The History of Coffee

Did you know how popular coffee is? People from all nations all over the world drink it more than any other beverage. There are literally dozens of types of different coffees grown and produced in dozens of different countries. Coffee Clubs, like Gevalia Coffee, have become increasingly popular.

When talking about where coffee originated, it appears as though it got its start about 1300 years ago in Abyssinia and the area around the Red Sea. Historical records of this area reveal instances of coffee berry pulp being used for rituals and as a health tonic.

It was the Arabs who began to spread the use of coffee about 900 years ago after being exposed to it through trade. The Arabs used coffee to make a drink called gahwa, which means “to prevent sleep”. They made this drink by first roasting the coffee bean and then boiling it in water.

Everywhere Arabs traveled, coffee went with them. It was through their travels that coffee arrived in North Africa, India and the Mediterranean. But the Arabs didn’t let anyone else grow it. They only traded prepared beans and heavily guarded the coffee plants. Eventually, coffee beans were eventually smuggled out and other countries began to grow their own varieties.

In 1475, Constantinople was home to the world’s first coffee shop. Coffee arrived in Turkey in 1554. About 2 years after that, two coffee houses opened there. They proved to be very popular places for people to gather, with customers socializing, listening to music, playing games and, of course, drinking coffee.

It was in the 1600s that coffee entered Europe through the port of Venice in Italy. In the late 1600s the first coffee houses opened in England. Coffee houses were often referred to as “penny universities” because it cost a penny to enter and have a cup of coffee and because of the intellectual conversations that took place there.

Some interesting coffee trivia:

It was in Italy that the first espresso machine was invented.
It was the Hills Brothers who first began packing and transporting roasted coffee in vacuum tins. This eventually resulted in the demise of local roasting shops and coffee mills.
Satori Kato, a Japanese-American chemist living in Chicago, invented the first instant coffee .
Gevalia was introduced in 1920 in Sweden by the trading company Victor Theodore Engwall & Co. Most Gevalia Coffee is sold in Sweden, Denmark and the Baltic area. Membership in the Gevalia Coffee Club has been expanding every year since it was started.
Seventy percent of the world’s coffee crop is imported by the United States.
The term Cappuccino comes from the color, which resembles the color of the robes worn by Capuchin monks.
Starbucks opens its first store in Seattle’s Pike Place public market in 1971.

Today, we have a huge variety of different styles, grinds, and flavors of coffee. Coffee is more popular than ever. Billions of cups of coffee are consumed world-wide every year. Scientists are even discovering that consuming coffee can even have some health benefits. So drink and enjoy!