BEAN THERE, DONE THAT

COVERSTORY | Turn The Page #72 | April 2020 | Artichoke

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 story goes that shepherds in Ethiopia noticed their sheep were acting more energetic after eating berries from certain bushes. From European explorers, we know the Ethiopian people used to chew on raw coffee beans to consume their portion of caffeine. From Ethiopia, coffee beans travelled to Arabia somewhere between 575 and 850 AC, where they were used as a medicine to try and cure diseases like kidney stones, chickenpox and measles.

Around the beginning of the sixteenth century, coffee reached the holy city of Mecca. From here, it rapidly spread across the entire muslim world. By the end of the sixteenth century, Venice tried to bring coffee to Europe, but the Arabs soon realized its market potential and effectively monopolized the coffee export for about one hundred years. It was only at the end of the seventeenth century that the Dutch stole a coffee plant in Yemen, and started 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 started bringing coffee to Middle and South America, where it wasn’t long before Brazil (then a Portuguese colony) started to grow its own coffee as well.

From then onwards, coffee started 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 story to tell. 3

COLUMN | Turn The Page #72 | April 2020 | Artichoke