Your Everyday Coffee

You drink it every morning. It perks you up and keeps you awake. It completes your day. Nothing beats your cup of coffee. But have you ever thought about where your coffee comes from? From a plantation somewhere in Hawaii or in the Mediterranean or somewhere similar, might be your answer.
Well yeah, you're probably correct but let's go to the specifics. Grab your cup and continue to read on.

Let's start with the etymology of the. It is believed that the word "coffee" came from Kaffa, Ethiopia, the place where coffee first originated.

The Arabs called coffee "qahhwa". The Ottoman Turkish borrowed the word and coined their own, "kahve". Then later on, the Italians used "kahve" as basis for the word "caffè." However, the word "coffee" itself wasn't used prior to the early 1600s.

Coffee cultivation began in the highlands of Ethiopia in the early 9th century. Due to trades and explorations, coffee dotted down from the mountains to Egypt and Yemen. And by the 15th century, coffee had reached most of Persia, Egypt, Turkey, and northern Africa.

But even though coffee was reaching a far greater audience or market, it was never that popular, well at least not at first. Some of the conservative imams were against the stimulating effect of the coffee. The same conservative views brought a ban on coffee and coffee houses in Cairo, Egypt.

However, the popularity of coffee couldn't be stopped. Soon enough, the bans were lifted and coffee began to flow. From the world of the Ottomans, coffee invaded Europe with fervor. In less than two centuries, coffee became a very popular drink in Europe.

The importation and propagation of coffee in the Western world can be owed to the Dutch. They were the one's who started large scale importation of coffee and started plantations in Java, which at the time was colonized by the Dutch.

It was the same story when coffee came to the American colonies. The colonies didn't welcome the drink at first. They found that it didn't meet their expectations and was never built to be a substitute to one of their favorite drinks, anything with alcohol.

But in time, Americans began to like coffee. By the 19th century, coffee was slowly becoming a choice drink and by the end of it, they were clamoring for more.

And now, coffee is a staple drink not only in the U.S. but almost in any other country in the world. So there, a short story where that cup you're drinking came from. Sip your coffee slowly. It took that cup of coffee centuries to reach your taste buds.

The best you can do is enjoy that cup to the fullest. Let's drink to that.