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The history of coffee does not go back as far as one might imagine. Compared to many other beverages recorded throughout the history of man, such as tea, wine, and beer, coffee is a relative newcomer to the beverage world. Still, coffee has a very colorful and interesting background.
575 C.E. - The oldest reference to early coffee cultivation in Yemen. Some scholars claim the year 850 C.E. as the first appearance of cultivated coffee. Regardless, at some point during this time frame, some farmers in Yemen were getting involved with growing coffee. The beans they used were brought over from Abyssinia where coffee originated, but only grew wild.
Mid-8th century - Legend has it that Khalid's goats eat some coffee cherries and dance about, prompting Khalid to consume some himself, thus opening his, and humanity's, eyes to the wonders of coffee.
Early 10th century - Rhazes, a Persian doctor, refers to coffee in the medical encyclopedia he wrote. He calls the coffee bean bunchum, and discusses its positive effects. Another Muslim physician, Avicenna, makes similar references to coffee in his own works, dating about a century later.
Mid-13th century - Legend has it that Sheikh Omar, while in exile with his disciples, survives by consuming coffee cherries and their own version of qahwah.
14th-15th century - A Sufi order known as Shadhiliyya spreads coffee drinking throughout the Islamic world. Coffee was then known as qahwah, and it is very different from the cuppa enjoyed today. The biggest difference is that the beans were un-roasted.
Mid-15th century - The Mufti of Aden returns from a journey to Persia to extol the benefits of drinking coffee. This, along with the activities of the Sufis, gives coffee a firm foothold in the Islamic world.
Sometime around 1470 -1475 - The first coffee shop, Kiva Han, opens in Constantinople (not Istanbul).
1511 - Kair Bey, then governor of Mecca, attempts to ban coffee under the auspices that it is an intoxicant. Not long after the ban takes effect, word gets back to the sultan of Cairo (which at that time was the capitol of the Muslim kingdom) who was none too happy with the governor's edict. After a harsh lecture from the sultan, Kair Bey removed the ban, and the people of Mecca were once again free to enjoy coffee.
1512 - Kair Bey is exposed as an extortioner and robber, and he is sentenced to death by the sultan of Cairo. Coffee drinkers everywhere guffaw.
1534 - Anti-coffee sentiment erupts from some mosques in Cairo. Soon the entire city is divided on the question of whether coffee is allowed or forbidden under Islamic law. A judge hears the arguments of both sides, agrees that coffee has already been judged as allowed under Islamic law, and has coffee served to all present in order to unify the two opposing sides.
Around 1580 - Amurath III issues an edict equating coffee with wine and bans coffee in Constantinople after pressure from religious leaders. The people nod and wink and go on about drinking their coffee. Coffee houses continue to thrive. The ban does not last long.
1583 - German botanist Leonard Rauwolf mentions coffee in a book he writes about his travels through the Middle East. It is the first printed description of coffee in a European book.
1587 - Sheik Abd-al-Kadir writes, "In Praise of Coffee," an early paean to the bean:
Oh coffee, You dispel the worries of the great, you point the way to those who have wandered from the path of knowledge. Coffee is the drink of the friends of God, and of His servants who seek wisdom.
As coffee steeps in the cup it gives off a musky aroma and turns the color of ink. No one can understand the truth until he drinks of its frothy goodness. Those who condemn coffee as causing man harm are fools in the eyes of God.
Coffee is the common man's gold, and like gold it brings to every man the feeling of luxury and nobility. Coffee differs from pure, gentle milk only in its taste and color. Take time in your preparation of coffee and God will be with you and bless you and your table. Where coffee is served there is grace and splendor and friendship and happiness.
All cares vanish as the coffee cup is raised to the lips. Coffee flows through your body as freely as your life's blood, refreshing all that it touches; look you at the youth and vigor of those who drink it. Whoever tastes coffee will forever forswear the liquor of the grape. Oh drink of God's glory, your purity brings to man only well being and nobility.
1592 - Italian scientist Alpinus writes about the coffee plant and the drink in his book The Plants of Egypt. It is the first recorded, in-depth study of coffee by a European scientist.
Late 16th century - Legend has it, after hearing of the evils of coffee from some priests, Pope Clement VIII tries coffee for himself. He becomes enamored with the drink, and has coffee baptized in order to reclaim the drink from Satan.
1600 - Legend has it that Baba Budan smuggled coffees beans back to India with him after a pilgrimage to Mecca, thus introducing coffee to that part of the world.
