History of Coffee

Coffee is derived from the seed of the fruit of the coffee tree, usually from C. arabica or C. robusta which generally only grow in the tropics, an the best beans are from trees located above 3000ft.

Originally cultivated in East Africa, the coffee bean was first roasted in Ethiopia and quickly spread to Kenya, Tanzania and other parts of East Africa at the end of the first millennium.

Owing to their close proximity with the Muslim world, ports in Yemen were the first to introduce coffee to the Middle Eastern lands, from where it spread throughout the Muslim world, but not reaching most of Europe until hundreds of years later.

Ethiopian style coffee is thick and syrupy and served in a small bowl, whereas Middle Eastern coffee is served in a small glass or cup. Western styles of coffee tend to be less syrupy.

By the early 1600s coffee had reached Europe thru the trading connection between Venice and North Africa. The very first coffee house in Europe was opened in 1645 in Venice.

Historians are divided on when coffee reached England, France, and the other Western European nations but it is known that in 1675 there were over 3000 coffee houses in England.

European sensibilities were averse to being too closely linked with the Arab Muslim economies and in the late 1600s Dutch adventurers managed to succeed in getting live plants back to Amsterdam. Large greenhouses were established and seeds distributed to Dutch colonies in the tropics.

By the early 1700s Dutch coffee growers and roasters dominated coffee production and controlled the lion’s share of sales in Europe.

In the Americas coffee was being grown in the Dutch and French colonies but it wasn’t long until coffee plants had reached Brazil and other parts of South America.

By the 1800s Brazil was the leading supplier of coffee world wide, a position never challenged since, although Vietanm is close second in the 21st century followed more distantly by Colombia.

Colombian coffee is probably better known than Brazilian and Vietnamese beans although by the time most wholesalers have mixed and roasted their beans it is difficult to tell where the beans have originated.