The Fascinating History of Coffee

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The story of coffee is one filled with twists, turns, politics, adventures, ancient rituals and religious baptism (yes, that’s right, baptisms). Yet, they were sacrifices that you were willing to make in order to enjoy your cup of coffee, eh?

Though not yet certain, it is believed that coffee’s true roots point to Caffa Ethiopia. The discovery came from a sheep herder named Kaldi. One early evening, while rounding up his flock Kaldi noticed that something was wrong with one of his sheep. The odd part centered on the fact that this was Kaldi’s most well-behaved sheep. The sheep wouldn’t follow Kaldi’s orders. It was energetic and focused on continuing to graze the grass.

After investigating, Kaldi was stunned. “There’s blood all over you.” But the sheep didn’t appear to be injured at all. “Wait, that’s not blood, but what is it?” Nearby, he had the answer, red cherries–which we now know is coffee.

Intrigued, Kaldi downed a handful of these “red cherries.” In turn, he became hyper. Hyper enough to try and sell the idea of coffee to all the people in his village. Some met him with uneasy smiles, most met him with indifference and the village monks met him with strong disapproval–that is–until they tried some themselves. After experiencing the coffee kick, the monks were literally up all night praying. Why wouldn’t God want one to enjoy coffee?

After years of consumption, the natives of Kaldi’s village quickly learned the ins-and-outs of preparation. The use of coffee back then was no joke–it was used for war. Before leaving on long battles, men would wrap coffee beans in animal fat. In a battle’s most crucial moment, the coffee bean would be consumed. Back then, it was baseball’s equivalent to performance enhancing drugs.

This secret boost was kept sacred until commercialization reared its ugly head. The Arabians took the coffee plant from such villages and proceeded to establish a coffee monopoly. With more exposure also came more ways in which cofee was prepared. In 1453, the Turks discovered that when brewed, coffee gives off a nice aroma. Not only that, it tastes good, too. After people’s tastes for coffee were established, the first coffee shop was opened: Kiva Han. Humorously, this also gave rise to a law in which a man must provide his wife with enough coffee to last her throughout the day. It was like our recent law about wearing a blue-tooth headset. It was absurd that it was forced on us, however it kind of made sense, plus the bluetooth makers cashed out. This was the same deal for the coffee industry. And it would only get bigger.

Around 20 years later, amidst the growing surge of coffee, the governor of Mecca, Khair Beg, campaigned to banish coffee due to its influence. He felt it may give rise to anarchy within his rule. The Sultan of Arabia didn’t share his view. At all. In fact, he had the governor killed because he felt coffee was not only a core component of their economy, he felt coffee was sacred–sent by the gods. For years, the coffee plant was Arabia’s core product. However, this monopoly could only last so long. In an amazing tale of adventure and espionage, a man named Baba Budan infilitrated Arabia’s cash cow and smuggled coffee beens to his homeland: Mysore, India. Even to this day, coffee is grown in Mysore, and Baba is still highly revered.

After nearly a hundred years, word of coffee trickled its way down to The Catholic Church. It was now time for The Vatican to address coffee and whether it was good, or if it was the devil! (like fooseball). Pope Vincent III took on this task of evaluating coffee. Turns out, that’s pretty much all we know about Pope Vincent III. “Drink only a small amount, your grace,” warned Pope Vincent’s servant. “Coffee is the devil’s drink.” Upon sipping the coffee, Pope Vincent exclaimed that it was so delicious, not only would he declare the Christians should drink coffee, he baptized the coffee on the spot.

Shortly thereafter, John Smith traveled to America to found his first colony of Virginia at Jamestown. Guess what he brought with him? Coffee. Soon after that, the first coffeehouse opened in Italy. This then filtered throughout Europe–with coffeehouses opening up quite frequently. The popularity of coffee sky-rocketed. In New York City, coffee quickly became a favorite drink upon everyone.

Ever heard of Lloyd’s of London? It’s the most acclaimed and profitable insurance companies in history. Around this time, Lloyd’s of Lond gained popularity. However, it started as a coffee shop. Yes, that’s correct, a coffee shop. Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse was so popular, it attracted so many regulars that it was the epicenter of the town, and over time, it took on the business of selling insurance. Why? Because through gathering for coffee, it understood the needs of the local people–the need for quality insurance.

When the power and profit of coffee suddenly became clear, the Dutch smuggled coffee out of Arabia and duplicated the cash cow established by Arabia. After observing this craze, French naval officer Gabriel Mathieu do Clieu saw his opportunity, stole a coffee plant and shipped it to Martinique. This plant would turn out to compose the most sought after coffee crop, serving 90% of the worlds coffee.

In Brazil, Colonel Francisco de Melo Palheta went on a voyage to mitigate a border dispute between the French and Dutch colonies in Guyana. While there, he had an affair with the wife of the French Guyana. Upon departure, he was secretly given bouquet by his mistress. In the bouquet sat hidden coffee seeds–these seeds drove the Brazilian coffee farms for years to come.

Meanwhile the Americans were throwing coffee and tea overboard afoot a revolution. You may know this as The Boston Tea Party.

Moving forward a hundred years, coffee’s biggest moment came during the roaring 1920′s in the U.S. during prohibition. Coffee sales went through the roof. When World War II arose, soldiers were issued rations of coffee to keep them alert. In fact, 70% of the world’s coffee was imported for the United States citizens and soldiers.

In Italy, they were nurturing the power of coffee, as well. An Italian named Achilles Gaggia invented the espresso machine. In turn he named the Cappuccino after realizing that it mirrored robes of monks in the Capuchin order.

The love of coffee continued with niche coffee shops opening and doing very well. That is, until Starbucks hit a home run in 1971 with their first coffeehouse in Seattle’s Pike Place public market. In less than thirty years, coffee became the power that you know today.