CoffeeRoastersClub

The History of Coffee

Posted in Trivia

Here is some Coffee Trivia for you:

The history of coffee starts with its humble botanical origins on the plateaus of central Ethiopia several thousand feet above sea level.

Coffee drinking legends stretch back to dates around 800 with Arabian stories of a mysterious black beverage with the powers of stimulation, which was also used as a medicine. Certainly by 1000 ad coffee drinking was prevalent throughout the Middle East. Coffee drinking in the West only really took off at the end of the 17th century.

Stories tell of a shepherd who discovered that when his flock of sheep ate a mysterious red berry they became restless, and it had the same effect on him when he tried it.

It is widely believed that coffee reached the Arabian peninsula around 600ad. It was highly prized by the Arabs and they prevented it from being exported to other parts of the world. The first coffee beans to reach India, were believed to have been smuggled out of Arabia by a Muslim Pilgrim called Baba Budan. He took seeds from Arabia back to India and planted them in the hills near Chikmagalgur in southern India. These trees even today produce about a third of India's Coffee.

The Emperor of Brazil Francisco Palheta wanted to start growing Coffee in Brazil and sent his emissary, Mello do Palheta to French Guinea to obtain coffee seedlings from the French. The French Governor was not prepared to give any seedlings to Palheta, but he so charmed the French Governors wife, that she sent him a bouquet of flowers with seeds hidden inside. These seedlings were planted in the North of Brazil but due to poor climatic conditions they were moved to the south, where conditions were perfect. This started the billion dollar Brazilian coffee industry.

The coffee bean originally was eaten. There is a story of an Arabian being banished to the desert with his followers to die. They lived off the coffee berry by boiling it and eating the fruit of the coffee berry. This saved their lives and was considered a religious sign that they should survive. The plant and the beverage were called Mocha.

Ethiopian tribes lived off coffee beans wrapped animal fats when on raiding parties.

Coffee roasting as we know it today started in Constantinople in the 14th C by the Ottoman Turks, and coffee house started springing up over Europe by the end of the 17th Century.

11:09 AM - 2006-Sep-23

How Coffee Is Produced

Posted in Trivia

Coffee beans are actually the center of mature red coffee fruits, also know as cherries. These cherries grow on coffee trees. which grows from sea level to approximately 6,000 feet, in a narrow subtropical belt around the world. Coffee trees are an evergreen and grow to heights of 20 feet. To simplify harvesting, the trees are pruned to 8 to 10 feet. Coffee cherries ripen at different times, so they are predominantly picked by hand. It takes approximately 2,000 Arabica cherries to produce just one pound of roasted coffee. Since each cherry contains two beans, your one pound of coffee is derived from 4,000 coffee beans. The production starts with the handpicking of only the mature red coffee fruits (again, known as cherries).

The fruit is then removed from the seed by one of two methods. The natural or dry process, where the cherries are dried in the sun or in dryers, and the fruit is then separated from the bean by processing them through a mechanical husker. Or, by a superior soaking method know as the wet process, which produces beans which are referred to as washed coffees.

The two commercially significant species of coffee beans are: coffea arabica, and coffea robusta.

Arabica beans grow best at altitudes over 3,000 feet. This species produces superior quality coffees, which possess the greatest flavor and aromatic characteristics. They typically contain half the caffeine of the robusta beans. Arabica production represents 80% of the world's coffee trade, however, only 10% of this meets speciality coffee standards.

Robusta beans are usually grown at lower elevations. Robusta trees are easier to grow, produce higher yields, and are more disease resistant than the arabica species. Robusta beans usually possess a woody, astringent flavor. They are used when a lower price or additional caffeine is desired. A small percentage is typically added to many Italian espresso blends for the additional crema and complexity they contribute.

Coffee is best produced in high altitude warm climates that have a rich soil, such as countries that run along an ocean with warm tropical climates and good soil formed by eruptions of volcanoes. Over the years, countries in South America have earned the reputation of being the best coffee producers in the world. Countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, India, and now even Hawaii have been making their marks as the top coffee producers of the world.

7:48 AM - 2006-Sep-21

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This is the official CoffeeRoastersClub Blog. CoffeeRoastersClub is located at both stores.ebay.com/CoffeeRoastersClub and www.CoffeeRoastersClub.com , and offers the home coffee roaster many tools and supplies for doing his or her own coffee roasting. I intend to list alot of stuff that I do regarding coffee roasting on this site, and I welcome comments from others.

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