Coffee traveled from the highlands of Africa to the world, undergoing a transformation from a religious drink to a mass beverage and then to a specialty aesthetic. This article chronologically sorts out the important milestones over more than a thousand years since coffee berries were discovered in Ethiopia in the 6th century AD: from early cultivation on the Arabian Peninsula, the first coffeehouses in Mecca and Istanbul, to the rise of European coffeehouses, the invention and improvement of coffee equipment, and then to the specialty coffee movement and Starbucks' global expansion, fully presenting how coffee became the beverage that is popular worldwide today. Front Street Coffee recommendations are also retained in the article.
The period when coffee berries were discovered in Ethiopia was approximately the 6th to 7th century AD. By the 10th century, a famous doctor named Rhazes in the Arab region was considered the first person to write about coffee in literature. In 1100, the first recorded coffee tree cultivation appeared on the Arabian Peninsula, and after the berries were roasted and boiled, locals called it "Gahwa," meaning "Islamic fine brew."
In the 13th century, people began drying coffee berries in the sunlight to reduce moisture and extend storage time, a practice still widely used today. In 1454, a Islamic religious figure, with a grateful heart, introduced this drink with mystical religious overtones to the public, and coffee gradually became a popular beverage commonly seen in the streets and alleys of Islamic regions. In 1475, two Syrians opened the earliest coffeehouse in the Arab region in Mecca—Kaveh Kanes Coffee House—which later became a lively place for singing, dancing, and telling legendary stories.
In 1480, a group of monks from the Catholic Franciscan order went to Ethiopia on behalf of the Roman Curia, saw coffee for the first time, and wrote about their experiences in travelogues. In 1505, the Ottoman Turkish army moved south and occupied the Arab region, and after tasting it, they fell in love with coffee. In 1554, the first coffeehouse appeared in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire—Kiva Han Coffee House. In 1582, the German doctor Rauwolf made a detailed record of coffee. In 1592, an Italian doctor and botanist drew the first woodcut depicting the form of the coffee plant and its fruit.
In 1600, Venetian merchants, under the name "Arabian wine," shipped the first commercial imports of coffee from Mocha in Yemen to Venice, and Italy subsequently opened its first coffee shop, which quickly became a fashionable place for people to date and discuss business. In 1616, after careful arrangements and meticulous deployment, the Dutch stole a coffee seedling and a small number of seeds from the Yemeni port of Aden and brought them to Amsterdam. In 1650, a Lebanese merchant established Europe's first coffeehouse at the University of Oxford in England. In 1651, Europe's second and Italy's first coffeehouse was born in Livorno, a port city on Italy's western coast.
In 1651, the world's first coffee advertisement appeared in the form of a handwritten flyer that read: "The first high-quality coffee drink publicly made and sold in England, by dealer Pasqua Rosée... in St. Michael's Alley in Cornhill... with guaranteed credibility." This flyer is still kept in the British Museum. In 1652, the first coffee shop opened in England, called "Penny University," meaning that for one penny one could enter the shop and drink a cup of coffee. In 1665, a locksmith in London invented the coffee grinder. In 1670, America's first coffee trader—Dorothy Jones of Boston—obtained a license to sell coffee.
In 1671, Nairon, a professor of Oriental languages in Rome, fabricated the story of "the shepherd Kaldi and the dancing flock" in order to compete for the right to explain the origin of coffee. In 1672, the first coffeehouse in Paris opened. In 1674, women in London launched a petition against coffee, complaining that their husbands always lingered in coffeehouses. In 1683, the first coffee shop in Vienna opened, with supplies coming from the defeated Turks on the battlefield. In the same year, a market mainly selling green coffee beans began to appear in New York, and coffee quickly replaced Must beer as the main breakfast beverage. In 1689, the first coffeehouse appeared on the streets of Paris, named Café Procope. In 1690, the Dutch became the world's earliest merchants engaged in coffee transportation and cultivation. In 1691, Boston, then the largest city in North America, opened North America's first coffeehouse, London Coffee House. In 1700, Philadelphia's earliest coffeehouse opened, named Ye Coffee House.
In 1706, Dutch East India Company governor Van Hoorn transplanted Java coffee seedlings to a hothouse in Amsterdam. In 1714, the mayor of Amsterdam gave a coffee seedling to King Louis XIV of France. In 1715, France transplanted coffee seedlings to its South American colony of Guiana, making it the earliest coffee-growing region in South America. In 1718, the Dutch transplanted coffee seedlings to their South American colony of Suriname. In 1721, Berlin's first coffee shop was born. In 1723, French officer Gabriel de Clieu planted the first coffee tree in Central America on the French Caribbean island of Martinique. In 1727, the wife of the governor of Guiana and Brazilian army officer Palheta developed mutual affection, and she generously gifted coffee seedlings, which were taken to be planted in Pará Province in northwestern Brazil, opening Brazil's coffee-growing industry. In 1730, the British introduced coffee to Jamaica. In 1740, the Dutch invented the washed method for processing coffee beans. In 1750, the Greek Coffee Shop in Rome opened. In 1763, Venice already had more than 2,000 coffee shops. In 1779, the Spanish activist Navarro brought coffee from Cuba into Costa Rica. In 1785, because coffee consumption in Prussia was restricted to the nobility, clergy, and senior officials, a coffee rebellion broke out. In 1788, Paris, France had more than 1,800 coffeehouses.
