Some facts about Coffee

Coffee is said to have originated from Ethiopia (historically known as Abyssinia) in Kaffa, a place which had an abundance of wild coffee trees. There are different stories on who discovered coffee and given below are two such narratives.

The most popular story dates back to 850 AD. One day a goat herder by the name of Kaldi caught his goats munching on some red berries from a nearby shrub and behaving in an unusual manner. The animals showed signs of being more active and full of vigor after having eaten the round shaped red fruits. Kaldi tried a few himself and felt livelier and more energetic than he normally did. The herder (on his wife’s request) took the berries to the monks living nearby and gifted it to the head monk. Kaldi explained to the monk about the energetic and lively feeling a person would experience after eating the berries. The chief monk was not happy on hearing the effect the red fruits had when consumed and compared the seeds to the devils work and threw it into the fireplace. The flames of the fire engulfed the berries giving out a strong rejuvenating aroma. The head monk pleased with the fragrance arranged for more of it to be harvested, roasted and stored in water for later use.

Another story revolves around a man named Omar from Yemen exiled to a cave in the desert and left to starve. While searching for food and water he came across some green shrubs covered with red berries. He ate some of the berries in the hope it would ease his hunger but found it left a bitter taste in the mouth. Hoping to get rid of the bitter taste, he roasted the berries but was disappointed to discover the berries turned hard. To soften the seeds he boiled it in hot water and the result was a brown colored liquid having a strong aroma.

Ways coffee spread to different parts of the world

Yemen:

Ethiopian records reveal Yemen was the first country coffee beans were taken to from Ethiopia. One story tells of how it was the tradesmen from Ethiopia who introduced coffee to Yemen. The men would eat the seeds while traveling to give them the energy they needed to make the long and difficult journey to Yemen.

Another story says it was monks from the Muslim world who brought coffee to Yemen as they returned from Ethiopia. The Muslim holy men were told by the Ethiopians they met the beans had the power to help a person stay awake. The monks were pleased they found a remedy to help them keep awake during prayer time and took some seeds back with them to Yemen.

Arab world

Kahwah meaning coffee in Arabic made its way into the Arab world around the mid 1400’s but the drink was not accepted by everyone. People disliked the drink due to religious reasons for they felt coffee had the same effect on an individual as alcohol and wine did and the Quran prohibits a person from consuming foods and drinks which are intoxicating. By this time coffee houses flourished through out the Islamic world including Mecca and Medina. But coffee shops in Mecca were shut down and coffee was banned by the governor of Mecca when he caught some followers drinking the beverage inside a mosque. It was the Sultan of Cairo who lifted the ban and re-opened the coffee shops. Just as in the past, people today frequent the coffee houses in the Arabian Peninsula to socialize and enjoy this famous drink which has been in existence for hundreds of years and liked by so many people living in many parts of the world.

Europe:

Coffee established its presence in the European continent around the 1600’s. There are two stories of the Catholic clergy intervening to put a stop to the spread of coffee in Europe.

One tells of the Catholic priests in Italy being unhappy the primary traders of coffee were Arabs and appealed to the Pope to ban coffee in Europe’s Christian dominated countries. The Pope after tasting the coffee refused to do so and said it would be a waste to stop Christians from drinking it and allow only Muslims to have access to such a wonderful and energetic beverage.

In another story, Christian priests in Europe wanted the drink banned since they considered it to have intoxicating effects and compared it to the devil’s work. The Pope turned down their request after sampling the coffee and found the drink not to be intoxicating, but have an energizing effect.

Coffee houses became popular throughout Italy from the 17th century to 18th century with the first one established in Venice around the 1600’s. Café Florian which opened during the early 1700’s is the last of the ancient coffee shops to still exist in Europe.

The first city in England to have a coffee shop was Oxford, which was opened around the 1600’s by a man named Jacob of Jewish descent. Coffee was a much sought after drink in England until the introduction of tea in the 1700’s which caused a drastic drop in coffee drinkers as people preferred the newly discovered drink to coffee.

Turkey

Coffee made its way into Turkey around the mid 1400’s. Turkey was the first country to open a coffee shop in the world two decades after the coffee beans were brought into the country. The coffee house was named Kiva Han. Coffee played an important role in Turkey’s legal system because it gave a woman the right to terminate her marriage if her husband could not provide her with a day’s supply of coffee.

Netherlands

A Dutchman named Pieter van der Broecke is credited for introducing coffee to the Netherlands in the early 1600’s. He stole coffee seeds from Mocha, Yemen and planted it in a large garden in Amsterdam. Four decades later the seeds were full grown shrubs. The Dutch decided to plant coffee in a large scale by opening up plantations in countries rich in vegetation and where there were no coffee plants grown. Sri lanka (then known as Ceylon) was the first country in South Asia the Dutch established coffee plantations and India was the second. But the Dutch deserted these farms and concentrated on their coffee estates in Java and Surinam. More coffee farms were opened in Guyana, Central America and South America including Brazil in the early 1700’s.

