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b e an ther e , done th at A popular urban myth is that the average Dutch person is the biggest coffee consumer on the planet. Actually, this title is held by the Fins, who drink 5.2 cups a day compared to the 3.2 cups of the Dutch. The beloved black gold had a rich history before it found its way to Europe and finally the United States. Let’s roast some facts. by Jorn Rigter | information by Neef Rob, Coffee Tea & Chocolate
The Arabica bean, responsible for seventy percent of the world’s coffee consumption, finds its roots in Ethiopia. The stor y goes that shepherds in Ethiopia noticed their sheep were acting more energetic after eating berries from cer tain bushes. From European explorers, we know the Ethiopian people used to chew on raw coffee beans to consume their por tion of caffeine. From Ethiopia, coffee beans travelled to Arabia somewhere between 575 and 850 AC, where they were used as a medicine to tr y and cure diseases like kidney stones, chickenpox and measles. Around the beginning of the sixteenth centur y, coffee reached the holy city of Mecca. From here, it rapidly spread across the entire muslim world. By the end of the sixteenth centur y, Venice tried to bring coffee to Europe, but the Arabs soon realized its market potential and effectively monopolized the coffee
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expor t for about one hundred years. It was only at the end of the seventeenth centur y that the Dutch stole a coffee plant in Yemen, and star ted growing it in Java, Indonesia, taking possession of a big share of the coffee market. In 1760, the Dutch shipped the first coffee to the city now known as New York. At the same time, the French and Dutch star ted bringing coffee to Middle and South America, where it wasn’t long before Brazil (then a Por tuguese colony) star ted to grow its own coffee as well. From then onwards, coffee star ted to be ingrained into societal habits all over the world, to become the most popular drink on the planet as of today. Next time you drink a cup of your favorite espresso, cappuccino or americano with a friend, you’ll have an amazing origin stor y to tell. 3
April 2020 | turn the page
