History of Coffee Culture the spread and Development of Coffee

European historians argue that coffee trees were cultivated for trade in Yemen in southern Arabia as early as 800 years ago, and there is historical evidence that trade did occur between Yemen and Ethiopia across the Red Sea at that time.

It is assumed that coffee was introduced into Arabia and widely cultivated in Yemen during this period, if its use was discovered by Ethiopians.

Even so, there is a myth circulating in Arabia that "coffee began to grow in Yemen when a flock of large birds flew over the Red Sea with ripe coffee fruits in their mouths and dropped them in Yemen."

Mythology is impossible to verify, and there is no historical evidence to prove the exact time and reason why coffee arrived in Arabia, but one thing is certain: Ethiopia did invade the southern tip of Arabia in 525 and ruled Yemen for half a century.

Therefore, people tend to believe that coffee was introduced into Arabia during this period. For centuries after this, coffee was used as a refreshing, invigorating or healing medicine for Muslims in Arabia, and the method of making coffee became more and more perfect.

It was not until around the 15th century that coffee became widely available among ordinary people as a popular drink. By the end of the sixteenth century, many European travelers had told tales of Arabs drinking "black molasses boiled from black seeds." This confirms that Arabs knew how to roast and cook coffee.

After coffee became a popular drink in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, it was brought home by Muslims who went to Mecca for pilgrimage. It began to spread rapidly in Arab countries and landed in Turkey and Persia one after another.

The widespread acceptance of coffee inevitably led to the birth of coffee houses, which are said to have originated for religious reasons, but soon evolved into places for people to paint and chat, a tradition that continues to this day.

As for where the world's first coffee shop was born, there are two main debates: one is that it was born in Constantinople (today's Istanbul) in the 15th century, where bridge is said to have originated; the other is that it was born in the holy place of Islam in the early 16th century.

But wherever it was born, it meant more than simply providing a place for people to drink coffee and chat.

As the historian Ukes wrote in his most authoritative book, Coffee World,"Whenever coffee is introduced, it fosters revolution." Coffee is the most extreme drink in the world. Caffeine stimulates thinking. When people think, they want to rebel and endanger the tyrant's position."

His famous saying was first confirmed in Mecca. People gathered in Mecca's cafes to discuss politics openly and satirize the authorities. Some of the sarcasm reached the ears of the then young governor of Mecca, Beg, who in anger ordered the closure of all Mecca's cafes in 1511.

Mecca's rulers were not the only ones who hated coffee; coffee shops in Turkey were ordered closed and coffee was outlawed to prevent people from expressing reactionary views while drinking it.

Those caught drinking coffee illegally were beaten, and repeat offenders were sewn into leather bags and thrown into the Bosphorus Strait (today's Istanbul Strait).

Spread and Development of Coffee in America

Coffee was first drunk in North America in 1688, and coffee houses soon appeared in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and other towns.

The Boston riots of 1773 were planned in a cafe called the Green Dragon. Both the New York Stock Exchange and the Bank of New York were founded in coffeehouses, in what is now known as the financial district of Wall Street.

Coffee was first grown in the United States in the 1720s, a process that is perhaps the most fascinating and romantic story in coffee history.

Gabriel was a French naval officer serving on the island of Matiric, and on a business trip to Paris in 1720, with the help of others and a wealth of personal charm, he acquired a coffee tree and brought it back with him on his ship. To keep it warm and protected from salt water, he placed the tree in a glass box on the deck.

The voyage was full of accidents, perhaps at least as described in Gabriel's diary. The ship was attacked by Tunisian pirates and caught in a storm so strong that trees needed to be tied down. Our hero has a fierce fight with an enemy who deliberately hurts the tree out of jealousy. In the fight, a branch is torn off, but the whole tree survives.

The sea finally calmed down, ships stopped, and drinking water began to be distributed regularly. The precious water that Gabriel had obtained with priority was used on the coffee tree, and finally the ship reached Martinique. The tree was replanted on Pribel Island, surrounded by thorn hedges and guarded by slaves.

It began to grow and reproduce, and by 1726 the first harvest had arrived. History records that by 1777 there were 18 to 19 million coffee trees on Martinique, and a cash crop that could be grown in the New World appeared in due course.

But it was the Dutch who really popularized coffee in Central and South America, where coffee is now the dominant continental cash crop.

Coffee first arrived in the Dutch colony of Suriname in 1718, and was subsequently cultivated for the first time in many parts of French Guiana and the Pará region of Brazil.

In 1730, the British introduced coffee to Jamaica, where the Blue Mountains now produce the world's most famous and expensive coffee.

By 1825, South and Central America were already on their way to coffee. Another important aspect of this time is that coffee was first grown in Hawaii at this time, producing the only American coffee and one of the finest.