Coffee Bean Facts + History
Coffee Bean Facts
According to legend an Ethiopian goat shepherd noticed that his goats were gamboling and cavorting around after eating berries off a small tree.
So he tried some for himself. The Galla people in Ethiopia ground the berry up with animal fat to give them an energy boost. After the year 1000 Arab traders brought Coffee Beans back to their home land and cultivated it for the first time on plantations, where they boiled the beans creating a drink called “Quahwa”, which means put off sleep.
Coffee Facts
Turkish Law made it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he failed to provide her with a daily quota of coffee! The world’s first coffee shop, KIVALTAN, opened in 1475 in Constantinople. Coffee houses became centres for political and religious debate, so much so that Sultan Murad IV had all coffee houses closed, their proprietors tortured and they were declared “Mekreet” (undesirable). The Vizier Mohomet Kolpili went further and had all coffee houses razed to the ground and their conspicuous customers sewn into leather sacks and thrown into the Bosphorus.
Coffee Tree Facts
Coffee Trees are a woody evergreen dicotyledon that belongs to the Rubiaceae family. The two main species that are cultivated today are “Coffea Arabica” (Arabica) – these are self pollinating and account for 75-80% of the world’s production – and “Coffee Canephora” (Robusta) which requires cross pollinating, and accounts for the remaining 20 percent. Robusta tastes different, has a higher caffeine content and produces more crema. These plants can grow up to 10 metres tall and, if not pruned, their roots can grow up to 20-25km in total length. Each hectare of coffee produces 86lbs of oxygen per day, which is about half the production of the same as a rain forest. Three to four years after it is planted it will produce clusters of flowers. The production of the cherries takes about 15 weeks, the cherry will change colour from green to red about 30-35 weeks after flowering.
Effects of Caffeine
Drinking a double shot espresso can do many things to the body and mind, including make you more alert, more focused, quick-witted, clever, boost your short-term memory, enhance mental performance, causes a higher level of brain activity, puts the nervous system on alert triggering the release of adrenaline, and improved creativity. Research suggests caffeine can help to prevent Parkinson’s Disease, Type 2 Diabetes and liver damage. It is the most widely consumed psychoactive drug on the planet!