Coffee:Brewing History

Ethiopia• Archaeological evidence suggests that the arabica strain of coffee trees evolved in Ethiopia.

• The first European exposure to coffee as a drink came through trade with the country of Yemen.

• Ancient Ethiopians didn’t roast the beans and brew coffee, they dried the leaves and cherries and made tea by steeping the fruit or leaves in hot water.

• By the time the Europeans arrived for trade at the port of Mocha in Yemen coffee beans were being roasted and brewed as it is today.

• During the height of the coffee trade Mocha was an important port in the Middle East.

• Dutch, French and British spice merchants purchased green coffee beans and transported them to European ports for sale.

• The same merchants also made the effort to acquire live coffee plants for transport to their colonies.

The Colonial Powers

Sumatran Rainforest Foliage

The Island of Java•The European colonial powers spread their holdings across the world.

•Armed merchantmen and national militaries conquered islands and nations to secure ports for their merchant fleets

•Some colonial powers followed the practice of planting valuable crops in tropical colonial possessions.

European Colonies and Coffee Plantations• Whenever the Europeans colonized a tropical territory they brought three things

with them: Coffee Trees, Cane Sugar and Slaves.

• This practice is part of the reason that coffee which started out in an isolated region of the world quickly spread out across the equatorial regions of the globe.

Coffee Growing Regions of the World

Coffee in it’s different stages

Young Trees Green Cherries

Ripe Cherries before and after Harvest

Modern and Traditional Harvesting • Traditional harvesting of coffee was by

hand.

• Arabica coffee is often harvested by hand today as well.

• Robusta coffee which grows at lower elevations can be harvested using modern automated methods

• Robusta coffee – which has a more bitter flavor then Arabica varieties – is used by the large roasters for mass packaged brands of coffee.

A New Meaning for Coffeemaker

The Kopi Luwak

Kopi Luwak Poop

• Don’t feel like spending thousands on harvesting equipment? Just import a breeding stock of these little cuties.

• The Kopi Luwak shown to the left eats ripe coffee cherries then excretes the beans.

• The beans excreted by the Luwak have been chemically altered by the digestive process producing a bean with a less bitter flavor that is prized by connoisseurs.

The Coffee House• The Coffee House has been an institution for nearly 500

years.

• Coffee Houses got their start in the Ottoman Empire (modern day Turkey) but over the centuries spread across the Middle East, Europe and America

The British Coffee House – Oxford

• The first coffee house in England was established in Oxford

• Coffee houses became popular among the student body at the local universities.

• The third coffee house to open in Oxford was known as Tillyard’s and eventually became famous for something other then the house roast.

• Tillyard’s Coffee House gained a reputation as the place for people with an interest in the sciences to gather and discuss their research

• Over the years the patrons of Tillyard’s gained a reputation for their skills at scientific observation and investigation.

• The patrons at Tillyard’s coffee house were responsible for the founding of the Royal Society – the most prestigious scientific body of the 19th Century.

The British Coffee House – London

• The first coffee house in London opened in 1652.

• The coffee house quickly became a popular fixture of London society

• Unlike Oxford where the coffee house became a center for building community in London the coffee house was a center of political dissent.

• In 1675 king Charles II attempted to shut down the coffee houses in the city to put a lid on the dissent.

• Public furor over the royal proclamation forced the king to back down and allow the establishments to stay open.

• By 1739 there were over 500 coffee shops in and around London.

• Over the years the coffee houses in London grew into institutions we would be familiar with today.

• Lloyd’s Coffee House served as a popular meeting place for the men who owned and invested in merchant ships. The idea of insurance underwriting grew out of their discussions of ways to prevent the financial catastrophe of a lost ship. Lloyd’s Coffee House eventually became Lloyd’s of London which insures the QEII and NASAs Space Shuttle fleet.

• The British Stock Exchange emerged from Jonathan’s Coffee House in Exchange Alley and the East India Company made the Jerusalem Coffee House in Cowper’s Court its unofficial headquarters.

London Coffee Houses Continued

• Unlike the coffee houses of England the coffee houses of Boston were - as was common in New England at the time - also general taverns.

• Like their English counterparts at the time - taverns in New England also provided private rooms for the meetings of Masonic Lodges.

• Anyone who watches the history channel is probably aware of the connection between the Masons and the American Revolution.

• Coffee had a special place in the hearts and minds of the American Revolutionaries as well since the tea tax specifically and British tea in general were hot point topics.

• The coffee houses of New York city followed in the traditions of Europe and served as centers of business and politics.

• The coffee houses of New York gradually disappeared - replaced by business establishments’ purpose built for the activities which used to be conducted at the coffee house.

American Coffee Houses

• Turkish Village Coffee Houses served as gathering places where men would go to meet and discuss the days news.

• Literate villagers would sit and read the news paper, often reading aloud for the benefit of the illiterate villagers.

• Village coffee houses served to bridge the social gap allowing men of all ages and social standings to gather together outside the market or mosque.

• In Turkey during the 1920s the coffee house was a place reserved for men, women were required to find their own gathering places.

• Turkish coffee houses like their British and American counterparts were places where people talked politics and aired their grievances.

• Like Charles II in 1675 and the Ottoman Emperor in the 1500s the Turkish ruler tried to have the coffee houses shut down, he also failed.

The Turkish Coffee House

Coffee Facts & Figures• In 2002 – 125 million people worldwide depend on coffee for their livelihood;

this is equal to the population of Japan.

• 500 million people globally are involved directly or indirectly in the coffee trade.

• Caffeine is an alkaloid present in green coffee in amounts between .8 and 2.5 percent and serves as an insecticide to deter pests.

• Coffee trees don’t produce cherries until they are three to five years old but can continue to produce fruit for fifty to sixty years.

• Coffee cherries take approximately nine months to ripen

• It is possible to overdose on caffeine – more then 250 milligrams consumed in less then an hour can produce hyperactivity and hallucinations. Being chased by a glowing orb is the most common hallucination experienced.