Coffee

To someone who has never tasted coffee before, its rich aroma may be more appealing than the first bitter sip. But to people who have acquired a taste for coffee, it is delicious.

Coffee was first introduced to Western Europe, about 1615. By 1650, England had coffeehouses, where people meet to discuss politics and literary affairs. Customers of the coffeehouses were expected to drop coins into a box on which was written "To Insure Promptness." The initials of that phrase, T.I.P., are said to be the origin of the modern word "tipping." The word "coffee," in fact, is thought to be derived from Kaffa, the region in southwestern Ethiopia.

Most expert experts say that the best cup of coffee is brewed by drip, or filter, method.
Espresso coffee is darker and stronger than regular coffee; it is traditionally made in a special espresso machine by forcing steam through dark-roasted and finely ground beans. Café au lait is made of equal quantities of freshly brewed coffee and hot milk. The quick cup of coffee that busy people make is often instant coffee. Instant coffee is actually coffee made twice. The manufacturer first brewed a strong coffee and then dried it into powder in vaccum. Freeze-dried instant coffee is made by brewing the coffee, then evaporating the water out of it. The resulting extract is frozen and then placed in a pressurized chamber where moisture in the form of ice is drawn off, leaving dried coffee crystals. Both instant freeze-dried powders turn into coffee again when hot water is added. Manufacturers have also developed a special kind of coffee called decaffeinated. The coffee bean contains from 1 to 2 percent caffeine. Caffeined is removed by soaking the unroasted beans in a chemical solvent or by steaming them.

The coffee plant
The coffee plant is an evergreen shrub that demands a constant warm and humid climate to thrive. The area of earth where these needs are met with no seasonal climatic changes lie in the Tropics, between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Coffee plants produce a fruit called a cherry. Inside the cherry, surrounded by a fleshy pulp, are two plants seeds or beans.

History of coffee
Folklore has it that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia nearly 1,000 years ago, by a goat herder named Kaldi. Over time, he noticed his goats were especially frisky shortly after grazing on a particular shrub and its berries. Since then, coffee has invaded nearly every aspect of modern life, becoming ingrained in many cultures. Considering the incredible journey this humble product must make to the consumers cup, it's a wonder coffee ever became popular at all! Story of coffee

The first coffee plants probably grew in Kaffa, a province of southwestern Ethiopia. Persian armies in the 6th century probably carried coffee seeds into the Arabian Peninsula. There the arabs brewed the bitter but stimulating seeds into a drink to make them taste better. Soon the new beverage spread to Europe. By the beginning of the 17th century, so much coffee was passing through the Arabian port of Mocha that mocha became another word for coffee. According to a popular story, the fleeing Turks left behind bags of strange black beans. The Viennese ground and brewed the beans in northern Europe tasted coffee. Soon afterward the first coffeehouse, or 'café', was opend in Vienna.

During the 18th century, coffee culture spread to Asia and the New World. The Netherlands East Indies, now called Indonesia, dominated the world market for nearly a century. Brazil then took over the leading position and has held it for many decades. After Brazil, the leading coffee-producing countries are Colombia, Ivory Coast, Mexico, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Uganda, and India. The United States is the leading consumer, followed by Brazil, West Germany, Scandinavia, France, Great Britain, and Italy.
Harold F. Winters

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