When Were Coffee Makers Invented Along Coffee's Route West?

Coffee began in Ethiopia, where by roughly the 11th century people boiled the leaves and fruit in water and treated the drink as medicinal. Yemen started cultivating it in the mid-14th century, and in 1555 Ottoman governor Özdemir Pasha brought coffeehouses to Istanbul, where beans were roasted, ground to powder and simmered in water over charcoal embers.

The Ottoman court added a chief coffee maker, the kahvecibaşı, to brew for the Sultan and his guests. From there coffee moved along trade routes into Venice, Paris, Vienna, London, the Netherlands, Germany and the United States, each stop adding its own equipment and cafe customs. Brewing tools evolved alongside that spread, which is why asking when coffee makers were invented has no single date.

Coffee, the beverage that is now popular all over the world, was first born on the African plateau. From a medicinal plant in Ethiopia, to an everyday drink on the Arabian Peninsula, and then to a palace treasure of the Ottoman Empire, coffee traveled westward along trade routes and conquests, eventually taking root in Europe and giving rise to a unique cafe culture. This article will take you through the complete journey of coffee from its discovery to its spread across the globe, covering important milestones such as Yemen, Turkey, Venice, Paris, Vienna, London, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States, while preserving Front Street brand's recommendations and interpretations of coffee culture.

The History of Coffee

Introduction:

Ethiopia

In the 11th century AD, Ethiopians discovered this plant for the first time. It bore white flowers like jasmine and red fruit that resembled cherries. At the time, people boiled the leaves of this "magical fruit" in water and believed the resulting liquid had medicinal value. As coffee's fame gradually spread to other countries, its centuries-long global journey began.

Yemen

Coffee soon spread to the Arabian Peninsula. In the mid-14th century, Yemen began cultivating coffee, while three hundred years earlier, Ethiopians had already started drinking this beverage. Yemen's climate and fertile soil provided ideal conditions for coffee to thrive, allowing the local area to harvest abundant coffee cherries.

Turkey

In 1555, Özdemir Pasha, who served as the Ottoman governor in Yemen, brought coffeehouses to Istanbul. During his stationing there, he had already become deeply fascinated by this drink, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent.

In the palaces of the Ottoman Empire, people invented a completely new way of drinking coffee: roasting coffee beans over fire, grinding them into fine powder, and then slowly cooking them in water among charcoal embers. With this novel brewing method and alluring aroma, coffee's fame quickly spread even farther.

Coffee soon became an indispensable part of palace culinary culture and was extremely popular in the court. A position of "chief coffee maker" (kahvecibaşı) was therefore added to the court staff list. The chief coffee maker's duty was to brew coffee for the Sultan or his distinguished guests, and the selection criteria were loyalty, reliability, and the ability to keep secrets. In Ottoman historical records, some chief coffee makers later even rose to become Grand Viziers of the Sultan.

Coffee gradually spread from the palace to noble residences and then to the homes of ordinary people. Istanbul residents quickly became addicted to this beverage. People bought raw coffee beans, roasted them at home in pans, ground them with mortars, and finally brewed them in coffee pots called "cezve."

Most people came to know coffee through coffeehouses. The first coffeehouse was named Kiva Han and opened in the Tahtakale district, after which other coffeehouses sprang up all over the city. Coffeehouses and coffee culture quickly became an indispensable part of Istanbul's social culture. People gathered here all day to read, write, play chess, play backgammon, and discuss poetry and literature.

Thanks to merchants and travelers passing through Istanbul, Turkish coffee quickly spread to Europe and eventually to the whole world.

Venice

Europeans tasted coffee for the first time in 1615, when Venetian merchants familiar with the beverage in Istanbul brought it back to Venice. At first, this drink was sold on the streets by lemonade vendors, but by 1645, Italy's first coffeehouse had officially opened. Coffeehouses quickly sprang up across the country, and like in many other places, they became places where people from all walks of life—especially artists and students—gathered to chat.

Travelers who discovered coffee during their stays in Istanbul praised its incomparable taste in letters sent back to Marseille. In 1644, the French ambassador Monsieur de la Roque brought the first batch of coffee beans, as well as the equipment for preparing and serving coffee, to Marseille.

Marseille

In 1660, merchants from Marseille, who had already fallen in love with this beverage when they first tasted it in Istanbul, brought coffee to the city, and coffee in coffeehouses further enhanced its appeal. Marseille's first coffeehouse opened in 1671. At first, coffeehouses mainly served merchants and travelers, but they soon became popular among people from all social classes.

Paris

In 1669, Hoşsohbet Nüktedan Süleyman Ağa introduced coffee to Paris. He was sent by Sultan Mehmed IV to serve as ambassador to the court of King Louis XIV of France. Among this Ottoman ambassador's possessions were several bags of coffee, which he described to the French as a "magical drink."

Süleyman Ağa soon became a favorite of Parisian high society. The Parisian nobility considered it a great honor to be invited to share a cup of Turkish coffee with Süleyman Ağa, and he impressed his guests with pleasant wit and conversation. The ambassador told countless stories about coffee and thus earned the nickname "Hoşsohbet" (meaning conversationalist) or "raconteur."

