History

Have you ever asked yourself when you grab your daily coffee from Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, or Java House where coffee originally came from?

 Ethiopia is the original birthplace of the Arabica type of coffee.  I bet most of you didn’t know that right?

 

Coffee is a  brewed drink  prepared from roasted  coffee beans, which are the seeds of  berries from the Coffea plant.  

 

The genus Coffea is native  to tropical Africa, and  Madagascar, the  Comoros,  Mauritius and  Reunion Islands in the Indian Ocean. The two most commonly grown coffees are the highly regarded  Arabica, and the less sophisticated but stronger and more hardy  Robusta.

The coffee plant,   “Coffee Arabica” , originates in Ethiopia.  Coffea arabica   is a species of   Coffea and originally indigenous to the forests of the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia.  Coffea arabica is also believed to be the first species of coffee to be cultivated, and is by far the dominant cultivar, representing some 70% of global production

 

 The Arabica coffee plant is now grown in various parts of the world. According to legend  In the 9 th century, Ethiopian nomadic mountain people were the first to recognize coffee's stimulating effect. They at the time ate the red cherries directly and did not drink it as a beverage.  Ethiopian legend states that a goat herder  named Kaldi discovered the coffee plant after noticing the energizing effect it had had on his goat flock. The goats were seen mounting each other after eating the leaves and fruits of the coffee tree.

 

 

 

 

 

The first written record of coffee comes from  Arab scholars, who wrote that it was useful in prolonging their working hours. The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking appears in the middle of the 15th century in the  Sufii shrines of  yemen.  It was here in Arabia that coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed in a similar way to how it is now prepared. Coffee seeds were first exported from Ethiopia to Yemen. Yemeni traders took coffee back to their homeland and began to cultivate the seed. By the 16th century  the Arab innovation in Yemen of making a brew from roasted beans, had reached  Egypt, Persia, Turkey, and  North Africa. From there, it spread to Europe and the rest of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethiopia itself accounts for around 3% of the global coffee market. Ethiopia is also the world's seventh largest producer of coffee, and Africa's top producer, with 260,000 metric tonnes in 2006. Ethiopian coffee beans that are grown in either the Harar, Sidamo, Yirgacheffe or Limu regions are kept apart and marketed under their regional name. These regional varieties are trademarked names with the rights owned by Ethiopia.

The coffee plant was exported from Africa to countries around the world. Coffee plants are now cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in the equatorial regions of  the Americas,  South East Asia,  India and Africa. Once ripe, coffee berries are picked, processed, and dried. Dried coffee seeds (referred to as beans) are  then roasted o varying degrees, depending on the desired flavor. Roasted beans are  ground and brewed with near boiling water to produce coffee as a beverage.

 

 

Coffee is slightly  acidic and can have a  stimulating effect on humans because of its  caffeine content. Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world.  It can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways (e.g., espresso,   French Press,   Café latte, etc.). It is usually served hot, although  ice cofee is also served.  In Ethiopia, people  still drink a  herbal drink made from the leaves of the coffee tree.

 

 

 

 

 

Africa Team

 

Soure:  Wikipedia