The Coffee Story of Napoleon and St. Helena Island

Napoleon is said to know how to enjoy the people, he likes to war with a special carriage, carrying his favorite Chambertin wine. He invented the brewing method of brandy coffee (i.e. royal coffee), carried a Turkish bean grinder with him, and paid special attention to the quality of life after war. After his defeat, he was imprisoned on St. Helena Island, and coffee was almost his only consolation after the wine was no longer available daily. "Coffee is the only good thing about St. Helena." These words, though not Napoleon's exact words, have survived to this day. Decades before Napoleon's imprisonment on the island and his death, it was fashionable to taste coffee shipped to Paris from St. Helena.

Napoleon was not interested in local coffee because he was bored. Although it had been buried in a long history for more than a century, St. Helena's coffee, under David R.Henry's reopening, had regained world attention at the end of the 20th century. The soil was formed by volcanic eruptions, large bird flocks provide fertile bird droppings, and the arabica variety of round beans is well-known, which makes st. helena a great coffee potential even though it is not grown at high altitudes.