What Is Coffee? History, Benefits, Varieties, And Fun Facts

To make sure we’re all on the same page, let’s begin with the definition. The term “coffee” refers to a drink made by using very warm or hot water or coffee beans, which are already ground and roasted.

The coffee beans are harvested from coffee plants, which are members of the botanical species Coffea. The beans are inside the plant’s fruit, which is known as cherries. it takes about a full year for the fruit to mature, and then ripen, so its bean is able to be picked.

Plants (which are actually coffee trees trimmed to reduce their size) require mild temperatures, ample shade, and plenty of rain. Therefore, they are only able to be grown in regions that are temperate of the world between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. This is in the Western Hemisphere, that’s between Central Mexico in the north and the Amazon rainforest in the South. This area is called “the bean belt” or coffee belt where you get your coffee online from.

It’s slightly acidic and somewhat bitter. It’s thought to be a health-enhancing drink, it’s a mild stimulant due to the caffeine content. In addition, it’s the second-most popular beverage worldwide (right after tea, not counting water).

We’ll be looking at those features in more detail following a quick look at the history of coffee.

Here are the two most frequently told stories about the discovery of coffee.

Ethiopia

The coolest story involves goat herders from the Ethiopian region called Kaffa. (Hmm…Kaffa? Coffee? That’s cool.) Supposedly his goats unearthed the coffee plant. He experimented with chewing beans and was amazed at their stimulant effect, so he brought them to a monastery in the area.

The monks, who were awed by the experience, threw the beans in a fire to burn them out but were attracted by the smell of coffee beans after they were roasted. They rescued them by throwing them into boiling water to keep them. Eureka! Coffee!

It’s actually believed that Ethiopians were chewing coffee beans for centuries prior to that. It is believed that they would grind the beans in a mixture with animal fat or ghee, then take the mix with them during long journeys to be used for energy and stimulation.

Somewhere around the 1100s in the 1100s, some Ethiopian tribes were mixing coffee with porridge, and later, they started making wine out of the beans or boiling them to create coffee. The story may not be as thrilling as the goat herder’s tale but it’s much more plausible.

Yemen

The story’s origins in Yemen are also interesting. A priest (who was also a doctor) was banished to a Yemeni desert cave in which he was on the brink of starving to death. The possibility was that he found a coffee plant – or, in a less dramatic version of the story the bird brought him an elm branch from a coffee tree.

In the end, he found the cherries too bitter to be eaten raw, he threw the fruit into a burning fire to make them cook, but that resulted in them becoming too hard to chew. He then boiled them, and you can guess the details of his story that exile was lifted. He brought coffee beans back home and everyone was happy forever. The clergyman was declared a saint and an abbey was constructed in his honor.

Very nice article. Let’s see what we know for certain, though. Coffee beans were transported to Ethiopia towards Yemen at the end of the 15th century. Sufi monks consumed coffee to stay awake during their marathon prayers. The Yemeni town of Mocha (hmmm…mocha! Interesting!) also, was a central distribution center for the famous Mocha beans that grow in the mountains of this region, which were shipped to Europe and other ports starting in the 17th century.

Therefore, we can confirm for a fact that thousands of years ago individuals were still drinking coffee in the Arabian Peninsula and in the Middle East.