History about coffee

Coffee is a popular beverage prepared from the roasted seeds (not beans, though they are almost always called coffee beans) of the coffee plant. It is served hot or with ice. Coffee is the second most commonly traded commodity in the world (measured by monetary volume), trailing only crude oil (and its products such as petroleum), as a source of foreign exchange to developing countries. In total, 6.7 million tonnes of coffee were produced annually in 1998-2000, forecast to rise to 7 million tonnes annually by 2010. Coffee is a chief source of caffeine, a stimulant. A typical 7 fluid ounce (ca. 207 mL) cup of coffee contains 80-140 milligrams of caffeine. Coffee, along with tea and water, is one of the most ingested beverages, amounting to about a third that of tap water.

Etymology and history

Coffee has its history back as far as the 9th century AD. It is thought to have originated in the highlands of Ethiopia and spread to the rest of the world via Egypt and Europe. Over the ages, coffee has met both resistance and acceptance by many.

The word coffee is derived from the Arabic word Qah'wa over Ottoman Turkish Kahve, which originally meant wine or other intoxicating liquors. Partly due to the Islamic prohibition on drinking wine, preparing and drinking coffee became an important social ritual. The effects of coffee were such that it became forbidden among orthodox and conservative imams in Mecca at 1511 and at Cairo in 1532 by a theological court. In Egypt coffeehouses and warehouses containing coffee berries were sacked. But the product's popularity, particularly among intellectuals, led to the reversal of this decision in 1524 by an order of Selim I. In 1538, Léonard Rauwolf, a German physician, having come back from a ten year travel in Near East, was the first westerner to describe the brew: « a beverage as black as ink, useful against numerous illnesses, particularly those of the stomach.

Its consumers take it in the morning, quite frankly, in a porcelain cup that is pass around and from which each one drinks a cupful. It is composed of water and the fruit from a bush called bunnu ». These remarks were noted by merchants, to whom the experience from commerce of spices had made them sensitive to this kind of information.

In the 15th century, Muslims introduced coffee in Persia, Egypt, septentrional Africa and Turkey, where the first cafeteria, Kiva Han, opened in 1475 in Constantinople. From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Europe, where it became the rage in the 17th century. English coffeehouses were centers of intellectual and commercial activity. Lloyds of London, the famous insurance firm, was originally a coffeehouse.

Economics of coffee

Coffee is one of the world's most important primary commodities, due to its being one of the world's most popular beverages. It also has the distinction of being the second most-traded commodity in the world, oil being #1. Coffee also has several types of classifications used to determine environmental and labor standards.

Coffee ingestion on average makes up about a third that of tap water in most of North America and Europe. In 2002 in the US, coffee consumption was 22.1 gallons per person.

Health and pharmacology of coffee

Many studies have been performed on the relationship between coffee consumption and many medical conditions, ranging from diabetes and cardiovascular disease to cancer and cirrhosis. Studies are contradictory as to whether coffee has any specific health benefits, and similarly results are conflicting with respect to negative effects of coffee consumption. In addition, it is often unclear whether these risks or benefits are linked to caffeine or whether they are to be attributed to other chemical substances found in coffee (and whether decaffeinated coffee carries the same benefits or risks).

One fairly consistent finding has been the reduction of diabetes mellitus type 2 in coffee consumers, an association which cannot be explained by the caffeine content alone and indeed may be stronger in decaffeinated coffee. Recently coffee was found to reduce the chances of developing cirrhosis of the liver: the consumption of 1 cup a day was found to reduce the chances by 20%, 4 cups a day reduced by 80%. A commonly held belief about coffee is that drinking it at a young age will "stunt your growth".

Social aspects of coffee

Coffee plays an important role in today's society. From the coffeehouses of the 16th century, to the modern day cafés, coffee has impacted the lifestyle of people from all walks of life. When it first appeared in Africa and Yemen, it was commonly used as a type of religious intoxicant (it is still used in excorcism ceremonies in Ethiopia today). This usage in religious rites among the Sufi branch of Islam lead to it being put on trial in Mecca for being a "heretic" substance similar to wine. It was briefly repressed at this point, and later was part of a larger ban in Ottoman Turkey under an edict which led to the death of thousands of people. It's early association in Europe with rebellious political activities led to its banning in, among other places, England.

Other uses

Spent coffee grounds are a good fertilizer in gardens because of their high nitrogen content. Starbucks, and some other coffee shops, have a specific policy of giving away their used coffee grounds to gardeners. While they tend to be only slightly acidic, they also tend to improve the acidity of garden soil through the same chemical processes which cause sawdust to do the same thing. Coffee grounds raise soil acidity sooner if they are added fresh, instead of after brewing. Likewise, coffee diluted with four times its volume of water can be used to amend soil acidity, especially useful for tomatoes, chili peppers, blueberries, and other plants which like high soil acidity.

The grounds are also used as bait in "Vegas roach traps".Some use coffee to create art. Latte art involves designs in the foam of espresso-based drinks. Arfé is the use of coffee as a coloring for painting or other visual effects.