It took more than two thousand years for coffee to travel from the Arabian Peninsula to the rest of the world. This article traces the spread of coffee cultivation, from the Arabs who began growing it in 525 BC, to its introduction to Europe and Asia in the 15th century, and its spread throughout the tropics in the 18th century. It also focuses on the introduction and rise of coffee in China—Taiwan led the way in 1884, Hainan saw coffee brought back by overseas Chinese in the early 20th century, and Yunnan small-bean coffee, with its terroir advantage of large day-night temperature differences, has developed a unique style that is rich but not bitter, aromatic but not harsh, with fruity notes, praised by international coffee merchants as top quality. The article also covers the botanical classification and growing conditions of the coffee tree.
As early as 525 BC, people in the Arabian region were already cultivating coffee, and the local practice of chewing roasted coffee beans gradually became popular. By 890 AD, Arab merchants exported coffee beans to Yemen, and the Yemenis were the first to process coffee beans into a beverage. Entering the 15th century, coffee was introduced to Europe and Asia one after another, and then quickly spread to the Americas. By the 18th century, coffee was widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions around the world, and had become one of the world's three major beverages. Its annual sales rank first among the three major beverages, reaching three times that of cocoa and four times that of tea. Although coffee has been cultivated worldwide for more than two thousand years, China's involvement with coffee cultivation spans only a few hundred years. In 1884, Taiwan was the first region to begin introducing coffee. In the early 20th century, overseas Chinese brought coffee back from Malaysia to plant in Hainan. Only after that did the tropical and subtropical provinces and regions in the south gradually promote coffee cultivation. Although it started late, the coffee produced in Hainan and Yunnan is outstanding in quality and unique in flavor, enjoying a good reputation internationally. Some foreign merchants buy it at low prices, process it, and resell it on the international market, turning it into a world-class beverage that commands a high price. Particularly striking is the small-bean coffee grown in Yunnan. Because of the large day-night temperature difference there, which is conducive to the accumulation of substances in the coffee, it presents a characteristic of being rich but not bitter, aromatic but not harsh, rich in oils, and with fruity notes when tasted, and is therefore praised by domestic and international coffee merchants as "the best quality coffee in the world."
The coffee tree originated in Ethiopia, Africa. From a botanical classification perspective, the coffee tree is an evergreen tree belonging to the subgenus Coffea of the family Rubiaceae; and what people commonly call coffee beans are actually the seeds inside the fruit of the coffee tree, named only because they resemble beans in appearance. Climate plays a decisive role in coffee cultivation, and the coffee tree is only suitable for growing in tropical or subtropical regions, so the area between 25 degrees north and south latitude is often called the coffee belt or coffee zone. However, not all land within this zone can produce high-quality coffee trees.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