Paris's first true coffeehouse, Café de Procope, opened in 1686. It soon became a favorite of literary figures, and famous poets, playwrights, actors, and musicians often frequented it. Many celebrities, including Rousseau, Diderot, and Voltaire, were captivated by coffee at Café de Procope. Under the leadership of Café de Procope, coffeehouses opened on almost every street in Paris.

Vienna

In 1683, the second siege of Vienna ended. As the Turks retreated, they left behind a large amount of supplies, including tents, livestock, grain, and about 500 bags of coffee. The Viennese did not know what was in these mysterious sacks. A Viennese captain said the coffee beans were for feeding camels and decided to dump the sacks into the Danube River.

News of the mysterious sacks reached a gentleman named Kolschitzky. He had lived among the Turks for many years and had served as a spy for the Austrians during the siege. He asked for those bags of coffee, which he was familiar with, as payment for successfully completing his espionage mission.

Kolschitzky first went door to door offering Viennese people small cups of Turkish coffee, and later sold it in a large tent he opened to the public. Before long, he taught the Viennese how to make and enjoy this beverage. Thus the Viennese became familiar with coffee.

The Viennese coffeehouses that opened during this period set an example for coffeehouses in many other countries.

London

In 1637, the Turks introduced this beverage to Oxford, and the English first became acquainted with coffee. It quickly became popular among students and teachers who founded the "Oxford Coffee Club."

Oxford's first coffeehouse opened in 1650 and was called "The Angel."

In 1652, a Greek named Pasqua Rosée opened London's first coffeehouse. With extensive knowledge of how to make and brew Turkish coffee, he introduced this incomparable delicacy to friends and customers.

By 1660, London's coffeehouses had become an indispensable part of local social culture. The public called coffeehouses "penny universities" because writers, artists, poets, lawyers, politicians, and philosophers often frequented them. London's coffeehouses offered customers far more than a cup of hot coffee: a one-penny entrance fee allowed people to benefit from the intelligent conversations around them.

The Netherlands

The history of coffee in the Netherlands is clearly different from that of other countries, because for many years the Dutch focused more on coffee's value as a trade commodity than as a beverage itself.

Coffee first entered the Netherlands through Yemen in the 17th century. The Dutch began cultivating coffee in their colonies. In 1699, coffee beans began to be planted on the island of Java, laying the foundation for coffee plantations in Indonesia. In 1711, the first batch of Java coffee beans was sold on the Amsterdam public market.

The Netherlands' first coffeehouse opened in the 1660s. With their unique style, ornate decorations, cozy atmosphere, and lush gardens, they stood out among coffeehouses in various countries. These coffeehouses were mainly located in the financial districts of Dutch cities, thus becoming places for business meetings among merchants and financiers.

In the 1680s, the Dutch introduced coffee to Scandinavia, which today has the highest per capita coffee consumption in the world.

Germany

Coffee was introduced to Germany in 1675. The earliest coffeehouses opened in Hamburg, Bremen, and Hanover between 1679 and 1680.

At first, coffee was regarded as a drink of the nobility. It was not until the early 18th century that the middle and lower classes began to frequent coffeehouses, and they were late to make and drink coffee at home.

Because coffeehouses were a male domain, middle-class women established their own "coffee clubs."

The oldest coffeehouse in Europe is located in Leipzig, Germany, and is as famous as Café Procope in Paris. In 1694, Heinrich Schütze opened "Coffe Baum" at Kleine Fleischergasse 4, offering coffee for free. Over the following three centuries, many famous people gathered here and enjoyed this popular beverage. Gottsched, Klinger, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and Wagner frequented the place. Goethe, Lessing, Bach, and Grieg were also regulars. In the Schumann Room on the ground floor, Robert Schumann often met friends at his regular table between 1828 and 1844. Revolutionaries such as Blum, Liebknecht, and Bebel also regarded "Coffe Baum" as their second living room. In 1990, Helmut Kohl and Lothar de Maizière discussed the possibility of unification here.

The sandstone sculpture above the entrance of "Coffe Baum" is especially famous. It depicts the Ottoman Empire offering a cup of coffee to Cupid, symbolizing the meeting of the Christian West and the Islamic East. It is said that, in addition to Augustus, this strong man donated the sculpture in gratitude for the landlady's careful care. On the third floor is one of the most important coffeehouse museums in the world, with more than 500 exhibits from 300 years of Saxon coffee and cultural history displayed across more than 15 rooms.

The United States

Coffee reached North America in 1668. New York's first coffeehouse, "The King's Arms," opened in 1696.

In 1714, the Dutch gave coffee trees from their Java plantations to Louis XIV. The saplings were planted in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.

In 1723, a French sailor named Gabriel du Clieu brought coffee saplings from the Jardin des Plantes to Martinique. From there, coffee cultivation spread to other Caribbean islands as well as Central and South America.

In 1727, a Portuguese sailor named de Mello Palheta transported coffee saplings from French Guiana to Brazil. Today, Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer, accounting for 35% of global coffee production.

In 1730, the British began cultivating coffee in Jamaica.

By the mid-19th century, coffee had become one of the most important commodities in world trade.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.