History of Coffee
There are almost as many legends about how coffee was discovered as there are varieties of coffee. The most common is about an Abyssinian goatherd who found that his goats were very lively because they had been nibbling the red berries on some nearby bushes.
Since coffee is believed to have originated in Ethiopia it is more likely that it was first used there by wandering tribesman. Of course, they didn’t have cappucinos and lattes – they probably ate the berries whole, or crushed them, mixed them with animal fats and rolled them into balls of food. Later on they used water to make a broth with the coffee.
It wasn’t until about the 13th century that roasting and grinding the beans to make an infusion had become popular in Arabia. By about the 15th century coffee was growing in Persia, Egypt, Turkey and North Africa. Coffee houses began springing up as the drink gained popularity. The Dutch were growing coffee in Java and the French were doing the same in the Caribbean by the 18th century. The Brazil coffee industry owes its origins to some “undercover” work by a Brazilian spy who obtained coffee seeds from the wife of the Governor of French Guyana.
Growing Coffee
Coffee requires a warm climate with abundant rainfall. It grows mainly between 30°S and 25°N of the equator. In the wild the plant will grow to 7m in height. It resembles a camelia bush with dark, glossy pointed leaves. Its flowers resemble jasmine and are white, delicate and highly scented.
While it takes from 3 to 5 years for the bush to produce fruit, once it is mature, it will produce fruit several times a year. In most locations, the fruit does not ripen at the same time so it is usually not possible to harvest it by mechanical means. The exception appears to be Brazil where the fruit does ripen simultaneously due to the climate.
Each tree or bush produces around 2000 “cherries” a year and these take from 6 to 8 months to ripen. Inside each cherry is a pair of coffee beans. The beans are separated from the pulp and skin by either the “wet” or “dry” method.
The dry method of separating the coffee beans is the oldest and simplest method. The cherries are spread out in the sun and dried for 2 or 3 weeks being frequently raked or turned to ensure they dry evenly. When they are completely dry they are hulled by machine.
The wet method is used in high rainfall areas and for hand-picked beans. This method involves pulping the cherries to remove the outer layer and then soaking the beans and leaving them to ferment for 1 or 2 days. The beans are then washed and dried and hulled by machine.
The yield from 2000 cherries is 500 grams of coffee. When you think about this and how many cups of coffee are drunk each day around the world, it’s a wonder that coffee isn’t a lot more expensive than it is.
