The History of Coffee
Legends abound about coffee’s origins, but it is generally agreed that the plant initially grew on the slopes of Ethiopia and Abyssinia. According to one legend a young goat herder by the name of Kaldi noticed that, while the midday sun made him feel lethargic, it seemed to have the opposite effect on his goats. But then he noticed that they had been nibbling on the small yellow berries from the trees that grew abundantly in the area. He tried a few and experienced the same sense of vitality and well being. The local monks scolded him for partaking of the “devil’s fruit”, but they soon realised, however, that the small yellow berries would help them stay awake during prayers and the berries soon got their blessing.
Another legend has it that an Arab, by the name of Omar, was banished to the desert with his followers. They survived by boiling the small yellow berries of the coffee tree and eating them in a broth. So impressed were the locals from the nearest town, Mocha, that they had survived, it was taken as a religious sign. The berries were named Mocha in honour of the town.
By 1000 A.D. coffee had spread to the Arabian Peninsula, where it was first cultivated in plantations. They began to boil a drink made out of the berries which they called “qahwa” (literally “that which prevents sleep”). It was zealously guarded by the Muslim states and its removal was forbidden, other than in its roasted state, to prevent germination in the ‘infidel’s’ soil. Inevitably, though, some plants were eventually smuggled out to parts of India, where they thrived.
The first coffeehouses appeared in Constantinople around 1475 and by 1600 it was introduced to Italy. Initially the Pope was urged to banish it by his advisors, but he so enjoyed its taste that he baptised it, declaring that it would be a pity for the ‘infidels’ to have exclusive use of it.
Coffeehouses spread quickly across Europe and become centres of discussion for politics, arts and culture, earning them the nickname “ Penny Universities”, as it only cost a penny for a cup of coffee. One of the more famous coffeehouses belonged to Edward Lloyd. Opened in 1668, it was frequented by merchants and maritime agents. For their interest, Lloyd published a log of all ingoing and outgoing ships and cargo. It was the humble beginnings of Lloyd’s of London, the world’s biggest maritime insurer.
Initially coffee plantations were limited to Arabia, India and parts of Eastern Europe, but in 1690 the Dutch smuggled some plants out of the Arab port of Mocha and transported them to the East Indian colony of Java, where they thrived in the lush tropics.
In 1723 the Dutch lost their secret to the French, when a French Naval officer stole a seedling and transported it to the West Indian island of Martinique. Within 50 short years there were 90 million trees on the island. Eventually 90% of all world coffee spread from that first seedling.
In 1727, after arbitrating a border dispute between French and Dutch Guiana, Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Melo Palheta of Brazil smuggled out cuttings and fertile seeds of coffee in a bouquet of flowers. It is rumoured he was given them by the Governor of French Guiana’s wife with whom he was having a torrid love affair. Though the French had guarded to secret of coffee closely, it was now Brazil’s turn to become a coffee powerhouse and within 100 years accounted for 97% of the world’s harvest. To this day coffee remains a cornerstone of Brazil’s economy and culture.
