Calgary Coffee: March 2007

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Hello this blog is now managed by The ZAZL Coffee Company

We offer artisan fresh roasted coffee and specialize in Blends

We will feature unique writings and recipes in the blog

The company has over 25 years experience in the industry

If you would like to contribute to this blog with your coffee knowledge and barista tricks please contact zazl.com

Cheers and please stay tuned

Coffee Bean

Calgary Coffee Bean

Name: Unknown

View my complete profile

Coffee beans were chewed raw for centuries in Ethiopia and Yemen. An excavation in the Ethiopian highlands where coffee grows wild indicates human gatherers have been eating coffee berries over a hundred thousand years. The fleshy pulp surrounding the coffee bean in Ethiopian coffee has higher sugar content. Being sweet, being nutritious, and seeds, nuts and berries must have been generally eaten by humans some speculate for over a million years. Ugandans were noticed chewing dried coffee beans when the first explorers from Europe were searching for the origins of the Nile River. Green coffee beans were ground up and mixed with fat to macerate, then made into small balls, which were eaten by travelers on long journeys. Some say this is the first trail mix whereas the raisins. Stories in the Southern Arabian Peninsula known as Yemen where Europeans first found the coffee plant cultivated seem to support the coffee bean being traded as early as 800 BC. Facts and many stories support trade between Yemen and Ethiopia during this time. Knowing how eating the coffee berry reacts on people, it would be logical that those early traders would attempt to trade for this item. Additionally, evidence does not support the coffee plant growing wild in Yemen but already under cultivation instead. Although, it is possible that a large bird or storm could have carried and deposited the coffee berry that far away, although not likely. No specific historic event is remembered causing coffee export to Southern Arabia but Ethiopia did invaded Southern Arabia in 525 AD. Some speculated that coffee could have been introduced to the Arabians at this time. Many historians say coffee may have been introduced into Arabia by slave traders who raided Africa in early1000 BC. Snippets which strongly supporting theories that coffee spread very early in the civilized world trade are coffee's affect on the Arabian people's culture, agriculture, Trade practices and old Arabic stories.

COUNTRY CULTIVATION DATE (AD)

Yemen 520
Turkey 1480
India 1585
Java 1696
Surinam 1718
Martinique 1720
Brazil 1729
Jamaica 1730
Cuba 1744
Guatemala 1748
Costa Rica 1778
Venezuela 1782
Mexico 1790
Colombia 1792
Hawaii 1820
Salvador 1840
Central Africa 1870
Kenya 1890
Tanzania 1891
East Africa 1901
Madagascar 1908
West Indies 1912
Angola 1912
Vietnam 1915