
History of Coffee Timeline
- Before 1400 — According to legend, Kaldi the shepherd discovered coffee.
- 1400 — Coffee trees were growing in Yemeni, Arabia.
- 1500 — Coffee was a popular beverage in Persia, Syria, Turkey, and Egypt.
- 1600 — Coffee reaches Europe.
- 1615 — Pope Clement VIII declares coffee is not the work of Satan.
- 1650 — More than 300 coffee shops open in London.
When did you first start drinking coffee?
When Did Humans First Start Drinking Coffee? Mohamed al-Ghaffar (in Yemen) writes about his first experience drinking and understanding coffee in the middle of the 15th century. These days coffee is still brewed with the same way in which its seeds were roasted and brewed back in Arabia when the first seeds were found here.
When was coffee first served in America?
Coffee plants reached the New World during the early 18th century, though the drink wasn’t really popular in America until the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when making the switch from tea to coffee ...
When was coffee first grown as a crop?
The crop is among the first eight crops to be domesticated and cultivated. The domestication of the crop dates back between 10,600 and 9,900 ago from Cafer Höyük, Çayönü and two early archeological sites located in Turkey. 1.
When was coffee first discovered?
It is known that the best-known story regarding the origin of coffee was discovered in 300. it is an old man named Kaldi who lived in Ethiopia (Africa). Kaldi was a goat keeper who kept composing songs all day on his flute. Every day. Before the sun went down, Kaldi played his flute in a particular way to call his goats.

Who invented coffee as a drink?
There, legend says the goat herder Kaldi first discovered the potential of these beloved beans. The story goes that that Kaldi discovered coffee after he noticed that after eating the berries from a certain tree, his goats became so energetic that they did not want to sleep at night.
Did Americans from 1700s drink coffee?
Coffee was not a new addition to colonial beverages—Dorothy Jones of Boston became the first licensed coffee trader in America in 1760. Coffee really took off in New York City, even replacing beer as the preferred breakfast drink in the early 1700s.
How did they drink coffee in the 1700s?
To get that lovely cup of coffee in the 1700s, you just needed to purchase the beans, roast them, grind them, and then boil them. As the drinking of coffee moved from the coffee-house to people's homes, a group of tableware became associated with the drink. Central to this tableware was the coffeepot and cups.
When did coffee become a morning drink?
Traveling to Europe, coffee quickly became the morning beverage of choice over beer and wine, and by the mid-1600s, there were over 300 coffee houses in London – often frequented by famous artists, writers, and intellects. Coffee was finally brought to the New World by the British in the mid-17th century.
When did America switch from tea to coffee?
1773Coffee plants reached the New World during the early 18th century, though the drink wasn't really popular in America until the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when making the switch from tea to coffee became something of a patriotic duty.
Which country started drinking coffee?
EthiopiaBelieved to have originated in Ethiopia, coffee was used in the Middle East in the 16th century to aid concentration.
When did people start putting milk in coffee?
1660Although the Dutch ambassador to China first experimented with milk in his coffee in 1660, this innovation did not become widely accepted until Franz George Kolschitzky opened the first Viennese café in 1684 and lured his new customers away from their beer and wine by adding both milk and honey to strained coffee.
Do Muslims drink coffee?
According to Islamic Scholars, coffee & caffeine is definitely Halal. There is no reference in the Quran about the prohibition of coffee. Muslim scholars had to give Fatwas about the consumption of coffee based on thorough research and science to classify caffeine and coffee as halal.
Did the founding fathers drink coffee?
Thomas Jefferson called coffee, “The favorite drink of the civilized world.” He had coffee beans imported from the East and West Indies, and kept his cellars at his home in Monticello filled with up to 60 pounds of coffee beans.
What did people drink before coffee?
Before coffee and tea, people drank alcohol. Beer and wine were seen as breakfast drinks, stemming back to ancient Greece.
What was the most popular breakfast drink before coffee?
Before coffee became popular in the United States, the breakfast drink of choice was cider or beer, even for children. A typical pre-1900s breakfast was a bowl of plain porridge with a cup of beer or cider, along with a little meat or fruit if the family was particularly well off.
