Coffee Is A Historic Beverage, And It Makes For A Great Gift
Ahhhhh, coffee... a fantastic dark beverage that wakes us up in the morning. For some of us, it keeps us up during the day, or for late night study sessions. We drink it out of habit, we drink it from addiction, we drink it for flavor; whatever the reason, it is surely a popular beverage. So where did this famed drink come from?
Coffee, for Americans, is three hundred years old. In the East it was widespread at every level of society, since the earlier era. The most notable dates point to around 800b.c. However, Homer, and according to Arabian tales speak of a mysterious bitter black beverage with powers of stimulation that could have been this drink.
About the year 1000, coffee was being used for medicinal purposes. In 1400 a Yemeni goat herder observed his flock eating reddish berries, then becoming excited and restless. After relating his observations to a monk, they boiled the berries and made a beverage that could disperse sleep and weariness. No matter how it actually was created, the fact remains that the coffee plant started in Africa, in an Ethiopian region known as Kaffa. From there it spread to Egypt, Yemen, and Arabia, where it became a part of daily life.
In the late 1500s coffee was a commodity, being sold in Europe. However, due to an increasing demand for the new beverage, and high taxes on shipping, there was experimentation with growing the crops in various other countries. Much later, around 1727 coffee growing started in Northern Brazil. By the 20th century, various forms of coffee were developed for the public.
Decaffeinated coffee was first founded in 1903 when Ludwig Roselius, a German coffee importer, gave a batch of damaged coffee beans to researchers. They developed the process of taking the caffeine out of the beans without losing any flavor. This was marketed in the 1920s.
Instant coffee was first mass produced from the invention of George Constant Washington, an English chemist living in Guatemala. While waiting for his wife one day to join him outside for coffee, he observed on the spout of the silver coffee urn, a fine powder, which looked to be the condensation of the coffee vapors. This excited him and led to his founding of soluble coffee.
In 1906 he started experiments and put his invention, Red E Coffee, in the markets in 1909. Nestle', in 1938, trying to aid Brazil with their coffee surpluses created freeze-dried coffee. Nescafe was started and first introduced into Switzerland. Instant coffee became a fad after 1956 when commercial television was the new craze.
And now in the US alone, 400 billion cups of coffee a year are consumed. Coffee is one of the world's largest commodities, second only to oil. From a remote area in Africa, to millions of shelves and homes worldwide, coffee has became a fixture everywhere.
The author has been a passionate coffee drinker for many years. She has tasted coffees from all over the world, and believes in serving and entertaining her guests with only the best.
She has catered hundreds of events and affairs and is known for her attention to details, especially regarding picking the perfect coffee.
Irene D. Hope is founder of All Special Coffee an excellent resource site dedicated to information about coffee.
Latest News
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Coffee protects women from cancer of the uterus: Study NDTV.com, India - PTI Japanese researchers have discovered a good reason for women to drink coffee, they say it protects them from cancer of the uterus. ... Exercise may cut risk of various cancers Regular exercise can cut cancer risk |
Coffee Growers Are More Important Than Coffee Makers Corsavoo.com, France - Globally, the coffee beans are grown in over 70 countries, only with an output to make it the world's second largest commodity in dollar volume only after ... |
Community Coffee's Louisiana Plant Still Shut, Awaiting Pwr CNNMoney.com - Community Coffee Company's roasting plant in Port Allen, Louisiana , remains without power after Hurricane Gustav struck the state Monday, the Baton Rouge ... LSU column: Shedding light on a dark week in Baton Rouge Lessons Learned: This Time, New Orleans VARs Were Ready Our Views: A hard hit in Louisiana |
 VietNamNet Bridge | Ministry needs VND32.8 trillion for coffee bean VietNamNet Bridge, Vietnam - The goal is to have 50-70 percent of Vietnamese coffee beans to be traded at international transaction floors and 10-15 percent to be consumed locally by ... |
Fylde mayor to have a coffee for cancer Blackpool Citizen, UK - By Tyrone Marshall » Fylde’s first citizen will be one of thousands of people having a special cup of coffee on September 26 as part of a Macmillan Cancer ... Time to put the kettle on |
McDonald's tries gourmet coffee Statesville Record & Landmark, USA - Coffee prices are high, too. Surprisingly, though, despite the popularity of coffee, you do not see nearly as much media coverage or local complaints as you ... |
Coffee Break Discover Foothills, Canada - On September 9th - the Alzheimer Society of Calgary and Van Houtte's coffee will be giving away free coffees in High River on 3rd Ave SW and Macleod Trail ... Alzheimer coffee break Alzheimer Society says: make your coffee count BUTTER TART BREAK FUNDRAISER |
High gas prices have GJ coffee sellers jittery about customers ... Grand Junction Sentinel, CO - By ANNA MARIA BASQUEZ The frequency of such coffee-shop orders faded quickly when gasoline prices started the hike upward. “You can tell a lot of the people ... |
Your Memories - We were all in the coffee house joking around when ... Scotsman, United Kingdom - "On a Sunday, we would go to the West End Coffee House, on Shandwick Place, where they would occasionally put on a jazz set and you could buy a cup of ... |
Resources
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Coffee Shop Business Plan - Coffee Shop Franchise Opportunity - Start a Coffee Shop
Book on 49 mistakes we made in the espresso Coffee shop cafe business plus 29 recipes, forms, checklists. $104 aff. commission.
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How to make Coffee
Learn the secrets to making great Coffee
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Mixed drink recipes for the holidays
Champagne punch recipes, mulled wine, stylish bar drinks, eggnog recipes, flaming Coffee drinks, festive jello shots, and homemade liqueur recipes including kahlua, Irish Coffee, apple, blackberry, apricot, cranberry and more.