| By The history of coffee is long and varied, full of | | | | sprouting up in England, and became the place for |
| intrigue and excitement. There are a couple of | | | | both learned and the general population to gather. |
| different legends about how coffee was discovered. | | | | They were dubbed penny universities, since |
| One says that a shepherd discovered coffee after | | | | everyone talked over their cups of coffee, which |
| observing his sheep getting very active after eating | | | | each cost a penny. In 1674, the British "Women's |
| the berries off of certain plants. He tried them, and | | | | Petition Against Coffee" was published, declaring that |
| felt the same boost of energy. The story goes that | | | | coffee was depriving them of their husbands and |
| a passing monk observed this, and scolded the | | | | causing impotence. The Dutch are responsible for |
| shepherd for eating of the "devil's fruit." The monks | | | | smuggling coffee out of Arabia in 1690, and |
| soon found out, however, that the berries would help | | | | introducing it to Java and Ceylon. They became the |
| them remain awake during prayers. Another legend | | | | first people to cultivate coffee commercially, thus |
| tells the tale of an Arab, banished to the desert with | | | | creating what would become the world's largest |
| his followers. Facing starvation, they boiled and ate | | | | agricultural commodity. In 1713, the Dutch unwittingly |
| the berries of a plant they stumbled across. The | | | | gave King Louis XIV of France a coffee plant. In |
| broth saved the starving exiles, and the nearby | | | | 1723, a French naval officer stole a cutting, taking it |
| town, Mocha, took it as a sign from above. They | | | | all the way to Martinique. In fifty years, Martinique |
| called the plant and its drink Mocha, in honor of the | | | | was growing over 19 million coffee trees. In 1727, |
| town. A short history of coffee is as follows... The | | | | Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Melo Palheta visited |
| coffee plant, Coffea arabica, is native to Ethiopia. | | | | French Guiana, to settle a dispute between the |
| Ancient Ethiopians used the coffee beans rolled in | | | | French and the Dutch. He and the Governor's wife |
| animal fat as food. From Ethiopia, coffee made its | | | | became involved, and although the French took great |
| way to Yemen, where it was first brewed into a | | | | care to control its coffee plantations in the New |
| beverage. Once coffee was transported to Arabia, | | | | World, he slipped off with seeds and cuttings when |
| however, it was monopolized by the Arabs, who | | | | he left. His paramour sent him on his way with a |
| forbade the seeds to be exported. Once seeds were | | | | bouquet of flowers... concealing the smuggled coffee |
| smuggled out, however, coffee was spread to India | | | | cuttings. He took them to Brazil, who today is the |
| and Turkey. From there, coffee began to pursue | | | | world's largest coffee producing nation. And so it |
| world domination. By 1600, coffee had been | | | | continued. Coffee became America's patriotic drink |
| discovered by Italian traders. The Pope, urged by his | | | | after the Boston Tea Party. Coffee production has |
| advisors to ban the drink as evil, tasted it, and | | | | grown exponentially. The history of coffee is like no |
| baptized it instead, introducing coffee to the Christian | | | | other... and will probably continue to expand. |
| population. Captain John Smith brought coffee as part | | | | Administrator of Coffee Information a site containing |
| of his supplies to the New World in 1607, and is | | | | information on many, many types of Coffee |
| thought to be the man who introduced coffee to | | | | Information. |
| North America. By 1652, coffee houses started | | | | |