Coffee

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Coffee

Coffee (Coffea arabica ) Perennial shrub producing a berry containing seeds ("beans") that are processed to make coffee. Native to Ethiopia, Africa; transported to Arabia & cultivated in 15th century; S. America now greatest producer. Today 2d only to petroleum in value traded internationally; 2d most important beverage in western world.

Coffee beans are roasted, ground and brewed to make a beverage that is drunk, ranking just below tea in world popularity. Among products from nature, coffee is second only to petroleum in terms of value traded annually on the international market. Long before humans began growing it, the coffee plant, Coffea arabica, was native to tropical hill country of Ethiopia in East Africa.

More than 1,000 years ago people living in that part of the world discovered that when they chewed bright red berries of coffee plants, they got a boost of energy. Later, a mixture of coffee fruits and fat would be taken by Ethiopian natives on their hunts and used as a survival staple, similar to the way American Indians once used pemmican. It was not many centuries later before Arab traders living across the Red Sea from Ethiopia brought coffee plants back to their homeland and began to cultivate them in order to brew a stimulating beverage. Coffee drinking spread from Arabia to Egypt about 1510, and the beverage reached England and Europe a hundred years later. Captain John Smith who helped found the colony of Virginia in 1607 is believed to have introduced coffee as a beverage to the western hemisphere, and by 1668 coffee had become New York City's favorite breakfast drink. But it was not until 1718 that the Dutch actually began growing coffee plants in the Americas--on the east coast of South America.

In the wild, coffee plants are small evergreen trees growing up to 25 feet tall. White flowers with a delicate, sweet fragrance are clustered along leaf axils of the outer branches. In 7 to 9 months the ovule of the flower has matured into a green, turning to yellow, then shiny red fruit called a cherry, which becomes black when dried. Each fruit contains two seeds, the so-called coffee "beans."

Producing drinkable coffee requires a complicated process. After the beans have been extracted from the cherry, the outer skin and most of the pulp is removed by machinery, and the wet mass is allowed to ferment in order to eliminate the remaining pulp. An alternate method involves thoroughly drying the beans in sunlight or in hot-air dryers, then mechanically hulling them. Afterward the beans are roasted, turning them a rich brown color and bringing out the coffee aroma. Next the beans may be ground between heavy rollers and packaged immediately or else stored and shipped to specialized coffee outlets. Finally the grounds are brewed in hot water, typically using a percolator or filter and drip method.

Until the late 1800s, the world's supply of coffee was obtained almost entirely from southern Arabia. Now coffee is grown on plantations in tropical and semi-tropical countries around the globe, with Brazil being the highest producer, followed by Columbia. North America, Africa and Asia each produce about a fifth of the world supply. Every year altogether about 11 billion pounds of green coffee beans are harvested.

Caffeine is the ingredient contained in coffee that gives people a stimulating, "stay-awake" effect. Within five minutes after drinking a cup of coffee, the caffeine contained in it has reached the bloodstream. Caffeine stimulates individual cells in the body, causing increased heart rates, increased acid in the stomach, and up to a ten percent rise in metabolic rate. Because of the effects of caffeine and other chemical ingredients, coffee has become a popular folk remedy for asthma, fever, flu and headache. Tea and colas are among the other beverages that are high in caffeine. Taken in large amounts, caffeine can cause harmful side-effects including nervousness, rapid or irregular heartbeats, excess stomach acid, and elevated cholesterol.

Many people enjoy the taste of coffee but don't want caffeine in their bloodstream. The answer for them is decaffeinated coffee. The first successful process for removing caffeine without destroying its flavor was developed by a German in 1906. That early decaf coffee was marketed as "Sanka". Today, massproduction methods involve percolating the beans in hot water that has been saturated with natural compounds that dissolve out the caffeine. A cheaper but less natural process employs chemical solvents to extract caffeine from steam-softened coffee beans. Nearly 50 pounds of caffeine is recovered from each ton of processed coffee. In the U. S. most caffeine removed during the decaf coffee process ends up being added to commercial soft drinks.

Did you know? Although coffee originated in Africa and 60 percent of Ethiopia's modern export earnings still come from coffee, few Africans drink coffee today. Instead they prefer tea or soft drinks. It's mainly in Europe and the Americas where coffee is considered such an important part of daily life.

Hattox, Ralph S. 1985 Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East (Near Eastern Studies, No. 3) University of Washington Press, Seattle.

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