Coffee is a beautiful, delicate, and tasty thing. Before I was a barista, I really had no idea how precious those little beans are. It takes 1000 of them just to make 1 pound of coffee. They are grown, picked, sorted, shipped, roasted, ground and brewed and there are countless individuals who partake in the process. On that note, Fair Trade Coffee is definitely the way to go. The Fair Trade Organization ensures the safety, well being, and fair treatment of growers and employees. Through the FTO, employees get high enough wages to support a family and can even get benefits through their employer. I'd also like to point out although a coffee may not have the organic label, there's still a good chance it's grown organic or mostly organic. Farms have to pay to be certified as an organic grower and sometimes they just don't have the money. So, even though it doesn't have the tag, you are still getting a quality product.
Ok, back to the beans. There are so many things to learn about coffee that there's no way I can fit it all into one little blog. I guess I can start with the history. It's known as "The Legend of the Dancing Goats." Way back during the 9th century in Ethiopia, which is still a coffee growing region today, a goat herder named Kaldi, noticed his goats acting a bit perkier than usual, or "dancing" as the legend goes. Later he found that they had eaten these little red berries and tried some himself. He felt energized and rejuvenated and brought some of the berries back to his village. This is where the story branches off. There are many different endings of of which being that Kaldi brought the berries to Muslim Holy man who disapproved of the berries and threw them into a fire. Then, an amazing aroma came from the fire and the burnt berries were then raked from the coals, boiled in water and there you have it! The worlds first cup of coffee... Ok, so there may be a few inaccuracies. To be totally honest, I don't think the Holy man threw the berries into a fire and made the first cup of coffee. If he did, it probably wouldn't have tasted that great. But it makes a good story.
However, there actually was a tribe, known as the Oromo tribe who ate the berries for their effects but we don't know exactly where the berries came from. We just know it was Ethiopia. Several centuries later, the 15th to be exact, coffee popped up in Arabia. Yemeni traders brought coffee from Ethiopia back to Yemen and began to cultivate it. There was quite a bit of controversy surrounding the drink, which I'll explain later. The first place it was found was in the Sufi monasteries in Yemen. Then from Mocha, a port in Yemen well known for it's coffee trade, it traveled to Egypt and to North Africa. Eventually, coffee moved north to Mecca and Medina, then on to Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, and Istanbul. Here's where we hit a few legal issues. In 1511, coffee was banned by the theological court in Mecca for it's effects, then lifted the ban in 1524 due to the drink's popularity. Cairo also experienced that same ban on coffee in 1532. In Ethiopia, coffee had been banned since the 12th century by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, but by the 19th century, the church ended the ban causing the drink to rapidly gain popularity during the 1880's. The biggest reason that the ban was lifted in Ethiopia was thanks to the Emperor, who enjoyed the drink himself.
Well, that's all I'm going to discuss today. I'll be back in a few days to tell you the rest of the story. Then, on to a new exciting subject. I have a poll on the home page if you would like to vote on the next subject. Happy Holidays! And until next time...Happy Brewing!
Ok, back to the beans. There are so many things to learn about coffee that there's no way I can fit it all into one little blog. I guess I can start with the history. It's known as "The Legend of the Dancing Goats." Way back during the 9th century in Ethiopia, which is still a coffee growing region today, a goat herder named Kaldi, noticed his goats acting a bit perkier than usual, or "dancing" as the legend goes. Later he found that they had eaten these little red berries and tried some himself. He felt energized and rejuvenated and brought some of the berries back to his village. This is where the story branches off. There are many different endings of of which being that Kaldi brought the berries to Muslim Holy man who disapproved of the berries and threw them into a fire. Then, an amazing aroma came from the fire and the burnt berries were then raked from the coals, boiled in water and there you have it! The worlds first cup of coffee... Ok, so there may be a few inaccuracies. To be totally honest, I don't think the Holy man threw the berries into a fire and made the first cup of coffee. If he did, it probably wouldn't have tasted that great. But it makes a good story.
However, there actually was a tribe, known as the Oromo tribe who ate the berries for their effects but we don't know exactly where the berries came from. We just know it was Ethiopia. Several centuries later, the 15th to be exact, coffee popped up in Arabia. Yemeni traders brought coffee from Ethiopia back to Yemen and began to cultivate it. There was quite a bit of controversy surrounding the drink, which I'll explain later. The first place it was found was in the Sufi monasteries in Yemen. Then from Mocha, a port in Yemen well known for it's coffee trade, it traveled to Egypt and to North Africa. Eventually, coffee moved north to Mecca and Medina, then on to Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, and Istanbul. Here's where we hit a few legal issues. In 1511, coffee was banned by the theological court in Mecca for it's effects, then lifted the ban in 1524 due to the drink's popularity. Cairo also experienced that same ban on coffee in 1532. In Ethiopia, coffee had been banned since the 12th century by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, but by the 19th century, the church ended the ban causing the drink to rapidly gain popularity during the 1880's. The biggest reason that the ban was lifted in Ethiopia was thanks to the Emperor, who enjoyed the drink himself.
Well, that's all I'm going to discuss today. I'll be back in a few days to tell you the rest of the story. Then, on to a new exciting subject. I have a poll on the home page if you would like to vote on the next subject. Happy Holidays! And until next time...Happy Brewing!
RSS Feed