Coffee Press Cup | A History of Coffee

A History of Coffee

Here at Coffee Press Cup we love coffee, and since you do too, we wanted to share the history of coffee, which is an illustrious and fascinating subject for any coffee drinker. Coffee is first thought to be discovered by the Ethiopians (yes the starving ones your mother told you about) which they found to be a stimulating and energizing substance. However, there is little credible evidence of the plant growing in Ethiopia earlier than the 1600’s, and discovery of coffee is based upon the story of Kaldi, who was a goat herder in the 9th century, who supposedly discovered the substance we know today as coffee. However this story wasn’t printed until 1671 and may in fact have no merit in reality.   The first actual evidence is found in fifteenth century Arabia. There are records that the monks there used coffee, and from there it was spread through to trade to Egypt, Armenia, Persia, Turkey and Africa. Coffee later spread to Italy from which it spread to Europe and the Americas.

The coffee bean is contained in Coffee Berries, the fruit of a few species of a small evergreen bush. There are two common species, Coffea robusta and Coffea arabica with other less popular species grown in nations like Asia and Africa. The seeds get their flavor by varying degrees of roasting, and are then ground and brewed, after being picked and dried and processed, a process which most are familiar with.  Coffee has been important in many societies. It was used in some religious ceremonies in Yemen and Africa, and was eventually banned by those not of the cloth. It was also banned by Turkey in the seventeenth century.

Coffee came to North America around the colonial period, but it was not popular among the colonists at first, at least not garnering the attention that it had procured in Europe. However, coffee became more popular during the Revolutionary War and again after the War of 1812, because the British had closed tea imports temporarily, which gave the new Americans a taste for coffee, and its popularity grew. The Civil War in America secured coffee’s place as the beverage of choice for Americans and is exported by African Countries and out of Central America.

Today, over 50 percent of Americans drink coffee on a regular basis and it is widely available at any grocery store or supermarket. Coffee now comes in a variety of roasts and flavors with speciality coffees like Machiatto, Espresso and Romano available at your local Starbucks and other coffee stores. Many prefer to drink their coffee straight, savoring the bitter flavor while others prefer to drink it with sugar, cream, honey or other additions. All we know, here at Coffee Press Cup is that coffee is one delicious drink, no matter how you prepare it!

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