popularization of the drink. When returning, among other exotic wonders, they often brought coffee beans and treated representatives of the highest nobility to a drink.
In 1626, the first coffee shop opened in the capital of Catholicism, Rome. The establishment quickly became fashionable. The passion for coffee was so strong that after some time the priests sent a petition to Pope Clement VIII to ban the drink. However, the prelate did not cut his teeth, but ordered a cup of coffee to be prepared in order to experience the effect of the overseas potion. After this, the question of the sinfulness of coffee drinking was removed.
Soon, coffee shops appeared in other European countries - France, Great Britain, Germany, Hungary, Sweden... In London, by the beginning of the 18th century, there were about two thousand coffee shops.
The French were introduced to the invigorating drink by the Turkish envoy Suleiman Mustafa, who generously treated it to the courtiers of the Sun King.
Vietnam is one of the main coffee exporters
Vietnam is one of the main coffee exporters in the world. Arabica has been the first imported coffee variety to Vietnam since 1857. Trung Nguyen coffee is the No. 1 coffee brand in Vietnam and is exported to more than 60 countries around the world. It was created in 1996 by Dang Le Nguyen Vu.
Large-scale production in Vietnam began after the normalization of trade relations with the United States in 1995. Almost all the coffee grown there today is Robusta.
Vietnamese women collecting coffee
History of coffee in Russia
Many believe that the custom of drinking coffee was introduced, among other reforms, by Peter the Great. However, this is not so: his father, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, was already a renowned coffee drinker and drank 4-5 cups, or even more, during the day. Since childhood, the king had poor health, and the court doctor advised him to drink “boiled coffee” as a cure for colds and headaches.
However, it was under Peter (I) that the custom of drinking coffee spread in the high society of the Russian Empire. In 1740, the popularity of the drink led to the opening of the first coffee house, where you could not only drink a cup or two of freshly brewed drink, but also stock up on beans for home consumption.
Nevertheless, coffee for a long time remained a “master’s” drink in our country, consumed mainly by representatives of the nobility. The merchant class preferred tea, while others simply did not have enough money to buy coffee beans. It is worth noting that they did not drink coffee, but ate it: until the beginning of the twentieth century, the stable expression “to take a bite of coffee” was preserved.
Chocolate.
To prepare the drink, use chocolate powder, which differs from cocoa powder in its higher fat content, or ready-made chocolate bars, which are crumbled or grated.
Chocolate with milk. Powdered chocolate is mixed with sugar, diluted with a small amount of boiling water and hot milk is added. When using chocolate bars, less sugar is used.
Chocolate with whipped cream. The prepared chocolate is cooled, poured into glasses or wine glasses, and cream (35% fat content) whipped with sugar and powder is placed on top.
Iced chocolate with liqueur. The finished chocolate is cooled to 10-14ºС, liqueur is added, and whipped cream is placed on top.
Development of coffee plantations
For many centuries, due to its high cost, coffee remained inaccessible to ordinary people, and its cultivation was extremely profitable.
The first coffee plantations appeared in Yemen. The rulers of this country quickly realized that a monopoly on coffee was an incredibly profitable business, and they forbade, on pain of death, the export of seedlings or raw, unroasted beans from the country.
However, any prohibitions are overcome sooner or later, especially if it promises fabulous benefits. In 1650, the Indian Muslim Baba Budan managed to steal some green grains. In his homeland, he founded the first coffee plantation outside the Arabian Peninsula.
About forty years later, his “feat” was repeated by Dutch merchants, who took the seedling to their tropical colonies, establishing Mocha coffee plantations in Ceylon and the island of Java.
In tropical climates, coffee trees produce up to four harvests a year, bringing considerable income to their owners.
At the beginning of the 18th century, France joined the club of coffee-growing countries. A certain officer Mathieu de Cleix, by order of the king, transported several seedlings from His Majesty’s personal greenhouse to the Antilles, which were then French colonies. The swim was long and difficult. Subsequently, de Cleix recalled that at the end of the journey he even had to cut the ration of drinking water for the crew so that he had something to water the trees.
