The story of how coffee cultivation and consumption spread around the world is one of the most intriguing and romantic tales one could imagine. It begins in the Horn of Africa, in Ethiopia, where the coffee plant probably originated in the province of Kaffa. There are several imaginative but unlikely stories about how the attributes of roasted coffee beans were discovered. One tale recounts that an Ethiopian goat herder was astonished by the lively behavior of his goats after they had chewed on red coffee cherries. What is more certain is that slaves transported from what is now Sudan to Yemen and Arabia through the great port of Mocha—now synonymous with coffee—ate the succulent fleshy part of the coffee cherry. It is undeniable that coffee was cultivated in Yemen as early as the 15th century and probably much earlier.
Mocha was also the main port on the only sea route to Mecca, the busiest place in the world at that time. However, the Arabs had a strict policy of not exporting fertile coffee beans to prevent cultivation elsewhere. The coffee bean is the seed of the coffee plant, but when the outer layers are removed, it becomes infertile. Many attempts were made to transport coffee plants or fertile beans, but the Dutch eventually succeeded in 1616, managing to bring some to Holland where they were cultivated in greenhouses.
Initially, the authorities in Yemen greatly encouraged coffee consumption, as its effects were considered preferable to the stronger “Kat,” a shrub whose leaves and shoots were chewed as a stimulant. The first coffee houses, known as “kaveh kanes,” opened in Mecca. This type of establishment quickly spread throughout the Arab world, and coffeehouses became popular places where people played chess, exchanged gossip, and enjoyed singing, dancing, and music. The establishments were luxuriously decorated, each with its own character. There had been nothing like a coffeehouse before: a place where one could socialize and conduct business in a comfortable setting, accessible to everyone for the price of a coffee.
Arab coffeehouses soon became centers of political activity and were suppressed. Over the following decades, coffee and coffeehouses were banned several times but continued to reappear. Eventually, a solution was found: coffee and coffeehouses had to pay taxes.
COFFEE ARRIVES IN ASIA
The Dutch also began cultivating coffee in Malabar, India, and in 1699 brought some to Batavia, Java, now Indonesia. A few years later, the Dutch colonies had become the main source of coffee supply to Europe. Today, Indonesia is the fourth-largest coffee exporter in the world.
COFFEE ARRIVES IN EUROPE
Venetian merchants were the first to bring coffee to Europe in 1615. This was the same period when the other two major hot drinks appeared in Europe: first, hot chocolate, brought by the Spanish from the Americas to Spain in 1528; and second, tea, which was sold for the first time in Europe in 1610.
Initially, coffee was sold mainly by lemonade vendors and was believed to have medicinal qualities. The first coffeehouse in Europe opened in Venice in 1683, and it was the famous Caffè Florian, which opened its doors in 1720 and is still open to the public today.
The world’s largest insurance market, Lloyd’s of London, began as a coffeehouse. The business started in 1688 by Edward Lloyd, who prepared lists of ships that his clients had insured.
COFFEE ARRIVES IN THE AMERICAS
The first reference to coffee being consumed in North America dates back to 1668, and soon after, coffeehouses opened in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and a few other cities. The Boston Tea Party of 1773 was planned in a coffeehouse, the Green Dragon. Both the New York Stock Exchange and the Bank of New York started in coffeehouses, in what is now the financial district of Wall Street.
It was in the 1720s that coffee was first cultivated in the Americas, thanks to perhaps the most fascinating and romantic tale in coffee history. Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu was a French naval officer stationed in Martinique who, in 1720, traveled to Paris on leave. With some help and no small amount of personal charm, he acquired a coffee plant and brought it back with him on the sea voyage. The coffee plant was kept in a glass box and placed on deck to keep it warm and protect it from the salty water. The journey was filled with incidents, or at least that’s how Mathieu de Clieu recounted it in his diary: Tunisian pirates chased the ship, there was a severe storm, and the coffee plant had to be secured. Our hero had to deal with an envious enemy on board who tried to sabotage the plant, leading to a violent altercation in which one of its branches broke, but the coffee plant survived it all.
After these incidents, the ship was becalmed and drinking water was rationed. For De Clieu, it was clear what was most important, and he gave most of his share of water to the coffee plant. The coffee plant survived, and so did he.
Finally, the ship arrived in Martinique, and the coffee plant was replanted in Preebear, where it was surrounded by a thorn hedge and cared for by slaves. The coffee plant grew, multiplied, and by 1726, the first harvest was made. Records show that by 1777 there were between 18 and 19 million coffee plants in Martinique. The model for a new commercial crop had been established in the New World.
However, it was the Dutch who first began propagating the coffee plant in Central and South America, where it now reigns supreme as the continent’s main commercial crop. Coffee first arrived in the Dutch colony of Suriname in 1718, and then coffee plantations were established in French Guiana and Pará, Brazil. By 1730, the British had introduced coffee to Jamaica, where today the most famous and expensive coffee in the world is grown, in the Blue Mountains. By 1825, Central and South America were on their way to becoming coffee destinations. This date is also significant as it was when coffee was first planted in Hawaii, which produces the only American coffee and one of the best.
COFFEE TODAY
For Americans, the world’s largest coffee consumers, Seattle is the new spiritual home of coffee. The rainiest city among the major U.S. cities gave birth, in the 1970s, to a coffee culture or “Latte” that spread across the United States and dramatically improved the overall quality of coffee consumed by Americans. Today, any public place in the United States will have one or more coffee stands offering a variety of coffees, beverages, and snacks.
This newly discovered “coffee culture” has started to spread to the rest of the world. In countries with a long-standing coffee tradition, such as Italy, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries, it has added new converts to the pleasures of fine coffee. Today, good coffee can be found in any major city in the world, from London to Sydney and Tokyo; tomorrow, more coffee will be consumed worldwide, and, more importantly, better coffee.
COFFEE IS A GLOBAL STAPLE
The importance of coffee in the global economy cannot be overstated. Coffee is one of the most valuable primary commodities, second only to oil for many years as a source of foreign exchange for developing countries. The cultivation, processing, trading, transport, and marketing of coffee provide employment for millions of people worldwide. Coffee has crucial importance for the economy and politics of many developing countries. For many of the world’s least developed countries, coffee exports represent a substantial part of their foreign exchange earnings, in some cases over 80%. Coffee is a staple commodity traded on major commodity and futures markets, particularly in London and New York.
Source: https://www.ico.org/ES/coffee_storyc.asp