United States of America

During the 1700’s, American settlers enjoyed drinking both coffee and tea. But all that changed when a tea tax was enforced by the British hierarchy. Many people were not happy about having to pay a tax for tea which resulted in a large consignment of tea being thrown into the sea as a sign of protest. The incident which occurred around 1773 was given the name the Boston Tea Party. People caught drinking tea were considered traitors and the settlers imported coffee from Central and South America. By the 20th century, the United States drank half of the coffee produced in the world.

Coffee is made using either the wet-process method or the dry-process method.

Dry Process

The dry process method is mainly used to process coffees in countries where there is an abundance of sunshine throughout most parts of the year and minimum rain. Coffee beans are found inside of red colored fruits on coffee trees. The beans are not separated from the fruit under the dry process method but dried together with it under the sun.

The berries are turned frequently to stop any mildew from building up. It takes between ten to fourteen days for the berries to fully dry. The dried berries are then sent through a millstone to remove and separate the dried up fruit skins from the coffee bean. The beans are then graded, packed and sold.

Wet Process:

Coffees manufactured under the wet process have a fruity taste to it. During this process, the fruit is immersed in large barrels/tanks of water. The undeveloped low quality beans will come up and the mature high quality ones will sink. The pulp is then removed from the beans using one of the following methods: ferment-and-wash method, the machine-assisted wet processing, aquapulping or by mechanical demucilaging. The beans are then graded and marketed.

Coffee can be grouped into five varieties:

• Central American Milds
• South Seas & India
• South America
• Decaffeinated Coffee
• Africa

Central American Milds

Coffees that come under this group are:

Mexico High Grown

• Mexico High Grown is a grade of coffee produced in Mexico and considered of the highest quality when compared to other grades grown in the area. It’s also known as Altura (meaning high-grown). Coffee seeds were first grown in Mexico around the 19th century when the seeds were brought into the country from Jamaica. Mexicans enjoy their coffee when a little cinnamon is added to the coffee prior to brewing it. The cinnamon helps to cut down the acidity in the coffee and improve the taste.

Guatemala Antigua

• Considered as one of the best coffee beans grown in the highlands of Guatemala. The coffee has a rich acidity taste with a strong aroma. Antigua has the ideal vegetation and temperature to grow the finest coffees. Antigua lies in the midst of three volcanoes.

Guatemala Huehuetenango (way-way-ten-ang-oh)

• The coffee is grown in Huehuetenango, situated in the northern part of Guatemala. The coffee has a fruity taste and gives out a florid fragrance.

Costa Rica Tarrazu

• The coffee is grown in the district Tarrazun in Costa Rica and is considered as one of the finest gourmet quality coffees. The coffee gives a very high acidity taste with a strong aroma.

Dominican Republic Santiago Bani A

• Coffee grown in the Dominic Republic has a low to medium acidity. Most coffee produced here are organic and grown under guava, macadamia or pine trees. The Santiago Bani A variety of coffee gives a nutty to chocolate taste.

Dominican Republic Barahona AA

• Considered as the best coffee bean produced in the Dominican Republic with a fine flavor and fragrance when brewed. Two distinct differences between the Barahona AA coffee beans and the Santiago Bani A is in its shape and flavor.

Jamaica Blue Mountain Mavis Bank Grade 1

• Considered as one of the best and most expensive coffees in the world grown in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica. The coffee has the right acidity (not too much or too less) and gives a pleasant and velvety taste. The coffee plants are grown under the canopy of avocado and banana trees.

Hawaii Kona

• This coffee is grown in the Kona region in Hawaii and is called ‘kope’ in Hawaiian. Coffee plants were first brought to Kone in the early 1800’s from Brazil by a man named Samuel Reverend Ruggles. Kone coffee can be grouped into two types: Type I and Type II. The difference between the two lies in the number of coffee beans found inside each red berry. The Type I coffee berry has two beans inside whereas the Type II has only one bean. The Type I grades are Kona Extra Fancy, Kona Fancy, Kona Number 1, Kona Select, and Kona Prime. The Type 2 grades are Peaberry Number 1 and Peaberry Prime.

South Seas & India

Coffees that fall under this group are:

Papua New Guinea

• The coffee plants are grown in the eastern part of the island and are also referred to as PNG coffees. The Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee seedlings were the first kind to be planted in Papua New Guinea in 1927. The coffee gives a fruity fragrance when brewed and has a smooth flavor.

Sumatra Mandheling Grade 1

• This coffee is grown in the Northern part of Sumatra. It is has a spicy nutty flavor and has a low acidity.

Celebes Kalossi

• Regarded as the finest coffee produced in Indonesia and is grown in the island of Sulawesi (originally known as Celebes). The coffee has a low acidity and gives a spicy taste.

Java Indonesia

• Java coffees has a very low acidity and therefore is usually used as a blend to be mixed with other coffees and not alone. Coffee was introduced to Java in the late 1600’s.

