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The history of coffee

For us Westerners coffee is 300 years old, but in the East it was widespread as a beverage, in every class of society, since earlier times. The first definite dates go back to 800 b.C.; but already Homer, and many Arabian legends, tells the story of a mysterious black and bitter beverage with powers of stimulation. In the year 1000 about, Avicenna was administering coffee as a medicine. And there is a strange story, dating from 1400, of a Yemeni shepherd who, having observed some goats cropping reddish berries from a bush, and subsequently becoming restless and excited, reported the strange scene to a monk. The latter boiled the berries, and then distilled a bitter beverage, rich in strength, and capable of dispersing sleep and weariness.

No matter how the discovery occurred, the fact remains that the coffee plant was born in Africa in an Ethiopian region (Kaffa). From there it spread to Yemen, Arabia and Egypt, where it developed drastically, and entered popular daily life.

By the late 1500, the first traders were selling coffee in Europe, thus introducing the new beverage into Western life and custom. Most of the coffee exported to European markets came from the ports of Alexandria and Smyrna. But the increasing demand of a growing market, improved botanical knowledge of the coffee plant, and high taxes imposed at the ports of shipment, led dealers and scientists to try transplanting coffee in other countries. The Dutch in their overseas colonies (Batavia and Java), the French in 1723 in Martinique, and later on in the Antilles, and then the English, Spanish and Portuguese, started to invade the tropical belts of Asia and America.

In 1727 coffee growing started in North Brazil, but the poor climatic conditions gradually shifted the crops, first to Rio de Janeiro and finally (1800-1850) to the States of San Paolo and Minas, where coffee found its ideal environment. Coffee growing began to develop here, until it became the most important economic resource of Brazil.

It was precisely in the period 1740-1805 that coffee growing topped its spread, in Center and South America.

Although coffee was born in Africa, plantations and home consumption are comparatively recent introductions. Actually it was Europeans who introduced it again, into their colonies, where, thanks to favourable land and climatic conditions, it was able to thrive.

The history of coffee in Italy

A great contribution to the diffusion of the beverage was obtained by the spread of Islam in North Africa, Europe and South Asia, first under the expansionist policy of the Ottoman Empire, and later thanks to the development of trades favoured by voyages of discovery.

In the second half of the XVI century coffee crossed the Eastern borders to land up in Europe, from many directions: the age of huge sailing-vessels ploughing the Mediterranean Sea, of the navigators developing their increasingly thriving trades, and importing every kind of merchandise from end to end of the known lands, were responsible for introducing coffee into the major ports of our continent.

That is how, in around 1570, it made its appearance in Venice along with tobacco. The merit of its introduction into Italy is ascribed to the Paduan Prospero Alpino, a famous botanist and physician, who brought with him some sacks from the East and, having observed the plant characteristics, described it in his book "De Planctis Aegyptii et de Medicina Aegiptiorum", printed between 1591 and 1592.

Venice, more than the other sea towns, was "the Eastern market"; in its port docked European vessels coming from the Arabic and Asian countries. Coffee soon launched successfully there, and could rapidly be found in plenty. Venetians were the first, thus, to leam to appreciate this beverage. At the beginning, however, the price of coffee was very high, an only rich people could afford to buy it, since it was sold only at chemist shops.

G. Francesco Morosini, high judge of the doges city, Venice, and ambassador of the Venetian Republic to the Sultan, in 1582, in his report from Constantinople, related that in the East there were numbers of public businesses where people were used to meet each other several times a day over a dark and boiling hot beverage.

Coffee became thus the object of trade and commerce. In consequence of travelers reports, some premises open to the public began to appear in Venice, Here they served a beverage which now makes everybody curious! In 1640, the first "coffee shop" opened in Venice. Others followed in many Italian towns, among them Turin, Genoa, Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples. By 1763 Venice numbered more than 218 outlets!

Just as coffee had been met by the hostility of devoted Muslims, so in Italy too its introduction collided with some Church representatives beliefs. So it came about that some fanatical Christians urged Pope Clemente VII to forbid the faithful to drink the "devil beverage" ?as they called it!

The Pontiff, before giving judgement, asked for a cup of the black but fragrant beverage. They said that at its sight he cried out: "This beverage is so delicious that it would be a sin to let only misbelievers drink it! Once the Poper approval and blessing had been obtained for coffee, a "beverage for Christians, too", its success was assured! By the late XVIII century, many Italian towns had adopted the same Venetian habit. Served in elegant coffee shops or on rough common tables, the beverage was everywhere very much appreciated.

And what about a little chit chat, while you drank? To raise one spirits, and banish worries! Seated at the table, in fact, they would drink, eye each other, and gossip about the other customers: it was another key factor in the unexpected success of these shops. Eighteenth century men of culture so loved it that it was called an "intellectual beverage". Coffee aroused interest not only as a "refreshing infusion" but also for its healing powers; so that in a leaflet, printed in Milan in 1801, high credit was given by some physicians to coffee as a "cure-all".In Italy the temples of coffee are still open, and old and picturesque atmospheres recreated. The Cafe Florian in Piazza San Marco in Venice may be the most illustrious of all! Ruby-coloured velvets, unobtrusive lights and small tables are still the lures of the Caffe Greco in Rome, the Pedrocchi in Padua, the Michelangelo in Florence and the Baratti in Turin!

The tradition is still intact today, as testified by the current splendour of so many old coffee shops, in every large European capital. Coffee is therefore a great invention, based on the art of processing and blending it; a specialty that has become a typically Italian tradition!