THE HISTORY OF COFFEE
By Jill Cassaboom
Coffee has long held a standard in our society, one that some argue represents a culture of decadence and instant gratification, and some say portrays an attitude of determination, status, and dominance.  The human desire to lead, to be the top in everything, stems back to, but does not begin with, European colonialism.  But the colonization of the horn of Africa is where the story of coffee is said to have begun.
According to one story, the effect of coffee beans on behavior was noticed by a sheep herder from Caffa Ethopia named Kaldi as he tended his sheep. He noticed that the sheep became hyperactive after eating the red "cherries" from a certain plant when they changed pastures. He tried a few himself, and was soon as overactive as his herd. The story relates that a monk happened by and scolded him for "partaking of the devil's fruit." However the monks soon discovered that this fruit from the shiny green plant could help them stay awake for their prayers.  Originally the coffee plant grew naturally in Ethopia, but once transplanted in Arabia was monopolized by them. One early use for coffee would have little appeal today. The Galla tribe from Ethiopia used coffee, but not as a drink. They would wrap the beans in animal fat as their only source of nutrition while on raiding parties. The Turks were the first country to adopt it as a drink, often adding spices such as clove, cinnamon, cardamom and anise to the brew. Coffee was introduced much later to countries beyond Arabia whose inhabitants believed it to be a delicacy and guarded its secret as if they were top secret military plans. Transportation of the plant out of the Moslem nations was forbidden by the government. The actual spread of coffee was started illegally. it is said that no coffee seed sprouted outside Africa or Arabia until the 1600s—until Baba Budan. As legend has it, this Indian pilgrim-cum-smuggler left Mecca with fertile seeds strapped to his belly.  He carried them all the way to some mountains near Mysore, India, and started a farm there. Early in this century, the descendants of those original plants were found still growing fruitfully in the region.
Coffee was first imported to Italy. The vibrant trade between the Italian city of Venice and the Muslims in North Africa, Egypt, and the East brought a large variety of African goods, including coffee, to this leading European port. Venetian merchants decided to introduce coffee to the wealthy in Venice, charging them heavily for the beverage. In this way, coffee was introduced to Europe. But the end product didn’t amount to a hill of beans to many traders—they wanted the means of production. The race was on.
The Dutch cleared the initial hurdle in 1616, spiriting a coffee plant into continental Europe for the first time. Then in 1696 they founded the first European-owned coffee estate, on colonial Java, now part of Indonesia.  Business boomed and the Dutch sprinted ahead to adjacent islands. Confident beyond caution, Amsterdam began bestowing coffee trees on aristocrats around Europe.
In 1727, Brazil’s government wanted a cut of the coffee market.  But first, they needed an agent to smuggle seeds from a coffee country. Enter Lt. Col. Francisco de Melo Palheta, the James Bond of Beans.  Colonel Palheta was dispatched to French Guiana, ostensibly to mediate a border dispute. Eschewing the fortress-like coffee farms, suave Palheta choose a path of less resistance—the governor’s wife. The plan paid off: at a state farewell dinner she presented him with a sly token of affection: a bouquet spiked with seedlings. From these scant shoots sprout the world’s greatest coffee empire. By the 1800’s,  Brazil’s monster harvests would turn coffee from an elite indulgence to an everyday elixir, a drink for the people.
From fifteenth-century Africa to modern-day America, coffee has kept us awake, captured our hearts, and become a cultural symbol.  No doubt it will continue to be an integral part of American society in years to come.

Works Cited

"Coffee Beans from Arabia to Denver, Boulder, Lakewood, Littleton Colorado." Gourmet Coffee and Tea Delivered in Denver, Colorado Springs, and Boulder, Colorado CO from WeDeliverCoffee.Com. 23 May 2008 <http://www.wedelivercoffee.com/index.cfm?event=the-origin-of-coffee>.

"The Golden Age of Piracy - Caribbean Culture." BellaOnline -- The Voice of Women. 23 May 2008 <http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art31704.asp>.

"coffee” Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia. 23 May 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106003/coffee>.