However, within a few years, the coffee plantations of the island of Martinique began to generate huge income, and soon coffee cultivation began in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and other islands of the archipelago.
From Martinique and Dutch Guiana (now Suriname), coffee plantations spread to the New World.
Some stories today look like an exciting detective story. Thus, a coffee seedling came to Brazil thanks to the adventurism of a certain Brazilian colonel Francisco de Melo Palet. Arriving in Guiana for negotiations on a border dispute, he started a love affair with the wife of the French governor and on one of the dates he told the lady that he dreamed of establishing a coffee plantation in Brazil.
There was no question of legally purchasing trees - export was strictly prohibited, and the plantations were guarded by armed detachments. However, the woman in love found a way out - on the day of separation she gave her lover a huge bouquet in which a precious seedling was hidden among the lush flowers. Thus, thanks to a romantic history, Brazil became the world leader in coffee cultivation.
In the 19th century, European industrialists began to grow Mokka coffee and other varieties in some Central African countries - Kenya and Tanzania. Despite the fact that these countries are located only a few hundred kilometers from the birthplace of coffee - Ethiopia, seedlings for the plantations had to be imported from Brazil. Having traveled around the world, coffee trees returned to their native Africa.
Coffee and modernity
Currently, coffee is the most popular drink in the world, leaving tea, cocoa and other analogues far behind the flag. Every day, the world's population drinks approximately 2.25 billion cups of coffee, and annual consumption is approaching a trillion cups.
About a third of this amount is drunk by residents of Europe, the United States accounts for 18% of global consumption, and Brazil completes the top three coffee-drinking countries with 15%.
In Russia, for many years, coffee was much less popular compared to tea, but today both drinks are in approximately equal demand.
Coffee machines
A huge impetus to the growth of the popularity of coffee was the invention of the coffee machine. The first unit was manufactured in Milan, Italy in 1901. It was a huge tank of complex design: finely ground coffee powder was poured inside, then a stream of boiling water was passed through it under high pressure. The coffee machine made it possible to quickly prepare coffee for everyone in small cafes and eateries.
Coffee machines were improved, decreased in size, became more convenient and “more mobile”. The principle of their operation remains unchanged - boiling water passes through the ground coffee.
Instant coffee
At the same time as coffee machines, instant coffee was invented. The method of its manufacture was invented by Satori Kano, an American engineer of Japanese origin.
Initially, the drink, to put it mildly, did not impress with its taste and aroma, however, due to its ease of preparation, it found use in the army diet. During the First World War, millions of soldiers from different countries became accustomed to instant coffee. After the end of hostilities, they did not want to give up their usual drink.
Gradually, manufacturing technology has improved, and modern manufacturers offer powdered coffee of quite decent taste.
Decaffeinated coffee
Concern for health has led to the emergence of a new product - decaffeinated coffee. Its creation was helped by an accident: a ship with a load of coffee beans was caught in a storm, and most of the bags were flooded with sea water. After testing, it turned out that the beans retained the aroma, but at the same time almost all the caffeine was washed out of them.
German chemist Ludwig Roselius conducted a series of experiments and developed a technology that allows caffeine to be removed without compromising the taste of the drink. However, it later turned out that the method chosen by Roselius could harm the health of consumers, and today more reliable technologies are used to extract caffeine.
It is impossible to imagine the modern world without coffee. This magnificent drink is drunk in the luxurious palaces of billionaires and in the poor Brazilian favelas, in equatorial countries and at the North Pole. Billions of people start their day with a cup of coffee, the enchanting aroma of which serves as a charge of good mood, vigor and energy for the entire next day.
Now, when chatting with friends in a coffee shop, you can share facts about the history of coffee - interesting and exciting!
