The history of coffee

Origin

The world's first coffee tree was found in the Horn of Africa. Local indigenous tribes often grind the fruit of coffee and knead it with animal fat to make many ball-shaped balls. These indigenous tribes use these coffee balls as precious food for soldiers who are about to go out to battle.

At that time, people did not understand what it was all about when coffee eaters showed hyperactivity-they did not know that it was caused by the irritation of coffee. Instead, people regarded it as a religious fanaticism shown by coffee eaters. I think this drink is so mysterious that it has become a special product for priests and doctors. There are different legends about the origin of coffee. The most common and popular story is the story of a shepherd. It is said that a shepherd happened to find his sheep jumping when he was herding sheep. If you look closely, it turns out that the sheep behaved strangely after eating a kind of red fruit. He tried to pick some of these red fruits to boil, but the room was full of fragrance, and the juice was even more refreshing and refreshing after drinking it. Since then, this fruit has been used as a refreshing drink and has been well received.

In ancient times, Arabs first dried and boiled coffee beans and drank the juice as stomach medicine, thinking it was helpful to digestion. It was later found that coffee had a refreshing effect, and because Islamic rules forbade believers to drink alcohol, coffee was used instead of alcohol as a refreshing drink. After the 15th century, Muslims who made pilgrimages to the holy land of Mecca gradually brought coffee back to their places of residence, making it gradually spread to Egypt, Syria, Iran and Turkey. The entry of coffee into Europe should be attributed to the Ottoman Empire of Turkey at that time. As the coffee-loving Ottoman army marched westward to Europe and was stationed there for several years, it left a large number of supplies, including coffee beans, when the army finally withdrew. People in Vienna and Paris were able to develop an European coffee culture based on these coffee beans and the cooking experience gained from the Turks. The war was originally occupied and destroyed, but it unexpectedly brought about the exchange and integration of cultures, which was unexpected by the rulers.

Westerners are familiar with coffee with a history of three hundred years, but in the East, coffee has been widely used as a drink in all walks of life in the East. Coffee appeared earliest and most accurately in the 8th century BC, but as early as Homer's works and in many ancient Arab legends, a magical, dark, bitter, and highly stimulating drink has been recorded. Around the 10th century, Avicenna used coffee as a medicine to treat diseases. There is also a strange story from the 5th century in which a Yemeni shepherd saw a group of goats picking reddish berries from a bush. Soon the goats became restless and excited. The shepherd reported the incident to a monk, who cooked some berries and extracted a bitter, energetic drink that drove drowsiness and drowsiness away.

The development

Coffee originated in the highlands of Kafa province in southwestern Ethiopia. It is said that more than a thousand years ago, a shepherd became very excited and lively after discovering that the sheep had eaten a plant, so he discovered coffee. It is also said that due to a wildfire, a coffee forest was destroyed and the smell of barbecue coffee attracted the attention of the surrounding residents. People first chewed the fruit of this plant to refresh themselves, then baked and ground it and mixed it with flour to make bread, which was used as food for warriors to improve their courage to fight. However, these legends are lack of historical documents, and only appear in later travel biographies, so there is no way to prove the real reason for the origin of coffee.

It was not until around the 11th century that people began to use boiled coffee as a drink. In the 13th century, Ethiopian troops invaded Yemen and brought coffee to the Arab world. Because the Islamic doctrine forbids people to drink alcohol, some religious people think that this kind of drink stimulates the nerves and violates the doctrine. Coffee shops were banned and closed for a time, but the Egyptian sultan thought that coffee was not against the doctrine, so the ban was lifted. Coffee drinks quickly became popular in the Arab region. The word coffee Coffee, which comes from the Arabic Qahwa, which means "plant drink", later spread to Turkey and became the source of the word in European languages.

However, before the 15th century, coffee had long been monopolized by the Arab world and spread only among Muslim countries; at that time, it was mainly used in medicine and religion. Muslim doctors and monks admit that coffee has the functions of refreshing, brain-awakening, stomach-strengthening, body-building and hemostasis; the use of coffee has been documented since the beginning of the 15th century and integrated into religious ceremonies during this period. At the same time, it also appeared in the folk as a daily drink. Because alcohol was strictly prohibited in the Muslim world, coffee became a very important social drink at that time. Until the 16th and 17th centuries, coffee was introduced into Europe through the merchants of Venice and the Dutch hegemony of the sea. soon, this black drink, which was full of oriental mystery and rich aroma, was competed by the aristocratic gentry class. the price of coffee also rose with the tide, and even became known as "black gold". At that time, it was popular for aristocrats to send coffee beans to each other on special days to show their carnival. Or to relatives and friends who have not seen each other for a long time, there is money in the pocket, congratulations on success, but also a status symbol. And "Black Gold" in the next surging era of navigation, through the spread of shipping, the world has been included in the production and consumption of coffee.

Shanghai has become a big market for coffee consumption, because more and more white-collar workers and foreigners like to drink coffee after work, and in many restaurants, they have launched afternoon tea business, most of which have coffee. And coffee from all countries has found its own market here.

Spread

It has been more than 1500 years since the first discovery of coffee by shepherds in Ethiopia. This is more than 1500 years full of hardship legends and rich and colorful.

In 500 years, the shepherd Caldai was the first to discover the wonderful use of coffee.

In 525, the first coffee tree was planted in the Arabian Peninsula.

In 1475, the first coffee shop was born in Constantinople.

In 1615, coffee was introduced into continental Europe from Venice, Italy.

Coffee was introduced into North America in 1620.

In 1690, coffee was introduced into Asia.

In 1723, de Crewe, a French officer, brought coffee seedlings to America.

In 1893, coffee was grown in Kenya and Tanzania.

In 1902, missionaries brought coffee to Yunnan.