What country drinks the most coffee?
Finland1. Finland — 12 kg/26 lbs — Finland is the world's biggest consumer of coffee on a per-person basis. The average Finn drinks nearly four cups a day. Coffee is so popular in Finland that two 10-minute coffee breaks are legally mandated for Finnish workers.
Did they have coffee in Colonial America?
Coffee is believed to have arrived in North America in 1607 when Captain John Smith helped to found the colony of Virginia at Jamestown. By 1668 coffee had replaced beer as New York City's favourite breakfast drink with coffeehouses in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and elsewhere.
When did coffee come to America?
The first significant import of coffee to America took place in the mid-1600's via New Amsterdam, later known as New York. However, tea, not coffee, was the beverage of choice for the European-born New-Yorkers-to-be and remained so well beyond the second half of the 18th-century.
Did colonists drink coffee?
Coffee was available and affordable through the Atlantic trade but, unlike tea, coffee had to be ground. Many colonists did not have time for or the interest in the extra labor coffee required to have a cup at home, but many enjoyed having a drink at a coffeehouse.
Did early settlers drink coffee?
In 1607, Captain John Smith, founder of the Colony of Virginia, introduced coffee to other settlers of Jamestown. Because early Americans preferred tea, hard cider, and ale, they were slow to accept coffee-drinking habits.
What is the coffee board in Chikmagalur?
Coffee Board is the department located in Chikmagalur town that oversees the production and marketing of coffee cultivated in the district.
What is the coffee house culture of the Habsburg Empire?
A very special Viennese coffee house culture developed in Vienna in the 19th century and then spread throughout Central Europe. Scientists, artists, intellectuals, bons vivants and their financiers met in this special microcosm of the Viennese coffee houses of the Habsburg Empire. Today world-famous personalities such as Gustav Klimt, Sigmund Freud, James Joyce and Egon Schiele were inspired in the Viennese coffee house. This special multicultural atmosphere and culture was largely destroyed by the later National Socialism and Communism and only survived in individual places such as Vienna or Trieste. In this diverse coffee house culture of the multicultural Habsburg Empire, different types of coffee preparation also developed. This is how the world-famous cappuccino from the Viennese Kapuziner coffee developed over the Italian-speaking parts of the northern Italian empire.
Why was coffee banned in the 1960s?
But the sudden proliferation of coffee farms resulted in a surplus of beans around the world, and for a while importation of coffee was banned in order to protect local coffee producers.
How many coffee growers are there in India?
Indian coffee is said to be the finest coffee grown in the shade rather than direct sunlight anywhere in the world. There are approximately 250,000 coffee growers in India; 98% of them are small growers. As of 2009, the production of coffee in India was only 4.5% of the total production in the world.
Why did people drink coffee during the American Revolution?
After the Boston Tea Party of 1773, large numbers of Americans switched to drinking coffee during the American Revolution because drinking tea had become unpatriotic.
Where does Berbera coffee come from?
The coffee shipped at Berbera comes from far in the interior from Hurrar, Abyssinia, and Kaffa.
What did Gustav Sommerfeldt write about the Turkish prisoners?
Also the German traveller Gustav Sommerfeldt in 1663 wrote "the ability and industriousness with which the Turkish prisoners earn some money, especially by preparing coffee, a powder resembling snuff tobacco, with water and sugar.". Coffee was a popular beverage in Maltese high society—many coffee shops opened.
Why is coffee so popular in Arabia?
Whatever the actual origin of coffee, its stimulating effect undoubtedly made it popular in Arabia. Ironically, though some Islamic authorities pronounced the drink intoxicating and therefore prohibited by the Qurʾān, many Muslims were attracted to the beverage as a substitute for alcohol, also prohibited by the Qurʾān. Despite the threat of severe penalties, coffee drinking spread rapidly among Arabs and their neighbours and even gave rise to a new social and cultural entity, the coffeehouse.
What countries are producing coffee in 2020?