1615 - Coffee is slowly introduced to Europe through Venice, Italy. It is originally sold as a medicine and is very expensive. Around this same time, Italian author Pierre Della Valle writes to his friends back in Venice, from Constantinople, about the wonders of coffee and promises to bring some home with him.
1616 - Pieter Van dan Broecke returns to Amsterdam with coffee from Mocha, Yemen. It is the first recorded instance of coffee being brought into Northern Europe.
1630 - Englishman Captain John Smith mentions the "coffa" drink enjoyed by the Turks in his book The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captain John Smith. This is the same Captain John Smith who helped found the Jamestown colony in 1607.
May, 1637 - Nathaniel Conopios, a Greek student studying at Balliol College, Oxford, becomes the first person to ever brew coffee in England. Inadvertently invents the college stay-up-all-night-cram-session as well.
1640 - English botanist John Parkinson authors the first English language botanical description of the coffee plant in his book Theatrum Botanicum. He calls it, "Arbor Bon cum sua Buna" or "The Turks' Berry Drink."
Also in 1640 - A Dutch merchant named Wurffbain imports the first shipment of coffee from Mocha, Yemen and offers it for sale in Amsterdam.
1644 - P.de la Roque brings coffee and coffee paraphernalia back with him from the Middle East to Marseilles, France.
Mid-17th century - Amurath IV bans coffee, but this sultan is serious about it. Punishments for violations range from beatings to death. The ban is due more to the supposed seditious nature of the coffee houses rather than anything having to do with coffee itself.
1652 - Pasqua Rosée opens the first coffee house in London.
1658 - The Dutch begin cultivating coffee on the island of Ceylon, though the practice does not really become productive until 1690.
1663 - Regular imports of coffee from Mocha, Yemen begin arriving in Amsterdam.
1664 - Pasqua Rosée, after tiring of peddling coffee in England, moves to Holland and begins selling coffee there.
1675 - King Charles the II tries to ban coffee houses in England on the grounds of sedition. It doesn't work, so he taxes them instead.
1680 - First German coffee house opens in Hamburg, Germany, about ten years after coffee's introduction to the country.
1683 - The Turks begin a siege of the city of Vienna. Amongst the supplies they brought with them was coffee. Eventually the Turkish army was defeated and driven away from Vienna, largely thanks to the espionage efforts of one Franz Kolschitzky, a Pole who fought on the side of the Austrians. After the Turkish retreat, the Viennese army plundered the wealth that the Turk army had left behind. Since no one else wanted it, Kolschitzky ended up with the coffee. He used the beans to teach the Viennese how to prepare and drink coffee. Kolshcitzky is honored as the patron saint of coffee houses in Vienna.
1689 - The first French cafe, Cafe de Procope, opens in Paris.
1696 - The Dutch begin the cultivation of coffee in Java. After the first crop of plants is destroyed by a flood, the crop is re-planted in 1699. Soon after, Java becomes synonymous with coffee.
Also in 1696 - The King's Arms becomes the first coffee house to open in New York
1707 - The first coffee periodical is published in Leipzig, Germany by Theophilo Georgi. It is titled The New and Curious Coffee House.
1711 - The first shipment of Java coffee arrives in Amsterdam.
1715 - Voyage de l'Arabie Hereuse by Jean La Roque is published in France. It is the first French book to detail information about coffee and its introduction to France.
1721 - Leonard Meisner writes the first in-depth book on chocolate, coffee, and tea in Germany.
1723 - The first coffee plantation appears in Brazil at the Portuguese colony of Para. It fails, but they try again and are successful in 1727.
1730 - The English begin cultivating coffee in Jamaica.
1732 - Johann Sebastian Bach composes Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Be still, stop chattering), better known as the Coffee Cantata. It is a light-hearted musical piece about coffee drinkers and their detractors.
1746 - An edict is issued by the Swedish government to dissuade against, "the misuse and excesses of tea and coffee drinking."
1750 - Coffee cultivation reaches Guatemala.
1756 - Coffee drinking becomes banned in Sweden. The ban does little good, and it is finally repealed in 1769.
1770 - Chicory is used for the first time with coffee in Holland.
1773 - Coffee cultivation continues to spread throughout Brazil, reaching Rio and São Paulo.
1774 - A Belgian monk in Rio introduces the coffee plant to the Capuchin monastery.
