The history of coffee

[gordonartist]

Coffee has been in use for more than 1,000 years. Over this time, it has been considered a food, a medicine, an aphrodisiac, and even a wine.

Legend tells us coffee was accidentally discovered in the Middle East. The story goes that one day, Kaldi, a likeable goatherder, waited in vain all night for his herd to return from grazing. The next morning, he discovered his herd dancing around a cluster of shiny, dark-leafed shrubs with red berries. Kaldi found it was the red berries from the shrubs that were behind all of this odd behavior. After tasting the berries, Kaldi, too, began to dance with the goats.

About the time all of this merriment was going on, a sleepy but dutiful monk was on his way to prayer. Being a curious man, he took some of the red berries back to the monastery and began his own experimentation. A beverage was developed from boiling the berries. Soon, neither the monk nor the others in the monastery fell asleep during morning prayers.

Coffee drinking became widespread in the world of Islam over the 15th and 16th centuries. By the 1500's, the Arabs had brought coffee to Turkey. Supposedly, the Turks were the first to roast and grind coffee beans.

Coffee drinking was introduced to Europe in the 1600's and had become a veritable mania by the 1700's! After spreading to Western Europe, and hence to England, it is believed that Captain John Smith introduced coffee to North America by the early 1600's. By 1670, the first license to sell coffee was granted to a woman named Dorothy Jones. This constituted the beginning of the coffee trade in North America.

In 1969, the first coffee break on the moon was enjoyed, four hours before the July 20th historic walk. Apparently, an astronaut on the Eagle Spacecraft radioed Houston control to say, "If you'll excuse me a minute, I'm going to have a cup of coffee."

Interesting?

Take care,

Gordon

[Marie5656]

SnoozeControl wrote: That was interesting, Gordon.

Have you ever tried chocolate covered espresso beans? Yum!


I have a feeling that would be more of a caffiene rush than I could handle.:p

[sunny104]

SnoozeControl wrote: That was interesting, Gordon.

Have you ever tried chocolate covered espresso beans? Yum!


YUM!

I love espresso too, just got a little espresso machine! :-6