In 2020 the top coffee-producing countries were Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and Ethiopia. Interest in organic, fair-trade, and sustainably grown coffee increased in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, leading to shifts in production methods in some places. Global warming, particularly the projected increases in extreme heat and drought, may threaten the stability of the coffee industry as farmers struggle to adapt in vulnerable regions.
What are the threats to the coffee industry?
Global warming, particularly the projected increases in extreme heat and drought, may threaten the stability of the coffee industry as farmers struggle to adapt in vulnerable regions. Nathan Myhrvold The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica.
What is the process of hereditary reorganization of wild animals and plants into domestic and cultivated forms according?
domestication. Domestication, the process of hereditary reorganization of wild animals and plants into domestic and cultivated forms according to the interests of people. In its strictest sense, it refers to the initial stage of human mastery of wild animals and plants.
What is the capital of Ethiopia?
The country lies completely within the tropical latitudes and is relatively compact, with similar north-south and east-west dimensions. The capital is Addis Ababa (“New Flower”), located almost at the centre of the country.
Where did coffee beans come from?
Coffee beans after roasting. Wild coffee plants ( Coffea species) are thought to have been native to an Ethiopian plateau region known as Kefa (Kaffa), though the exact history of their origin and domestication remains unclear.
When was coffee first grown?
Coffee cultivation was started in the Hawaiian Islands in 1825.
Who first drank coffee?
The true origins of coffee drinking are difficult to pin down. Coffee is laden with legend, from the discovery of “magic beans” by a goatherd in 9th century Ethiopia, to the Prophet Muhammad being gifted with a magical energizing drink to see him through his prayers.
When did people start drinking coffee?
It is these accounts by al-Ghaffar which provide evidence of the roasting, brewing, and drinking of coffee beans. Before this point, any use of coffee was likely to be simply eating the berries of a coffee shrub.
Where does coffee come from?
Coffee is believed to originate in Ethiopia and other coastal areas within the Horn of Africa. From here it is likely that coffee was traded across the Red Sea to customers in Yemen.
What was coffee originally used for?
In an echo of the legend of the Prophet Muhammad, coffee was first drunk to improve concentration during long religious ceremonies and prayer rituals. The Sufis, a population of Islamic mystics, used coffee during their practice to stay alert and awake throughout the 15th century.
Where does coffee grow?
Coffee is native to Ethiopia and Somalia, but it can be grown in many other countries provided the climate is correct. Nowadays coffee is grown across areas of south Africa and south Asia, as well as in central and southern America.
Has coffee always been this popular?
Once coffee spread through the Middle East it led to an explosion of coffee houses and the beginning of overseas trade with India and Southeast Asia. From there, European traders took coffee to Europe where it gained popularity among both the working classes and the elite.
Is coffee an ancient drink?
The ancient tradition of coffee drinking traces its roots back to Ethiopia in a ritual that is still practiced today. Roasted green coffee beans were crushed with a zenezena before being boiled in a decorative bowl called a jabena.
Is Ethiopia coffee?
It's hard to definitively say if the old Kaldi legend is true, but Ethiopia is definitely coffee's homeland, and it's possible some Et hiopians might've been eating coffee for centuries beforehand. These early caffeine aficionados preferred to mix their coffee cherries with butter and animal fat to produce natural protein bars. The first coffee beverages, according to PBS, were a wine drink made using fermented coffee pulp.
Did Ethiopia invent coffee?
Nowhere is coffee's influence more notable than in the famous Ethiopian coffee ceremony, described by HowStuffWorks, which is an ancient, elaborate ritual used to cement friendship, respect, and hospitality. So, not only did Ethiopia first "invent" coffee, but they still do it better than anyone else.
Do humans drink coffee?
Almost everybody loves coffee. You probably drank coffee when you first woke up this morning, and there's a decent chance that you're sipping on some right now. Human beings didn't evolve with coffee beans in their mouths, however. At some point, somebody had to discover the miracle fruit ... and someone else had to craft it into the miracle beverage you enjoy today.
