Today’s spotlight is on Coffee.

Coffee is a beverage made from roasted and ground seeds of the coffee plant. The coffee plant is a tropical evergreen that can grow to over 30 feet tall. The coffee cherries are harvested nine months after the tree flowers. The cherries are pulped to remove the fruit, which is known as washed coffee.

Coffee is one of the three most popular beverages in the world, along with water and tea. It is also one of the most profitable international commodities. Coffee is brewed with very hot or boiling water and roasted and ground coffee beans. The caffeine in coffee stimulates the central nervous system, heart, and muscles. Studies have found that people who regularly drink coffee may be less likely to develop chronic illnesses.

The four main types of coffee are Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica. Each type has a different taste profile.

 

Coffee has many nicknames, including:

Java, Joe, Dirt, Mud, Brew, Cuppa, Rocket fuel, Worm dirt, Go juice, Jitter juice.

The term “java” comes from the Indonesian island of Java, which was a major coffee-growing and exporting region when coffee started to spread around the world. The term “cup of Joe” may have come from Joe Daniels, a legendary Navy secretary who banned alcohol on U.S. Navy ships in 1914. This made coffee the strongest drink on those ships.

Some other nicknames for coffee include:

• “Jitter juice” comes from the fact that too much coffee can make you twitch and feel nervous.
• “Go juice” may refer to the caffeine content of coffee giving us extra energy or that coffee is a diuretic that makes us have to “go”.
• “Liquid energy” is a positive term to use when talking about coffee.

 

History

Coffee was first used in Mesopotamia around 7000 B.C. It was called niter aethiopicus and was one of the world’s most expensive commodities. It was used as a currency in trade.

According to a popular Ethiopian legend, Kaldi, a goat herder, discovered coffee around 850 AD. Kaldi noticed that after eating the red berries from a nearby bush, his goats became so energetic that they didn’t want to sleep at night. Kaldi tried the berries himself and had a similar reaction. The legend was written down in 1671, but most accounts date Kaldi to 850. It’s difficult to say how much of the legend is truth and how much is myth.

Other stories about the discovery of coffee include:

• Monks who added hot water to berries and created the first cup of coffee.
• Omar, who chewed berries but found them too bitter. He roasted the beans to improve the flavor, but they became too hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the bean, which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. After drinking the liquid, Omar was revived and survived for days.

The Turks invented one of the earliest methods of manual brewing coffee. They ground roasted beans using mortars, added them to water, and then boiled them in a pot called a cezve.

The history of coffee dates back to the 15th century and oral traditions in Ethiopia and Yemen. The earliest evidence of coffee drinking as a modern beverage appears in Yemen in the middle of the 15th century. Sufi monasteries in Yemen used coffee to help with concentration during prayers.

The popularity of coffee in the Arab world led to the creation of coffeehouses in Mecca and Constantinople in the 15th and 16th centuries. The coffee drink originated in Yemen, where the original coffee plants were cultivated. The plants were likely from the western regions of Ethiopia. The coffee plants were taken to southern Arabia in the 15th century.

By the 16th century, coffee was known in Persia, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey. Coffee was granted papal consent in 1615. In England, “penny universities” were places where people could buy a cup of coffee and have stimulating conversations. Coffee began to replace beer and wine as the common breakfast drink.

In the Caribbean, coffee was introduced in the 18th century. By the mid-19th century, Brazil became the most significant producer of coffee. Coffee overtook tea as the hot drink of choice in America near the end of the 18th century. This was due in large part to the high tea taxes levied by the British.

Coffee became popular in the United States after the Boston Tea Party in 1773. The colonists boycotted tea and started drinking coffee as a substitute. Coffee became more popular in the 1800s as demand increased due to the introduction of pre-roasted coffee.

Coffee plants reached the New World in the early 18th century. The first coffee houses opened in Europe in the mid-1600s. Coffee soon replaced beer and wine as the breakfast drink of choice. By the 1920s, coffee was popular across the country and in American pop culture. Singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra sang about their java. By 1850, every corner of the world was drinking coffee. Brazil became the world’s leading coffee producer in the 1800s, at one point producing 80% of the world’s beans.

The U.S. imported around 182 million pounds of coffee in 1861. The south, particularly New Orleans, became a significant importer of coffee. Settlers moved west and brought the drink with them.

The word “coffee” was coined in the mid-18th century by English speakers.  The word originated from the Ottoman Turkish word “kahve”, which was borrowed from the Arabic word “qahwah”.  The Dutch word “koffie” may have been the source of the English word “coffee”.  The word “coffee” was brought to America by British colonists.

The word “coffee” has roots in several languages. In Yemen, the word “qahwah” was originally a romantic term for wine. The word “qahwah” may have come from the Kaffa region of Ethiopia, where the coffee plant originated.

 

Here are some fun facts about coffee:

• Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world.
• Coffee is a fruit.
• The seeds of the Coffea plant’s fruits are separated to produce unroasted green coffee beans.
• Coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi.
• According to legend, Kaldi noticed his goats were more energetic after eating a certain berry. When he tasted the berry himself, he felt more awake and alert.
• Coffee is one of the most popular drinks worldwide, along with water and tea.
• The world consumes about 2.25 billion cups of coffee each day.
• The world consumes over 400 billion cups of coffee each year.
• The longer coffee beans are roasted, the healthier they are.
• Light roast coffee has slightly more caffeine.
• Coffee beans can actually be too fresh.
• Using a French press might upset your stomach.
• Coffee acidity doesn’t mean the actual pH.

The word “coffee” has roots in several languages. In Yemen, it was originally a romantic term for wine. It later became the Turkish kahveh, then Dutch koffie, and finally coffee in English.

Consumption

Finland is the world’s biggest coffee consumer, with each person drinking an average of four cups per day, or 26 pounds per year. This is more than double the amount that Italians drink. Coffee is a big part of Finnish culture, with many people drinking several cups per day.

The countries that drink the least coffee are Nepal, India, and Pakistan, with each person drinking only 0.1 kg (0.22 pounds) per year.

The top 10 countries that drink the most coffee are:

United States, Germany, Japan, France, Italy, Russia, United Kingdom, Spain.

The states in the US that drink the most coffee are:

Michigan, Delaware, and West Virginia, with an average of around 2.5 cups consumed per day.

 

Celebrating Coffee

National Coffee Day is on September 29th.

Here are some ways to celebrate:

• Visit a coffee shop: Meet up with friends at your favorite coffee shop to enjoy a cup of coffee and conversation. Some coffee shops may offer discounts or free coffee on National Coffee Day.
• Try a new brewing method: Experiment with a new way to brew coffee.
• Enjoy coffee-flavored food: Have coffee cake, coffee-crusted steak, or coffee-braised short ribs.
• Make a new coffee drink: Try making a homemade latte or a two-ingredient coffee cup.
• Attend an event: Check if there are any coffee-tasting events or coffee-making workshops.
• Have a coffee-themed day at the office: Arrange for coffee and donuts to be delivered to the office. You can also host a coffee tasting.
• Get free coffee: Big coffee brands like Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s, Krispy Kreme, and Starbucks often offer free coffee samples or cups of coffee.

National Coffee Day was first celebrated in Japan in 1983 and was introduced to the United States in 2005. Let us know in the comments how you celebrated coffee.