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Coffee Is A Historic Beverage, And It Makes For A Great Gift


Ahhhhh, coffee... a fantastic dark beverage that wakes us up in the morning. For some of us, it keeps us up during the day,or for late night study sessions. We drink it out of habit,we drink it from addiction, we drink it for flavor; whateverthe reason, it is surely a popular beverage. So where didthis famed drink come from?

Coffee, for Americans, is three hundred years old. In theEast it was widespread at every level of society, since theearlier era. The most notable dates point to around800b.c. However, Homer, and according to Arabian tales speakof a mysterious bitter black beverage with powers ofstimulation that could have been this drink.

About the year 1000, coffee was being used for medicinalpurposes. In 1400 a Yemeni goat herder observed his flockeating reddish berries, then becoming excited and restless.After relating his observations to a monk, they boiledthe berries and made a beverage that could dispersesleep and weariness. No matter how it actually wascreated, the fact remains that the coffee plantstarted in Africa, in an Ethiopian region known as Kaffa.From there it spread to Egypt, Yemen, and Arabia, where itbecame a part of daily life.

In the late 1500s coffee was a commodity, being sold inEurope. However, due to an increasing demand for the newbeverage, and high taxes on shipping, there wasexperimentation with growing the crops in various othercountries. Much later, around 1727 coffee growing started inNorthern Brazil. By the 20th century, various forms ofcoffee were developed for the public.

Decaffeinated coffee was first founded in 1903 when Ludwig Roselius, a German coffee importer, gave a batch ofdamaged coffee beans to researchers. They developed theprocess of taking the caffeine out of the beans withoutlosing any flavor. This was marketed in the 1920s.

Instant coffee was first mass produced from the invention ofGeorge Constant Washington, an English chemist living inGuatemala. While waiting for his wife one day to join himoutside for coffee, he observed on the spout of the silvercoffee urn, a fine powder, which looked to be thecondensation of the coffee vapors. This excited him andled to his founding of soluble coffee.

In 1906 he started experiments and put his invention, Red ECoffee, in the markets in 1909. Nestle', in 1938, trying toaid Brazil with their coffee surpluses created freeze-driedcoffee. Nescafe was started and first introduced intoSwitzerland. Instant coffee became a fad after 1956 whencommercial television was the new craze.

And now in the US alone, 400 billion cups of coffee a yearare consumed. Coffee is one of the world's largestcommodities, second only to oil. From a remote area inAfrica, to millions of shelves and homes worldwide, coffeehas became a fixture everywhere.

The author has been a passionate coffee drinker for many years. She has tasted coffees from all over the world, and believes in serving and entertaining her guests with only the best.

She has catered hundreds of events and affairs and is known for her attention to details, especially regarding picking the perfect coffee.

Irene D. Hope is founder of All Special Coffee an excellent resource site dedicated to information about coffee.


MORE RESOURCES:

Miami Daily Business Review

Brazil Coffee Crop to Drop Up to 20% on Cycle, Costs
Bloomberg - Jan 8, 2009
8 (Bloomberg) -- Coffee output in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer, will drop as much as 20 percent this year as most trees enter the slower half of a ...
Brazil coffee crop to fall up to 20 pct. in '09 The Associated Press
all 60 news articles


ABC News

Morning Coffee Frames The Offseason
Burnt Orange Nation, TX - 8 hours ago
by PB @ BON on Jan 9, 2009 6:10 AM CST in Football Time for Bob Stoops backlash? It only took Ohio State two BCS flops to earn a sour reputation, ...
Senators sing a song - for victory in BCS game Tampa Bay's 10
Sooner or Gator ... you'll complain about it. SportingNews.com
Cook: SEC bowl season rests on Florida Randolph Leader
Fort Mills Times - Juice
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Shop serves coffee and community
Lexington Dispatch, NC - 1 hour ago
Confluence Coffee Shop manager Brian Leimone (front) and shift supervisor Wes Sellers stand in the spacious business as some customers work on a personal ...


The Birmingham News - al.com

Alabama RB Glen Coffee to forego senior season, enter the NFL Draft
The Birmingham News - al.com, AL - 38 minutes ago
TUSCALOOSA -- Alabama running back Glen Coffee has decided to forego his senior season and enter the NFL Draft, a source close to the player told The ...
Glen Coffee says he will declare for NFL draft Press-Register - al.com
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CES 2009: Microsoft demos Internet-enabled coffee maker, plans ...
TG Daily - 4 hours ago
The first prototype is an Internet-enabled coffee maker. According to Fugoo's founder, John Hui, "Many vendors are trying to come up with a multipurpose ...
Reinventing the Home Appliance HULIQ
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Food News Round-Up: Topless Coffee Shops to Bruised Hooters Girls
Epicurious - 51 minutes ago
... is at war with itself because an entrepreneur proposes turning a motel into a topless coffee shop (the waitresses would be topless, not the building). ...


WHDH-TV

Town approves topless coffee shop
United Press International - 21 hours ago
8 (UPI) -- The planning board in a rural Maine town has approved plans for a topless coffee shop, and by the way, the vote was unanimous. ...
Topless Coffee Shop Gets Approval WMTW
Conan Jokes About Maine Topless Coffee Shop WCSH-TV
Coffee anyone? Naked brew served at Maine java joint ABC15.com (KNXV-TV)
The Associated Press - ChattahBox
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Meet your Poconos state legislators at League of Women Voters coffee
Pocono Record, PA - 15 hours ago
On Saturday, the League of Women Voters of Monroe County will host several state legislators at the group's annual Legislative Coffee at the Hughes Library ...
Meet state representatives of Monroe County on Saturday Pocono Record
all 2 news articles


Rwandan Coffee Production Rises 33% on Yields, Farming Methods
Bloomberg - 11 hours ago
9 (Bloomberg) -- Rwanda’s coffee production rose 33 percent in 2008 because of better weather and improved farming methods, the state-run Rwanda Coffee ...


Canada.com

Coffee helps prevent oral cancers
NDTV.com, India - Jan 8, 2009
Recent research indicates that drinking coffee lowers the risk of developing mouth and gullet cancer. Previous studies have shown a protective effect of ...
A perk for coffee lovers: java may lower oral cancer risk Scientific American
Coffee might lower risk of oral cancer The Gazette (Montreal)
Health Matters: Coffee Fighting Cancer WCTV
About - News & Issues - 7Online.com
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Coffee - Google News

       
   
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