History of Coffee in America
Coffee finally came to America in the mid-1600s, shortly after the coffeehouse boom in London. While Americans did like coffee, they were still particular to tea. However, in 1773, when King George III imposed the heavy tea tax that led to the Boston Tea Party, Americans quickly named coffee their new favorite drink.
Coffee Plantation History
Naturally, as the demand for coffee grew, there was a need to plant more trees. The Dutch were the first Europeans to obtain seedlings and were able to start a profitable production of coffee on the island that is now Indonesia. Their crop was so successful that they could expand onto the islands of Sumatra and Celebes.
History of Coffee Timeline
Before 1400 — According to legend, Kaldi the shepherd discovered coffee.
Origin of Coffee: Final Thoughts
To sum it up, coffee originated in Ethiopia and quickly spread throughout the world. Many countries still depend on coffee as a big part of their economy, and many people need it to get going in the morning.
What was coffee made of?
Before coffee became our morning beverage of choice, it appeared in a variety of different preparations. In its most basic, unprocessed form, coffee is a cherry-like fruit, which becomes red when ripe; the coffee bean is found at the center of the red coffee fruit. Early on, the fruit were mixed with animal fat to create a protein rich snack bar. At one point, the fermented pulp was used to make a wine-like concoction; incidentally, a similar beverage was made from the cacao fruit, before the advent of chocolate, which goes to show that humans are especially adept at finding new ways to imbibe. Another drink that appeared around 1000 A.D. was made from the whole coffee fruit, including the beans and the hull. It wasn’t until the 13th century that people began to roast coffee beans, the first step in the process of making coffee as we know it today.
How much coffee is consumed in the world?
We love it, we rely on it, and we drink it in massive quantities. It is estimated that 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed each day worldwide. New Yorkers are said to drink 7 times the amount of any other U.S. city, which is why it may seem like there is a Starbucks on every corner of Manhattan. Famed French writer and philosopher Voltaire was rumored to have drunk 40 – 50 cups per day. Coffee is a daily ritual in the lives of millions of humans around the globe. Where exactly did this caffeinated phenomenon begin?
Why is Teddy Roosevelt considered a great coffee drinker?
Teddy Roosevelt himself is counted among America’s great coffee drinkers due to his rumored consumption of a gallon of coffee daily! Roosevelt is also said to have coined Maxwell House’s famous “Good to the Last Drop” slogan after being served the coffee at Andrew Jackson’s historical home, the Hermitage, in Tennessee.
What was the result of Baba's beans?
Baba’s beans resulted in a new and competitive European coffee trade. In 1616, the Dutch founded the first European-owned coffee estate in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, then Java in 1696. The French began growing coffee in the Caribbean, followed by the Spanish in Central America and the Portuguese in Brazil.
How many cups of coffee did Voltaire drink?
Famed French writer and philosopher Voltaire was rumored to have drunk 40 – 50 cups per day. Coffee is a daily ritual in the lives of millions of humans around the globe.
When did Starbucks open in Seattle?
In the 1960s, a certain awareness for specialty coffee started to grow, inspiring the opening of the first Starbucks in Seattle in 1971. Today, the grass-roots coffee movement continues to grow with the increase of small independently-owned cafes boasting sustainable, locally roasted, fair trade beans.
When did coffee become popular?
Coffee plants reached the New World during the early 18th century, though the drink wasn’t really popular in America until the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when making the switch from tea to coffee became something of a patriotic duty.
What is the tradition of consuming coffee in ghee?
In some areas of Kaffa and Sidamo, the tradition of consuming ground coffee in ghee remains. Some people in Kaffa also add melted ghee to brewed coffee for extra flavor and to make it more nutritionally dense. Around the 10th century, several indigenous Ethiopian tribes ate coffee in something similar to porridge.
Why did Omar throw berries in the fire?
However, he found them to be too bitter to eat raw. Hoping to remove their bitterness, he threw the berries into the fire. This basic "roasting" technique hardened the berries, making them unsuitable for chewing. Omar then attempted to soften them. As the roasted berries boiled, he noticed the pleasant aroma of the increasingly brown liquid and decided to drink this decoction rather than eat the beans. He found the drink to be revitalizing and shared his tale with others.
