.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Cup of Coffee

We all know coffee, the roasted beans of the coffee plant? Coffee or Coffea. The word "coffee" may have been derived from the Ethiopian "keffa" or the Turkish equivalent found in their word for coffea the word "qahveh." The Arabs still call the beverage "qahwa," meaning "strength."

Name: Unknown

View my complete profile

Coffee beans were chewed raw for centuries in Ethiopia and Yemen. An excavation in the Ethiopian highlands where coffee grows wild indicates human gatherers have been eating coffee berries over a hundred thousand years. The fleshy pulp surrounding the coffee bean in Ethiopian coffee has higher sugar content. Being sweet, being nutritious the seeds, nuts and berries must have been generally eaten by humans some speculate for over a million years.

Ugandans were noticed chewing dried coffee beans when the first explorers from Europe were searching for the origins of the Nile River. Green coffee beans were ground up and mixed with fat to macerate, then made into small balls, which were eaten by travelers on long journeys. Some say this is the first trail mix whereas the raisins.

Stories in the Southern Arabian Peninsula known as Yemen where Europeans first found the coffee plant cultivated seem to support the coffee bean being traded as early as 800 BC. Facts and many stories support trade between Yemen and Ethiopia during this time. Knowing how eating the coffee berry reacts on people, it would be logical that those early traders would attempt to trade for this item. Additionally, evidence does not support the coffee plant growing wild in Yemen but already under cultivation instead. Although, it is possible that a large bird or storm could have carried and deposited the coffee berry that far away, although not likely.

No specific historic event is remembered causing coffee export to Southern Arabia but Ethiopia did invaded Southern Arabia in 525 AD. Some speculated that coffee could have been introduced to the Arabians at this time. Many historians say coffee may have been introduced into Arabia by slave traders who raided Africa in early1000 BC. Snippets which strongly supporting theories that coffee spread very early in the civilized world trade are coffee's affect on the Arabian people's culture, agriculture, Trade practices and old Arabic stories.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Cup of Coffee

Stories you can tell over a single cup of coffee!

E-mail DataLive

The actual discovery of coffee is vague, however most accounts point to a quaint legend of a wee goat and his herder Kaldi during the 1400's. Kaldi noticed his goat acting more lively than usual. Kaldi looked over to see some of his goats chewing on dark shiny green leaved bushes heavy with red berries. Curious, he plucked a few berries for himself and after enjoying many of them, noticed his energy increase substantially. He took the berries to a local holy place where the Holy man boiled the berries in water and produced an aromatic but bitter liquid, which when drunk acted as a stimulant and warded off drowsiness and fatigue. So many stories are now told of Kaldi it gets hard to find the first one.

Cup of Coffee

About Me

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Cup of Coffee

0 Comments: