So what do we know about coffee?
Actually there is more.
Who first thought of roasting the seed on a tree, boiling them and drinking the flavored water, and why?
The origins to this mystery are sketchy at best. All that is know is from a few scattered references in written documents of the fifteenth and sixteenth-century Middle East. Coffee arabic- the only coffee known to the world commerce at the time, was first discovered by Europeans traveling in Syria, Egypt and Turkey in the 16th century and named as such by European botanist Linnaeus.
Coffee arabica still provides the majority of the world's coffee, however it did not originate in Arabia as Linnaeus assumed but in the high forest of central Ethiopia. There are now well over a hundred species that have now been identified growing wild in various tropical regions, however Coffee arabica still stands out as the most robust with its richness in flavor and aroma.
So what caused someone to subject seeds of the coffee fruit to high temperatures that brought out its delicate flavor oils that speak so well to our pallets that it has brought on this whole coffee culture. Muslims tend to focus on legendary Shik Omar, who was thought to have been exiled to an infertile region of Arabia around 1260. Stories tell that he discover the benefits of roasted coffee while trying to avoid starvation by making a soup of coffee seeds. Finding them bitter he roasted them before boiling them.
Still others have claimed that farmers in Yemen or Ethiopia, while burning branches cut from coffee trees to cook their meals, discovered the value in the seeds roasted by the accidental process. However these stories are viewed by historians as "tales" rather than fact.
Historian tend to lean more at the Turks of who controlled southern Arabia in the sixteenth century. It is believed that they were trying to find a use for the by-products of drink called "quishr". It was made by boiling the husks of the coffee seed which created a drink that was sweet and caffieinated. The seed was then discarded.
However all speculations are just that. Seeds and nuts were known to be roasted to improve there taste long before the development of roasted coffee, it is possible that someone simply tried the same trick with coffee seeds.
Since then coffee has spread worldwide. Its rapid expansion was contributed to commodity crops in the seventeenth century that fed its global trade network,it was associated with sugar. In the eighteenth century Europeans introduced coffee to its second greatest companion: milk.
Little has changed since then to the basic method of making a cup of coffee. However great improvement have been made in the roasting process. Roastmasters are learning how to cultivate each bean to reach it full potential in your cup. We here at Missionary Coffee roast our own Honduran beans and have studied what it takes to make sure our coffee is the very best! We guarantee this is one you dont want to miss.
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