What did Kaldi find?
Kaldi found that a small shrub (or a cluster of shrubs, according to some legends) was the source of the excitement. Deciding to try the bright red berries for himself, Kaldi also felt the coffee cherries' energizing effects. Amazed at this discovery, the goat herder filled his pockets and rushed home to tell his wife.
When did Kaldi start coffee?
That legend did not appear in writing until 1671 and most accounts date Kaldi to 850, so it's hard to say how much is truth and myth. Kaldi's story does coincide with the commonly held belief that coffee cultivation began in Ethiopia during the 9th century (the Yemenite origin points to an earlier date).
Why did monks drink coffee?
Monks drank it to stay alert during their nighttime devotions and long hours of prayer. However, it is generally believed that coffee beans were originally exported from Ethiopia to Yemen. Later, Yemeni traders brought coffee plants back to their homes and began to cultivate them there.
Where did coffee originate?
The first legend from Yemen is rather basic by comparison to the Kaldi myth. However, in an interesting twist, it attributes the origin of coffee to Ethiopia:
Where did Kaldi find the goats?
One day in a highland area near an Abyssinian monastery, a goat herder from Kaffa named Kaldi was herding his goats. The goats began to jump around—almost dancing—and bleat loudly, which was strange behavior for his herd. Kaldi found that a small shrub (or a cluster of shrubs, according to some legends) was the source of the excitement.
How does a coffee pot make coffee?
Up until this point, coffee pots made coffee through a process called decoction, which is just mixing the grinds with boiling water to produce the coffee. This method was popular for many years and is still practiced today. However, the percolator improved upon that by creating a coffee that is free of any leftover grinds, meaning you would not need to filter it before consuming.
How long has coffee been around?
However, coffee has been around much longer than cafes and Keurig machines. In fact, people have been drinking coffee for hundreds of years if not more, and the did it with some methods we might recognize today but that feel a bit more like ancient history. So, let’s take a look at how the technology of coffee brewing has evolved since coffee first became popular over 500 years ago.
What is the Turkish method of brewing coffee?
Turkey is home to the first method of coffee brewing, the Ibrik method, which is still used today. The Ibrik method gets its name from the small pot, an ibrik (or cezve), that is used to brew and serve Turkish coffee.
Why do coffee pots run through water?
However, due to unadvanced coffee grinding methods, water would sometimes run right through the grinds if they were too fine or too coarse. Biggin pots made their way to England 40 years later. Biggin pots are still used today, but they are much improved over the original 18th-century version.
How to make Turkish coffee?
To make Turkish coffee using the Ibrik Method, the above mixture is heated until it’s on the brink of boiling. Then it’s cooled and heated several more times. When it’s ready, the mixture gets poured into a cup to be enjoyed. Traditionally, Turkish coffee is served with foam on top.
What was the first commercial coffee maker?
In 1780, the “Mr. Biggin” was released, making it the first commercial coffee maker. It tried to improve some of the faults of cloth filtering, such as poor drainage. Biggin pots are three or four-part coffee pots in which a tin filter (or cloth bag) sits under the lid.
What was the first coffee filter?
As coffee pots evolved though,, so did filtering methods. Historians believe the first coffee filter was a sock; people would pour hot water through a sock filled with coffee grounds.
Why is coffee considered a religion?
Though tea is usually thought of as the most ritualistic of beverages, coffee is actually inextricably tied to religion. While many legends suggest that the first cup of joe was brewed by a variety of priests and wandering shepherds in Ethiopia or Yemen, the first known coffee drinkers were actually Yemeni Sufi mystics who used coffee to stay awake during their long prayers. Due to its propensity for bringing people together, and because of the meditative nature of the brewing process, coffee also holds a prominent place in Christianity and even paganism.
Why did the Mystics like coffee?
The mystics loved coffee because it helped them stay awake for their evening “ dhikr ,” which was the process of chanting the name of God in rhythm for hours at night ; in essence, it lessened their desire for sleep.
