Coffee History

Prior to 1000 A.D.Members of the Galla tribe in Ethiopia notice that they get an energy boost when they eat a certain type of berry, ground up and mixed with animal fat.

1000 A.D.Arab traders bring coffee back to their homeland and cultivate the plant for the first time on plantations. They also boil the beans, creating a drink they call qahwa (literally "that which prevents sleep").

1453 Coffee is introduced to Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks. The world's first coffee shop, Kiva Han, opens there in 1475. Turkish law makes it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he fails to provide her with a daily quota of coffee.

1511 Khair Beg, the corrupt governor of Mecca, tries to ban coffee for fear that its influence might foster opposition to his rule. The sultan sends word that coffee is sacred and has the governor executed.

1587 Sheikh Abd-al-Kadir writes, " No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness."

1600 Coffee, introduced to the West by Italian traders, grabs attention in high places. In Italy, Pope Clement VIII is urged by his advisers to consider the favorite drink of the Ottoman Empire part of the infidel threat. One sip, however, and he decides to baptize it instead, making it an acceptable Christian beverage.

1607 Captain John Smith helps to found the colony of Virginia at Jamestown; it is believed that he introduced coffee to North America.

1645 First coffeehouse opens in Italy.

1652 First coffeehouse in England. Coffeehouses multiply and become such popular forums for learned - and not so learned - discussions that they are dubbed " penny universities" (a penny being the price of a cup of coffee).

1668 Coffee replaces beer as New York City's favorite breakfast drink.

1668 Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse opens in England and is frequented by merchants and maritime insurance agents. Eventually it becomes Lloyd's of London, the best known insurance company in the world.

1672 First coffee house opens in Paris

1675 England's King Charles tried to suppress coffeehouses, supposedly because men were neglecting their families to discuss business and politics over coffee. His proclamation is revoked after public outcry.

1685 The Turkish army surrounds Vienna. Franz Georg Kolschitsky, a Viennese who had lived in Turkey, slips through enemy lines to lead relief forces to the city. The fleeing Turks leave behind sacks of "dry black fodder" that Kolschitsky recognizes as coffee. He claims it as his reward and opens central Europe's first coffee house. He also establishes the habit of refining the brew by filtering out its grounds, sweetening it, and adding a dash of milk.

1690 With a coffee plant smuggled out of the Arab port of Mocha, the Dutch become the first to transport and cultivate coffee commercially, in Ceylon - and in their East Indian colony of Java, source of the brew's nickname.

1713 The Dutch unwittingly provide Louis XIV of France with a coffee bush whose descendants will produce the entire western coffee industry when in 1723 French naval officer Gabriel Mathieu deClieu steals a seedling and transports it to Martinique. Within 50 years an official survey records 19 million coffee trees on Martinique. Eventually 90 percent of the world's coffee spreads from this plant.

1721 First coffeehouse opens in Berlin.

1727 The Brazilian coffee industry gets its start when Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Melo Palheta is sent by his government to arbitrate a border dispute between the French and Dutch colonies in Guiana.Not only does he settle the dispute, he also strikes up a secret liaison with the wife of French Guiana's governor. Although France guarded its new world coffee plantations to prevent cultivation from spreading, the lady said goodbye to Palheta with a bouquet in which she hid cuttings and fertile seeds of coffee.

1732 Johann Sebastian Bach composes his Kaffee Kantate. Partly an ode to coffee and partly a stab at the movement in Germany to prevent women from drinking coffee (it was thought to make them sterile), the cantata includes the aria, "Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter far than muscatel wine! I must have my coffee...."

1773 The Boston Tea Party makes drinking coffee a patriotic duty in America.

1775 Prussia's Frederick the Great tries to block imports of green coffee, as Prussia's wealth is drained. Public outcry changes his mind.

1886Former wholesale grocer Joel Cheek names his popular coffee blend Maxwell House after the hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, where it is served.

Early 1900sIn Germany, afternoon coffee becomes a standard occasion. The derogatory term Kaffeeklatsch is coined to describe women's gossip at these affairs. It has since broadened to mean relaxed conversation in general.

1900 Hills Bros. begins packing roast coffee in vacuum tins, spelling the end to the ubiquitous local roasting shops and coffee mills.

1901 The first soluble instant coffee is invented by Japanese-American chemist Satori Kato of Chicago.

1903 German coffee importer Ludwig Roselius turns a batch of ruined coffee beans over to researchers, who perfect the process of removing caffeine from the beans without destroying the flavor. He markets it under the brand name "Sanka" (a contraction of the French sans caffeine). Sanka is introduced to the United States in 1923.

1906 George Constant Washington, an English chemist living in Guatemala, notices a powdery condensation forming on the spout of his silver coffee carafe. After experimentation, he creates the first mass-produced instant coffee (his brand is called Red E Coffee), which is followed by dozens of other brands.

1920 Prohibition goes into effect in the United States. Coffee sales boom.

1938 Having been asked by Brazil to help find a solution to their coffee surpluses, Nestle develops Nescafe and introduces it in Switzerland.

1940 The US Imports 70 percent of the world coffee crop.

1942 During WWII, American soldiers are issued Maxwell House coffee in their ration kits. Back home, widespread hoarding leads to coffee rationing.

1948 In Italy, Achille Gaggia perfects his espresso machine. Cappuccino is named for the resemblance of its color to the robes of the monks of the Capuchin order.

1951 Consumer Reports tests instant coffees.

1958 The greek Vacondios invented the "frape"

1961 Carnation introduces Coffeemate nondairy creamer, a powder composed of corn syrup solids, vegetable fat, sodium caseinate, and various additives.

1971 Starbucks opens its first store in Pike Place public market, creating a frenzy over fresh-roasted whole bean coffee.

1995 Espresso an Cappuccino "Fredo" versions introduced.


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