Coffee Originates from Africa
It is thought that the energizing effect of the coffee bean plant was first recognised in the highlands of southwest Ethiopia (Kaffa) in 850 AD. The legend say that a goat herd named Kaldi found that his goats had abnormally high energy levels after eating the red berries that grew wild on shrubs in the mountains. He shared his knowledge with the monks of the local monastery who used the berries to stay awake during long hours of prayer. The word spread across the monasteries, and the stimulus effect of coffee was discovered.
Through trade coffee found its way across the Red Sea to Arabia. It is also believed cherry flesh were eaten by slaves taken from present day Sudan into Yemen and Arabia. Either way, the coffee cherries would arrive at the great port of its day, Mocha, now synonymous with coffee. Through export, coffee found its way to Egypt, Syria and Turkey.
Coffee was cultivated in Yemen in the fifteenth century. For a long time, Arabian farmers made every effort to stop other continents get their hands on their precious commodity by making export beans infertile by parching or boiling.
Coffee Comes to Europe
Venetian traders introduced coffee to Europe in 1615. At first it created controversy, where opponents called the beverage the “bitter invention of Satan”. Eventually Pope Clement VIII was asked to intervene and settled in favour for the drink. Despite such controversy, the first European coffeehouse opened in Venice in 1683, with the most famous, Caffe Florian in Piazza San Marco, opening in 1720. Coffee houses were quickly becoming the centre of social activity and communication in the major cities of England, Austria, France, Germany and Holland.
As the interest of coffee grew in Europe, so were the means of securing its business. The largest insurance company in the world, Lloyd's of London, began life as a coffeehouse.
Plantations Around the World
The Dutch were the first to get their hands on live seedlings in 1616. Coffee plants were successfully grown in greenhouses before they were transported to Java, which was a Dutch colony at the time (now Indonesia).
The French, too, managed to get hold of the coveted shrub, and established coffee plantations in many of their colonies. One coffee plant brought to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris is reputed to be the father of all Latin American coffee.
The Dutch and French both founded huge coffee plantations in the Guianas of South America, and like the Arabs, tried their best to guard their prized crop. But according to some accounts, a dashing Brazilian officer won the heart of the wife of the governor of French Guiana. As a token of her affection, she gave him some of the precious beans and cuttings. Brazil began coffee cultivation in 1727, and is today the largest coffee growing nation in the world.