India Monsoon Malabar (dry processed)

• The unwashed coffee beans, once it has been dried, are laid out on rooftops or open storehouses during the monsoon season in order to lower its acidity. The coffee beans have a spicy flavor and are light brown in color.

South America

Coffees that fall under this group are:

Colombia Supremo

• The coffee beans are much bigger when compared to other coffee beans produced in Colombia, has a slight acidity and gives a light aroma.

Colombia Excelso

• This coffee is made from a combination of Colombia Supremo coffee beans and various different low grades. It has a mild acidity and gives a nutty taste.

Brazil Santos

• The round shaped coffee beans have a slight acidity to it and a mild nutty flavor. The coffee bean is dried inside its fruit during the production process.

Decaffeinated Coffee

Coffees that fall under this group are:

Swiss Water Process

• This process removes as much as 99% of caffeine in the coffee beans. The raw coffee beans are infused in boiling water to remove the caffeine. The coffe beans are separated from the liquid and set aside. The liquid is then passed through a filter made of carbon. The filtered liquid is added back to the coffee beans. The beans are then dried.

Sumatra Mandheling Decaf

• The coffee has a low acidity and gives a spicy flavor. The coffee has a unique past as the plants were nearly wiped out in the late 1800’s due to a plant disease and political unrest. It was only a century later the coffee was rediscovered and grown in the Mandheling region of Sumatra. The Mountain Water Process is the method used to remove the caffeine in the Sumatra Mandheling Decaf.

Regular Decaffeinated using Methylene Chloride

• Methylene Chloride is a colorless chemical solvent used to remove the caffeine in coffee. First the coffee beans are steamed. Then methylene chloride is spread on the beans which removes the caffeine. The coffee beans are steamed again to get rid of the methylene chloride and then dried. Methylene Choride is used to decaffeinate coffee because the damage done to the flavor of the coffee bean is minimal during the decaffeinating process.

Africa

Coffees that fall under this group are:

Kenya AA

• The Kenya AA coffee is a grade of coffee grown in Kenya. It has a sweet fruity taste to it.

Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

• The Ethiopia Yirgacheffe is one of the best coffees grown in Ethiopia and gives out a florid aroma and has a sweet, chocolate nutty taste to it.

Ethiopia Harrar Longberry

• The Ethiopia Harrar Longberry is a long shaped coffee bean grown in the remote highlands of Harrar. Farmers transport their coffee on donkeys because of the lack of roadways which gives limited access to vehicles. The coffee beans are plucked and crushed by hand and dried under the sun.

Ethiopia Djimmah

• The Ethiopia Djimmah can give two different tastes depending on how it’s processed. When the coffee is processed using the wet process method, the coffee will give a low acidity flavor but when processed using the dry process method, it will give an unpleasant taste similar to pharmaceuticals.

Yemen Mocha Matari

• Mocha is a famous coffee produced in Yemen. The raw coffee bean comes from the genus Coffea Arabica and is shaped smaller and rounder than other types of coffee beans. The coffee got the name Mocha from the harbor town Al-Makha situated along the coastal area of Yemen along the Red Sea. This port was also the first to ship out Mocha coffee to the rest of the world but stopped because of a sandbar which prevented the use of the harbor.
• A fresh Mocha coffee bean is green but loses its greenish color and turns brown to dark brown when dried. The coffee bean and the skin of the fruit (which covers the bean) are dried together by laying it out on roof tops under the sun. A millstone is used to separate the coffee beans from the withered fruit skins. The dried-up skins are not thrown away but soaked in hot water with spices and made into a drink called qishr. Mocha coffee when brewed is not confined to one taste as most coffees are. Instead it can give a sharp spicy taste to a nutty, malt or fruity flavor.
• Matari is another popular coffee bean grown in Yemen. It’s also the most acidity and aromatic of all the Yemenis coffees produced.

Tanzania AA Peaberry

• The Tanzania AA Peaberry coffee is a similar grade to the Kenya AA and mostly grown in Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru by the wet process method. The coffee has an equivalent acidity as the coffees produced in Africa and the Middle East.

How to Brew Coffee:

If you are using roasted coffee beans, it’s always best to buy freshly roasted ones if you want to enjoy a tasty cup of coffee. When buying fresh roasted coffee beans, keep in mind the type of grinder and the size of the grind you choose will have an impact on its taste. It’s recommended to use a burr grinder or a mill grinder to grind coffee beans. By using such grinders your coffee will not be too fine (which gives a bitter taste) or too coarse (which gives a flat taste).

Add 1-2 tablespoons of coffee to water which has a temperature of 195 - 205 degrees Fahrenheit if you are using a brewer to brew your coffee. If you are using a kettle to heat the water, make sure to wait for a minute after the water is boiled before pouring it into the ground coffee.

Benefits of Coffee

Trimethylxanthine (also known as caffeine) is responsible for the energizing effect one gets after drinking coffee. In addition, studies conducted on coffee have revealed people who consume this drink are at a less risk of getting cancer, cholesterol, gallstones, Type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

© 2011 Suranee Perera