American Coffee Culture Coffee History: Deckley and His Royal Coffee Seedling

The Coffee Seedling of Deckley, the ancestor of Coffee in Central America and the Caribbean

Central and South America is now the most important coffee producing area in the world, accounting for more than half of the coffee beans consumed in the world.

When it comes to the ancestor of Central and South American coffee, we have to mention an island-Martinique, martinique, and a soldier-Deckley, GabrielMathieudeClieu.

In 1723, de Klee, a French naval officer who returned home on leave, got a coffee seedling. Deckley eventually planted the coffee seedling on the island of Martinique, where he served. In 1726, coffee was first harvested in Martinique.

Later, this coffee tree, which came all the way from France, became the ancestor of coffee in the Caribbean and Central America.

Guess 1: where does Dirkley's beloved coffee seedling come from?

In 1714, the Dutch government gave coffee seedlings from its own colony, Java, to the then King of France, Louis XIV, LouisXIV.

Louis XIV planted the gift in his own Royal Botanical Garden, the now famous Paris Botanical Garden, Paris'sJardindesPlantes (RoyalBotanicalGarden).

The Paris Botanical Garden, located on the banks of the Seine in Paris, near Notre Dame, was built in 1626 by the then French King Louis XIII (LouisXIII,1610-1643). It was originally a royal herb garden and opened to the public in 1640. Louis XIV era, after about 50 years of expansion, became a famous botanical garden in Europe, collecting and planting strange flowers and plants from all over the world.

Dirkley's coffee seedlings, so your hometown in France is here.

Conjecture 2: why would a small coffee seedling be given as a national gift?

It is probably that scarcity is more precious.

In those days, how hard it took the Dutch to get coffee seedlings from the Arabs. In the history of coffee, the Dutch were recorded for breaking the coffee monopoly.

The gift of coffee seedlings is about the same as when giant pandas go abroad.

Guess 3: why would coffee seedlings be given to Louis XIV?

Louis XIV, known as the "Sun King", was born in 1638 and succeeded as King of France in 1643 until his death in 1715. He reigned for 72 years, making him the longest reigning monarch in the world since accurate records. During his reign, France became the most powerful country in Europe and replaced Italy as the cultural center of Europe, making French the lingua franca of European diplomacy and upper-class society in the 17th and 18th centuries. During his reign, Versailles was built, which is called the five largest palaces in the world with the Imperial Palace in Beijing, the White House in the United States, the Kremlin in Russia and Buckingham Palace in England.

Rare coffee seedlings are given to the mighty king of France.