History of coffee
It is difficult to determine the exact time of discovery of this remarkable plant, which we can say with certainty is a universal drink and the most popular stimulant in the world that you can find anywhere in the world. However, as many historians agree, it is the "birthplace of coffee" - the area of Coffee in Ethiopia after which this plant was named (wikipedia.org - coffee plant).
The natives of Africa initially used coffee as food - they ground it and mixed it with water and spices and even animal fat to make the balls they used before the battle to give them strength. The Ethiopians made coffee from coffee, putting dried coffee beans to ferment in water. For hundreds of years, Ethiopia was the only place that knew about the benefits of black drink. It was not until the 15th century that the Arabs realized what they were missing and began cultivating this plant. Historical data show that coffee was first grown and used as a hot beverage in the Arabian Peninsula, and Yemen was the world's leading supplier of coffee for the next few centuries.
Demand for coffee in the Middle East was very high, and the way coffee was exported from the port of Moka in Yemen for trade with Alexandria and Istanbul was a well-kept secret. The picture shows a ship in port carrying coffee. Namely, realizing that this is a drink with exceptional properties, the Arabs kept a secret for a long time by banning the export of this wonderful plant. No coffee seedlings were allowed to leave the country.
In the late 15th century, travelers returning from Arabia spread coffee throughout the Middle East and the Maghreb. Later, Hindus managed to smuggle coffee and began to grow it successfully in India.
In 1555, two Syrians first brought coffee to Constantinople. The tavern, as a service facility where only coffee was originally prepared and served, over time became a feature of social culture - people gathered and kept in touch, played various games, drank alcohol, smoked drugs and rested. The photos show what the first cafes looked like. From Constantinople, coffee arrived in the Venetian Republic in the 17th century, from where coffee spread to Europe. By the end of the 17th century, drunk coffee in Europe originated in Yemen. However, thanks to the remarkable characteristics of this plant, coffee spread around the world very quickly and began to be grown and cultivated in different parts of the world. While the plant conquered the world with its miraculous properties, Turkish Sultans Selim II and Murat IV declared war on coffee in the 17th century - along with alcohol, tobacco and opium, they banned the consumption of coffee. It was declared the devil's drink, and the enjoyment of coffee was condemned by Islamic authorities as "dissuading the people from the faith of the prophets."
From the beginning of the 18th century, coffee plantations, through the Dutch, began to germinate first in Java, Bali and Sumatra. In 1714, the coffee tree arrived at the Paris Botanical Garden, from where it would head to the Antilles and become the ancestor of the famous Jamaican variety called "Blue Mountain". In 1723, French Captain Gabriel de Clee planted coffee in Martinique, from where it spread throughout Latin America. The first coffee trees in Brazil were planted in 1727 in the Par area.
Coffee was well received on Brazilian soil, and when a very rare plant disease invaded coffee plantations in Northeast America in the mid-19th century, Brazil broke out in the first place as the world’s most famous coffee producer. Brazil has retained that title to this day. Today, seven Latin American countries make up about 85% of world coffee production, and Brazil alone produces a third of the world’s coffee. The picture shows picking and investing coffee in Brazil.
Annual coffee consumption
Measured per capita, most coffees are drunk by residents of the Nordic countries, where there are very few sunny days, and are consumed as a stimulant to help wake them up and relieve fatigue. Americans, Germans and French also drink a lot of coffee. In Japan, a country that is becoming a growing importer of coffee and in which this beverage is increasingly gaining primacy over traditional tea, October 1 was officially recognized as Coffee Day. The specificity of this country is that, in addition to becoming an increasing consumer of coffee, it buys the highest quality and most expensive coffee.