How do pagan people use coffee?
Some modern pagans use coffee itself as an ingredient in their rituals. According to the pagan writer Lisa Wagoner, a coffee spell can be as simple as asking yourself while brewing, “What parts of you need stimulating and enlivening? What energy do you need to awaken? What aspects of the darkness will you most enjoy in this time? Pour yourself a cup of coffee and fix it to your taste.” For a more exacting ritual, she advises, “Stir your coffee clockwise before drinking and envision something nice happening before the end of the day. Stir widdershins (counter-clockwise) if you would like to ward off something negative.”
Why did Gabriel bring coffee to earth?
One proposed that Gabriel suggested coffee as a cure for a Yemeni village’s plague; and another said that the angel brought coffee to earth to revive Mohammed the Prophet’s narcolepsy and flagging energies.
Why is coffee important to religion?
In essence, though it might not have a precise place in each of these faiths, coffee does serve as a way for people to come together, to form bonds, and to share stories – essentially encouraging a practice of community and love that is, arguably, the core point and purpose of many of these religions.
What was the purpose of coffee drinking?
According to Stephen Topik, during these rituals, “men and women together shared a common bowl that was passed around,” and “the initial objective of coffee-drinking was to transcend the material world and find peace.”
What is witch brew?
Witch’s Brew: Divination, Dream Symbolism, and More. Paganism predated Christianity and continues to inspire many of its modern traditions, and many writers have noted pagan elements that define the process of making coffee.

Overview
History
Evidence of knowledge of the coffee tree and coffee drinking first appeared in the late 15th century; Sufi Imam Muhammad Ibn Said Al Dhabhani is known to have imported goods from Ethiopia to Yemen. Coffee was first exported out of Ethiopia to Yemen by Somali merchants from Berbera and Zeila, which was procured from Harar and the Abyssinian interior. According to Captain Haines, …
Etymology
The word "coffee" entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch koffie, borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish kahve, in turn borrowed from the Arabic qahwah (قهوة).
The Arabic word qahwah originally referred to a type of wine, whose etymology is given by Arab lexicographers as deriving from the verb qahā (قها, "to lack hunger") in reference to the drink's reputation as an appetite suppressant. The word qahwah is sometimes alternatively traced to th…
Genetics
Studies of genetic diversity have been performed on Coffea arabica varieties, which were found to be of low diversity but with retention of some residual heterozygosity from ancestral materials, and closely related diploid species Coffea canephora and C. liberica; however, no direct evidence has ever been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the natives might have used it as a stimulant or known about it there earlier than the seventeenth century. The original d…
Europe
Coffee was first introduced to Europe in Hungary when the Turks invaded Hungary at the Battle of Mohács in 1526. Within a year, coffee had reached Vienna by the same Turks who fought the Europeans at the Siege of Vienna (1529). Later in the 16th century, coffee was introduced on the island of Malta through slavery. Turkish Muslim slaves had been imprisoned by the Knights of …
Americas
Gabriel de Clieu brought coffee seedlings to Martinique in the Caribbean in 1720. Those sprouts flourished and 50 years later there were 18,680 coffee trees in Martinique enabling the spread of coffee cultivation to Saint-Domingue (Haiti), Mexico and other islands of the Caribbean. The French territory of Saint-Domingue saw coffee cultivated starting in 1734, and by 1788 supplied half th…
Asia
Also see Coffee production in India
Coffee came to India well before the East India company, through an India Sufi saint named "Baba Budan". The first record of coffee growing in India is following the introduction of coffee beans from Yemen by Baba Budan to the hills of Chikmagalur, Karnataka in 1670. Since then coffee plantations have become es…
Production
The first step in Europeans' wresting the means of production was effected by Nicolaes Witsen, the enterprising burgomaster of Amsterdam and member of the governing board of the Dutch East India Company who urged Joan van Hoorn, the Dutch governor at Batavia that some coffee plants be obtained at the export port of Mocha in Yemen, the source of Europe's supply, and established in the Dutch East Indies; the project of raising many plants from the seeds of the first shipment …