History And Origin Of Coffee

Coffee is one of the widely consumed brewed drinks in the whole world. For most people, it’s impossible to start a day without a cup of coffee. After tea, coffee is the world’s second most consumed beverage. It helps us to be vigorous, calm, and active all day long. It is an essential part of our day, and there is no doubt about it. For most people, their entire day will be ruined without a cup of coffee.

According to NUST University, 60% of coffee is consumed by office-going people, 30% of coffee is consumed by entrepreneurs, and 10% by ordinary people. Today, in the world, there are more than 2,25 billion cups of coffee consumed. In developing countries, over 90 percent of coffee production is carried out mostly in South America. Consumption occurs mainly in industrialized economies. Let’s take a brief look at why you should use coffee in your morning routine and know the importance of this awesome hot beverage. So let’s get into it!

Why Should You Take Coffee in the Morning?

Coffee contains caffeine which keeps our brain active and energized. Caffeine is a type of drug known as a stimulant. It shuts down the lazy portion of our brain. Caffeine increases the pressure of Adenosine Triphosphate chemical in our prefrontal cortex. This chemical compound is responsible for providing energy to our brain. The prefrontal cortex helps us to keep active and energized.

Caffeine boost Adenosine-Triphosphate chemical for a short time inside of our brain. In one kilo of coffee beans, 20 grams of caffeine is present. For better understanding, one cup of tea contains 20 mg of caffeine which is enough to make you energetic for at least 8 hours. In the morning, brewing coffee by hand is the most boring task of your whole life, and of course, you don’t have that much time for this boring task. In that case, you can use coffee makers to brew and make coffee without human effort.

History and Origin Of Coffee

It’s the nature of humans, that we want to take a look back into the history of that product that we like or use the most in our daily life. Therefore, if you’re also a true coffee lover, then you might think about its history and the origin of the coffee that you use in your morning to make your day energetic. That’s why in this article, we’ve specifically written a complete history and origin of the coffee for our readers!

Discovery of Coffee

One day in the area of the Ethiopian plateau, a goat herder known as Kaldi was herding his goats on a large ground. Suddenly, his goats began jumping and almost seemed like they were dancing and started shouting from nowhere. That sudden change in the behavior of goats was a really strange thing for the Kaldi. According to some research and books, Kaldi found that it was, due to the red-colored cherry-shaped shrubs that he gave to his goats, was the reason for that strange behavior.

The Kaldi decided to feed his goats the same food again. Luckily, the goats again started that strange dancing behavior after eating the cherries. He finally decided to eat and try the same red cherries by himself to understand the reason for the behavior of his goats.

Guess what? Kaldi also felt the same feeling. According to researchers and books, he told the people that those red cherries gave him boundless energy. He said that the cherries left him energized enough, that he could not even fall asleep at night properly.

Sharing of Kaldi’s discovery!

For the verification and the authentication, Kaldi kept eating the red cherries for a week, and every time he eats the cherries, he feels the same energizing effect in his mind. He finally decided to share that discovery with a local monastery. The monastery didn’t pay any attention to his discovery and eventually, for his troll, they threw the beans into the fire.

As soon as the cherries started burning in the fire, they started giving a beautiful aroma. The monastery people found it interesting and unique, they eventually looked into it and started investigating the cherries.

The monks then tried to mix the cherries with water. Unfortunately, the cherries didn’t dissolve in it. It was just like trying to dissolve the walnut with water. One of them realized that there was something inside the cherry. He braked the shell and he found a small bean-shaped thing, that was the coffee bean.

The monks then tried to break some more shells and mix that internal beans with water. Luckily, the beans successfully got dissolved. They tried that bean-mixed water, and they were surprised to see that the beverage gave them the same energy, vigor, and activeness that it gave to Kaldi and his goats.

They also realized that the beverage had energized them enough that most of the people who tried, couldn’t sleep properly at night. The beverage left them energized enough, that they could stay awake and alert for a very long time without any mental stress. Those monks passed this discovery to other neighboring monks, and there the journey of the coffee began.

The Real Origin of Coffee

The above-mentioned proves that Ethiopia is the origin of coffee. Ethiopia was the first country that discovered real coffee and gave the idea of dissolving that beans into the water, using it as a beverage.

Moreover, it was the first country that gave the concept of drinking this beverage hot. Today, Ethiopia is the world’s biggest producer of coffee. Their 70% of the GDP and export is based on coffee beans because the coffee beans and the quality that you get from there are awesome! Harrar, Sidamo, and Ghimbi are the three main regions of Ethiopia where most of the coffee is grown.

The Arrival of the Coffee in the Arabian Peninsula

Some of the monks of Ethiopia were natively from Arab countries. They were also present at the discovery of Coffee beans. Coffee cultivation and its growth in the Arab began when those Arabian monks moved to their home countries. They started the cultivation of coffee beans in the 15th century, and most of the beans were being exported from Egypt, Syria, and other African countries.

In the old years, coffee was served in the majority of bars. People started to love this hot drink, and at that time it was consumed by sophisticated people. After a few years, coffee became so popular that people started separate bars and restaurants where coffee was served exclusively, which was known as “qahveh khaneh” or Coffeehouse, and it became popular all over the Arabian countries.

The “qahveh khaneh” became the place of gatherings for many social and business reasons. Not only that it was used as a hot beverage for energizing, but it also became an iconic drink during the business, social and friends gatherings. It’s also used to serve while playing games such as chess and cards, known as “Schools of the wise” in most Arabian countries. Visiting the holy city of Mecca, people named coffee the Wine of Arabians.

The Arrival of Coffee in Europe

European travelers in Arab countries (most of them visiting Mecca) brought that discovery of the hot black beverage to Europe. People and the Government of European countries at first didn’t notice their stories, but after some time, when those travelers cultivated their coffee beans, they started loving it.

However, some people in Europe gave a negative reaction to this drink and even some of them named it a “bitter invention of Satan”. In most of the countries of Europe, the government even condemned coffee. Pope Clement VIII intervened in this argument. He decided to taste coffee before making any decisions about it and found the drink to be 100% safe for humans and could be used as a casual or regular hot drink for breakfast. Therefore, he gave the coffee a green approval. By the 17th century, the governments officially allowed the cultivation and selling of coffee in Europe.

After a few years, coffee replaced the common alcoholic drinks that were used in breakfasts like wine and beer. Yes, we know that you’ll be amazed to hear that the alcohol was served for breakfast, but the people indeed used it. The people who used coffee instead noticed an extreme amount of energy. That helped them to stay active and energized all day long, and their focus on work was also improved.

In the mid 17th century, almost 5000 coffee shops were opened in Europe. It became the most popular and the highest drinking beverage in the whole of Europe till the starting of the 18th century.

The Arrival of the Coffee in the Whole World

After the success in Europe, Ethiopia, and Arabic countries, the coffee beans were brought to New York. Coffee was something extremely new for Americans. Unbelievably, they loved it so much that it spread all over the USA within 2 to 3 years. People in the USA also started coffee cultivation and importing from Arabians and Ethiopia to fulfill the demand. From there, it became clear that it will be among the most popular drinks of all time.

That’s how coffee became popular all over the western area. If we talk about the eastern or Asian side, it starts from the East India Company which was a trading company of Britain. The East India Company came to India for trading. And their main objective was to participate in the spice trade. The British traders from the East India Company firstly introduced coffee on the eastern side of the Hindu and Muslim subcontinent (currently the land of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). The traders from China and Japan introduced this beverage in their native countries. After a few years, it became popular all over Asia and that’s how coffee spread all over the world.