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Coffee Is A Historic Beverage, And It Makes For A Great Gift


Ahhhhh, coffee... a fantastic dark beverage that wakes us up in the morning. For some of us, it keeps us up during the day,or for late night study sessions. We drink it out of habit,we drink it from addiction, we drink it for flavor; whateverthe reason, it is surely a popular beverage. So where didthis famed drink come from?

Coffee, for Americans, is three hundred years old. In theEast it was widespread at every level of society, since theearlier era. The most notable dates point to around800b.c. However, Homer, and according to Arabian tales speakof a mysterious bitter black beverage with powers ofstimulation that could have been this drink.

About the year 1000, coffee was being used for medicinalpurposes. In 1400 a Yemeni goat herder observed his flockeating reddish berries, then becoming excited and restless.After relating his observations to a monk, they boiledthe berries and made a beverage that could dispersesleep and weariness. No matter how it actually wascreated, the fact remains that the coffee plantstarted in Africa, in an Ethiopian region known as Kaffa.From there it spread to Egypt, Yemen, and Arabia, where itbecame a part of daily life.

In the late 1500s coffee was a commodity, being sold inEurope. However, due to an increasing demand for the newbeverage, and high taxes on shipping, there wasexperimentation with growing the crops in various othercountries. Much later, around 1727 coffee growing started inNorthern Brazil. By the 20th century, various forms ofcoffee were developed for the public.

Decaffeinated coffee was first founded in 1903 when Ludwig Roselius, a German coffee importer, gave a batch ofdamaged coffee beans to researchers. They developed theprocess of taking the caffeine out of the beans withoutlosing any flavor. This was marketed in the 1920s.

Instant coffee was first mass produced from the invention ofGeorge Constant Washington, an English chemist living inGuatemala. While waiting for his wife one day to join himoutside for coffee, he observed on the spout of the silvercoffee urn, a fine powder, which looked to be thecondensation of the coffee vapors. This excited him andled to his founding of soluble coffee.

In 1906 he started experiments and put his invention, Red ECoffee, in the markets in 1909. Nestle', in 1938, trying toaid Brazil with their coffee surpluses created freeze-driedcoffee. Nescafe was started and first introduced intoSwitzerland. Instant coffee became a fad after 1956 whencommercial television was the new craze.

And now in the US alone, 400 billion cups of coffee a yearare consumed. Coffee is one of the world's largestcommodities, second only to oil. From a remote area inAfrica, to millions of shelves and homes worldwide, coffeehas became a fixture everywhere.

The author has been a passionate coffee drinker for many years. She has tasted coffees from all over the world, and believes in serving and entertaining her guests with only the best.

She has catered hundreds of events and affairs and is known for her attention to details, especially regarding picking the perfect coffee.

Irene D. Hope is founder of All Special Coffee an excellent resource site dedicated to information about coffee.


MORE RESOURCES:

BBC News

Coffee chain feels pinch
Dispatch Online, South Africa - 21 hours ago
By ANDREA JAMES HIT hard by a slowing economy, the Starbucks coffee chain is closing 600 stores, signalling an end to the Seattle company’s United States ...
The troubled company wakes up and smells the coffee Economist
Coffee Revisited, Starbucks Position istockAnalyst.com
US Coffee Giant Starbucks to Close 600 US Stores Voice of America
Hi-Desert Star - Independent
all 1,377 news articles


Man accused of trying to poison co-worker's coffee
Boston Globe, United States - 11 hours ago
PORTSMOUTH, NH—Police say a Rochester man tried several times to pour poison into a co-worker's coffee but couldn't get the cap off the liquid he was using. ...


Magic in Coffee Bay
Dispatch Online, South Africa - 15 hours ago
I was in the superbly clean ablution facilities of Coffee Shack Backpackers in Coffee Bay. I have been meaning to write a story on top surfer David Malherbe ...


India coffee prices up on tight supply, global cues
Reuters India, India - 18 hours ago
MUMBAI, July 4 (Reuters) - Prices at the Indian Coffee Trade Association auction on Thursday rose on a tight supply situation and tracking firm global cues, ...


Coffee shop angry over sheesha fine
Gulf Daily News, Bahrain - Jul 3, 2008
By Rasha Al Qahtani A COFFEE shop says it has been wrongfully punished after it was slapped with a warning for allegedly flouting a ban on selling sheesha. ...


ABC News

Coffee Shop Owners Reflect on Tobacco Ban and Starting 'Drug ...
ABC News - Jul 1, 2008
A tourist, who wants to remain anonymous, smokes cannabis at the Dampkring, or Atmosphere, coffee shop in Amsterdam in this 2004 file photo. ...
Video: Marijuana survives Dutch smoking ban - 1 July 2008 AlJazeeraEnglish
Netherlands smoke ban puts coffee shops in a spin ABC Online
Cannabis lovers dodge Dutch smoking ban Reuters
Houston Chronicle - Telegraph.co.uk
all 430 news articles


Providence Journal

A few guys find heaven in a cup of coffee
Providence Journal, RI - 3 hours ago
Bobby McKay, 62, sits in the middle row, staring out the window, his travel-worthy coffee mug cradled like a puppy in his hands. Tony Daversa, 59, sits in ...


Man jailed after alleged coffee shop burglary
Greene County Daily World, In - 2 hours ago
By Anna Rochelle, Staff Writer A 24-year-old Linton man was jailed after allegedly breaking in to the Francisco DeBorja Coffee House on South Main Street ...


Inventorspot

Drink Up! More Coffee May Lower Risk For Liver Cancer
Inventorspot - 4 hours ago
Think drinking coffee is bad for you? Well think again. Researchers have found that drinking more coffee may decrease your risk of liver cancer. ...


German regulator raids coffee roasters on price fixing suspicion
Drinks Business Review - 1 hour ago
By Staff Writer According to Silke Kaul, a spokesperson for the German regulator, coffee makers were raided as part of investigations pertaining to the ...

Coffee - Google News



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