In 1800, a Paris archbishop invented a primitive coffee drip pot. In 1808, Boston established what was then the world's largest coffee specialty store, which was later destroyed by fire. In 1810, coffee farmer Le Roy on Bourbon Island discovered a new round-bean mutation of Bourbon, "Bourbon Pointu." In 1822, the first coffee extraction sample machine was made in France. In 1828, a priest brought coffee seedlings to the Hawaiian Islands, beginning coffee cultivation in Hawaii. In 1840, Scottish engineer Napier invented the siphon pot; another account holds that Loeff in Berlin, Germany, first invented the glass, upper-and-lower dual-chamber siphon extraction method between 1830 and 1840. In 1865, James Mason invented the coffee percolator. In the late 19th century, the Belgian Weidy invented the Belgian coffee maker.
In 1893, Italian Alfonso Bialetti invented the first moka pot. In 1898, Emile Laurent of the Belgian Congo discovered a new coffee variety, which was immediately taken over by a gardening company in Brussels and called "Robusta." In 1900, America's Hill Brothers pioneered the invention of vacuum packaging in tinplate or tin foil bags. In 1901, Italian Milan engineer Bezzera invented the steam coffee machine; in the same year, Japanese-American scientist Satori Kato invented instant coffee. In 1903, Germans invented coffee decaffeination technology; in the same year, Italian Pavoni obtained Bezzera's patent. In 1905, Pavoni founded a company for coffee machine production, setting off the first wave of Espresso coffee machines. In 1908, Germany's Melitta Bentz was the first to apply for a patent for filter paper and filter cup, which remains popular to this day. In 1910, George Washington invented early technology for large-scale production of instant coffee and founded a company for the mass commercial production of instant coffee. In 1933, the first automatic coffee extraction machine was improved. In 1935, a dwarf mutation of Bourbon was discovered in São Paulo, Brazil, and named Caturra. In 1938, Nestlé developed the modern "spray drying method" in Brazil; in the same year, Italian Achille Gaggia invented the lever-style espresso machine.
In 1941, German chemist Schlumbohm introduced the Chemex, a filter brewer combining a filter cup and bottom pot in one body, made entirely of heat-resistant glass, with filter paper about 20%~30% thicker than ordinary filter paper. In 1945, the coffee concentrate machine was perfected by installing a piston, and the piston generated high pressure, extracting a thick layer of coffee crema. In 1948, the Italian Gaggia company designed an improved espresso machine pressurized by the piston lever principle. After 1960, the United States invented the electric drip pot, also known as the American coffee machine. In 1961, the Italian Faema company produced the first pump-style espresso machine using a pump instead of a piston, the famous Faema E61. In 1964, General Foods invented the "freeze-drying method" for making instant coffee. In 1966, Alfred Peet opened a shop in San Francisco to promote fresh dark-roasted coffee beans. In 1971, Peet's three disciples founded Starbucks Coffee in Seattle. In 1973, the first fair trade coffee was imported from Guatemala to Europe. In 1974, Ms. Knutsen first proposed the concept of specialty coffee in Tea & Coffee Trade Journal. In 1983, the Specialty Coffee Association of America was founded. In 1987, Howard Schultz acquired Starbucks and introduced the Italian espresso coffeehouse concept. In 1988, the first fair trade label initiative was launched in Europe, calling for support for Mexican coffee farmers. In 1992, Starbucks was listed on NASDAQ, obtained capital, massively expanded its stores, and entered the international market.
2003 is hailed as the first year of the third wave of American specialty coffee—the aestheticization of coffee. In 2004, Seattle espresso machine owner Bergkand and engineer Dan Uwiler jointly developed the Synesso espresso machine, whose water temperature for each brewing head can be controlled. In 2006, the American company AIRPOBIE launched the AeroPress. In 2007, the Clover black coffee extraction system was introduced. This system combines the extraction principles of the siphon and French press and can regulate the brewing temperature and time of each cup of coffee. In 2008, VST president Vince Fedele invented the "coffee concentration extraction analyzer." In 2009, the well-known British coffee chain Costa Coffee insured the tongue of its Italian-born coffee cupper Gennaro Pelliccia with Lloyd's of London for 10 million pounds, making it the most expensive tongue; in the same year, the world's first cola-fermented coffee was created at Paradise Roasters; in the same year, Seattle espresso machine company owner Rick Bergkand launched the epoch-making pressure-profiling espresso machine Slayer, shocking the world. In 2010, Panama Geisha coffee set an auction record of $170.2 per pound. In 2011, the world's most expensive coffee was born, as rare Yemeni small-bean Mocha beans sold for $211.5 per pound, setting an estate bean auction price record. It is said that this coffee has a bold acidity and an aroma resembling grapes. At the end of June 2013, Starbucks closed its store in China World Trade Center Phase 1 on Beijing's East Third Ring Road, which was Starbucks' first store in mainland China.
Front Street Coffee recommendation: While learning about coffee history, you might as well try Front Street Coffee's bean selections and experience the evolution of coffee flavors from ancient times to the present.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
