| Coffee is one of the most popular beverages | | | | Europeans liked it so much that they wanted a |
| in the world. The word coffee is believed to | | | | constant supply of the beans. And later, it |
| have been deduced from Kaffa, a place | | | | was the Dutch who set up the first |
| situated in Ethiopia, Africa, It came into | | | | European-owned coffee plantation in colonial |
| existence around 800 A.D. and there are many | | | | Java in 1616. The Dutch were, however, not as |
| legends and stories associated with | | | | cautious as the Arabians and they gifted |
| discovery. | | | | coffee trees to the aristocracy all over |
| | | | Europe. Louis XIV was presented one such |
| One such interesting story goes like this. | | | | coffee tree in 1714, for his garden in Paris. |
| One day a monk saw a goatherd imitating his | | | | |
| sheep who were dancing from one shrub to | | | | The coffee tree finally crossed the Atlantic |
| another, grazing the cherry-red berries | | | | with Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu, a retired |
| containing coffee beans. The monk was amazed | | | | French naval officer. He smuggled a sprout |
| at the goatherd's caper on eating the beans. | | | | with him to Martinique, a French Colony in |
| The monk took some of the berries for his | | | | the Caribbean after he was denied a clipping |
| fellow monks and that night they realized | | | | of the tree. Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu guarded |
| that they seemed to attain something that | | | | the plant religiously. When the ship got |
| they felt was 'divine stimulation'. | | | | caught in a storm de Clieu nurtured the pant |
| | | | with half of the water that he was rationed. |
| Other than the legends and stories there is | | | | Ultimately, the sprout flourished in |
| also historical evidence about how the | | | | Martinique and in the next 50 years more than |
| Africans of the same era used the coffee | | | | 18 million coffee trees were grown there. |
| plant in different ways. Africans used what | | | | |
| can be called primitive 'Power Bars' made of | | | | By 1727, Brazil had realized the potential of |
| coffee and animal fat as a stimulant. They | | | | the plant and wanted a share in the coffee |
| also made wine from the coffee-berry pulp. | | | | pie. Unable to get the plant through fair |
| From Africa, coffee moved out towards Arabia | | | | means, they dispatched Lt. Col. Francisco de |
| via the Red Sea and then slowly made its way | | | | Melo Palheta, allegedly to mediate in a |
| to the rest of the world. | | | | border dispute, to French Guiana. Avoiding |
| | | | the heavily guarded coffee plantations, he |
| Coffee, as we know it today came into | | | | chose to take the easy route of befriending |
| existence around 1000 A.D. and this is when | | | | the governor's wife who slyly presented him a |
| it was first roasted and brewed. By the 13th | | | | bouquet spiked with coffee seedlings on his |
| Century, coffee became popular with the | | | | farewell dinner. Coffee had now entered |
| Muslim holy men who found it a very | | | | Brazil, a land of extremely fertile farms. |
| convenient drink it to keep worshippers awake | | | | |
| and send them in a tizzy. Then onwards, | | | | From 800 A.D. in Africa to 1727 in Brazil, |
| coffee traveled with the Muslims. Wherever | | | | the coffee plant had traveled through Middle |
| Islam went, coffee traveled along. However, | | | | East, South East and Europe and then to South |
| Arabians were cautious and did not want to | | | | America. Production of coffee reached |
| share the plant with the world. They made | | | | dizzying heights due to the enormous harvests |
| sure that no coffee bean sprouted outside | | | | of Brazil's fertile lands. This boom in |
| Arabia and coffee beans were boiled or | | | | production, apart from anything else, was |
| parched to make them infertile before taking | | | | instrumental in turning coffee, an elitist |
| out of Arabia. | | | | drink till then, into a drink of the masses. |
| | | | |
| An enterprising Indian pilgrim cum smuggler, | | | | Initially considered as a poor substitute for |
| Baba Budan, strapped some fertile coffee | | | | alcohol by the American colonists, its |
| beans to his stomach and left Mecca. These | | | | popularity grew when tea from Britain became |
| beans were ultimately responsible for the | | | | scarce during the Revolutionary War. During |
| agricultural expansion of coffee, which later | | | | and after the American Civil War, coffee had |
| reached Europe's colonies in the East. | | | | gained a premier position and was being |
| | | | increasingly accepted. Later, advancement in |
| From these colonies, coffee was traded by a | | | | brewing technology ultimately secured its |
| Venice merchant who took it to Europe. The | | | | place as an everyday beverage of America. |