When you think about where your coffee came from hopefully your thinking “I ordered it from Sasquatch Coffee” but what about historically. It is difficult to pin point the very first encounter with the coffee shrub but legend has it that the first taste was taken by goats. An Ethiopian legend explains how a goat herder noticed an increase of energy from his goats after eating the red berries of the coffee shrub, and then tried it himself. The energetic behavior that resulted in tasting the red berries motivated a monk to take some of those berries to share with his fellow monks, whom shared the same energetic reaction. Another stepping stone in coffee’s history is from around 1000 A.D. when a drink was made using the whole coffee fruit, including the beans and the hull. The first time the coffee bean was experienced roasted was not until the 13th century. There are many more historical transitions the coffee bean went through to become the second most valuable, legally traded commodity in the world that it is today. Read more of the coffee bean’s significant history below.
The modern version of roasted coffee originated in Arabia. During the 13th century, coffee was extremely popular with the Muslim community for its stimulant powers, which proved useful during long prayer sessions. By parching and boiling the coffee beans, rendering them infertile, the Arabs were able to corner the market on coffee crops. In fact, tradition says that not a single coffee plant existed outside of Arabia or Africa until the 1600s, when Baba Budan, an Indian pilgrim, left Mecca with fertile beans fastened to a strap across his abdomen. Baba’s beans resulted in a new and competitive European coffee trade.
In 1616, the Dutch founded the first European-owned coffee estate in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, then Java in 1696. The French began growing coffee in the Caribbean, followed by the Spanish in Central America and the Portuguese in Brazil. European coffee houses sprang up in Italy and later France, where they reached a new level of popularity. Now, it is de rigueur for Parisians to indulge in a cup of coffee and a baguette or croissant at the numerous coffee cafes throughout Paris.
SRC: Learn more about the History of Coffee from PBS at: www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/history-coffee/
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