1776 - Venice bans coffee houses on the grounds on immorality and vice. The ban is ineffective.
1777 - Fredrick the Great of Prussia issues a manifesto denouncing the drinking of coffee and encouraging the drinking of beer. This was largely a reaction to coffee becoming a more popular beverage than beer, the de-facto national drink of Prussia at the time.
1779 - Coffee cultivation is introduced to Costa Rica via Cuba.
1789 - President-elect George Washington is welcomed at the Merchants' coffee house in New York.
1790 - Coffee cultivation is introduced to Mexico via the West Indies.
1804 - The first shipment of goods, including coffee, from the East Indies arrives in Salem, Massachusetts.
1808 - Coffee is introduced to Colombia via Venezuela.
1821 - The English poet Lord Byron immortalizes coffee in his epic poem Don Juan:
These were ranged round, each in its crystal ewer,
And fruits, and date-bread loaves closed the repast,
And Mocha's berry, from Arabia pure,
In small fine China cups, came in at last;
Gold cups of filigree made to secure
The hand from burning underneath them placed,
Cloves, cinnamon, and saffron too were boil'd
Up with the coffee, which (I think) they spoil'd.
- from Lord Byron's Don Juan, Canto the III, LXIII.
1825 - Coffee cultivation reaches the shores of Hawaii.
1834 - First recorded instance of coffee being exported from Colombia.
1840 - Coffee cultivation is introduced to El Salvador.
Also 1840 - The English begin cultivating coffee in India
1873 - Ariosa packaged coffee goes on sale in Pittsburgh. It is the first packaged coffee to succeed commercially in the U.S.
1878 - Coffee cultivation is introduced to Central Africa by the British.
1881 - The New York City Coffee Exchange is established. It begins business the next year.
1887 - Coffee cultivation is introduced to Indo-China (Indonesia).
1888 - Slavery is abolished in Brazil. This leads to a collapse of the coffee market (since many of the coffee plantations used slave labor), and massive governmental and social change within the country.
1896 - Coffee cultivation is introduced to Kenya. This is now regarded as a brilliant idea.
1899 - Soluble (instant) coffee is invented in Chicago by Satori Kato, a Japanese scientist living abroad (Note: Some sources have Kato inventing soluble coffee in Japan in 1901.).
1900 - Hills Brothers Coffee in San Francisco becomes the first company to vacuum package ground coffee in containers.
1901 - The Kato Coffee Comapny introduces soluble coffee and the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY.
1902 - Dr. T.D. Crothers equates coffee addiction with addiction to alcohol and morphine in his book Morphinism and Narcomanias from other Drugs.
1905 - The first patent for a decaffeination process is granted in Germany to Kaffe-Handels Aktiengesellschaft.
1910 - A German caffeine -free coffee is first sold in the U.S. under the name Dekafa.
1914 - First ever National Coffee Week in the U.S.
1920 - America's prohibition era begins. Coffee sales skyrocket.
1923 - In a report submitted to the Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee, Professor S.C. Prescott describes coffee as a, "wholesome, helpful, satisfying drink for the great majority of people."
1927 - Brazil celebrates the bicentennial of coffee cultivation in the country.
1942 - Maxwell House instant coffee becomes a staple in the ration kits of U.S. soldiers during WWII.
1946 - Achilles Gaggia invents his espresso machine. This machine is the basis for modern-day espresso machines.
1959 - Juan Valdez becomes the spokesman for Colombian coffee, an ad campaign still in use to this day (In fact, in 2006 a new Juan Valdez was brought in for the original Juan Valdez, who was ready for retirement.).
1971 - The first Starbucks opens in Seattle's Pike's Place market. This is the genesis of the specialty coffee industry.
1974 - Joe Dimaggio becomes the spokeman for Mr. Coffee. Sales of Mr. Coffee's drip machines go through the roof. The drip coffee machine soon becomes a common U.S. household appliance.
1982 - The Specialty Coffee Association of America is founded. It is currently the world's largest specialty coffee trade organization.
2005 - Starbucks reaches ten-thousand locations world-wide.
2006 - H.T. Brown Coffee is founded.
Sources
All About Coffee (2nd Edition), William H. Ukers. Copyright 1935 by William H. Ukers under International Copyright Union.
The World Encyclopedia of Coffee, Mary Banks, Christine McFadden, Catherine Atkinson. Copyright 1999, 2002 by Lorenz Books, London.
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