DavidoffCoffee HeritageThe history of how coffee growing and drinking spread around the world starts in Ethiopia, the so-called Horn of Africa, where the coffee tree probably originated in the province of Kaffa. There are various fanciful stories surrounding the discovery of the properties of roasted coffee beans. One story deals with an Ethiopian goatherd who was amazed at the lively behaviour of his goats after chewing red coffee berries. What we know with more certainty is that the succulent outer cherry flesh was eaten by slaves taken from present day Sudan into Yemen and Arabia, through the great port of the city Mocha that lend the typical Mocha Coffee its name. The first coffeehouses were opened in Mecca and were called ‘kaveh kanes’. They quickly spread throughout the Arab world and became “schools of knowledge” where chess was played, gossip was exchanged, and singing, dancing and music were enjoyed. They were luxuriously decorated and each had an individual character. Nothing quite like the coffeehouse had existed before: a place where society and business could be conducted in comfortable surroundings and where anyone could go, for the price of coffee. The Arabian coffeehouses soon became centres of political activity and were therefore suppressed. Coffee and coffeehouses were subsequently banned several times over the next few decades, but they kept reappearing. In 15th century Europe word of coffee’s mysterious reputation preceded its arrival. Habsburg diplomats and Austrian prisoners of war in Turkey brought back news of a “warm black drink” used to combat fatigue and sadness. The first Austrian coffeehouse was opened by the Armenian Johannes Diodato in Vienna in 1697. From there, the luxury commodity was quick to spread as far as Italy, England, France and Germany. Cafés were opened in numerous capitals and trade cities, and in the salons of noble society coffee was seen as a moderate luxury, after Pope Clemens VII dubbed it a “Christian” beverage. During the industrial revolution, coffee came to the middle class, and new methods paved the way for larger volumes of production. Coffee as an ‘everyday’ drink first caught on in Europe in the fifties, once it had become affordable for all social classes. Today, coffee belongs to the world’s most famous beverages. The cultivated taste for a good cup of coffee – and the high-quality grinds needed to make it – are highly appreciated among connoisseurs all over the world. The knowledge of good coffee-making is nowadays decisive – carefully roasted beans, fine blends and the craft of traditional preparation. |