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