Brief overview of Coffee:

History

The origin of coffee can be traced to the highlands of Ethiopia as early as the 9th century. It then spread to Egypt and Yemen and reached Persia, Egypt, Turkey and northern Africa by the 15th Century.

Originally, coffee was not well received because of its stimulating effects. It was forbidden by conservative, orthodox imams in 1511 at a theological court in Mecca. These bans were overturned in 1524 by an order of the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Selim I. due to the drinks popularity. A similar ban was imposed in Cairo, Egypt in 1532 which led to authorities raiding coffee houses and warehouses that contained coffee beans.

Coffee was not as successful in the American colonies as it was in Europe as colonists found it a poor substitute for alcohol. The demand for coffee increased significantly during the Revolutionary War due to the reduced availability of tea from British merchants. This resulted in coffee dealers hoarding supplies and increasing prices excessively. During the early 19th century, following the War of 1812, Americans’ taste for coffee grew. This is partially due to tea imports being cut off during the war. Further, coffee solidified its position as an every day commodity due to the advancements in brewing technology.

Coffee Plants

The two main species of coffee plants are Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora(robusta). Coffea arabica is older than Coffea canephora and is thought to be indigenous to south-western Ethiopia in an area called Kaffa. Although the Coffea arabica plant is more susceptible to disease its seeds (coffee beans) are considered to be far tastier than those of the Coffea canephora plant. The Coffea canephora plant thrives in environments where arabica can not and is thought to have originated in Uganda. It also contains between 40-50% more caffeine which has led to its use as an inexpensive substitute for arabica in some commercial blends. Coffea canephora beans tend to be bitter, lack flavor and emit a burnt rubber aroma when processing. The commercial roasters use a steam process to remove undesirable flavors from the beans as part of the techniques necessary to produce their blends.

Processing

The processing of coffee beans prior to consumption is and extremely labor intensive process. Coffee berries must be picked, de-fruited, sorted, and in some processes, aged. In general, coffee is roasted and sold by the supplier but can be home roated by the consumer.

The process of roasting coffee is a complicated chemical process that creates the flavor of coffee from an otherwise bland bean. The un-roasted coffee bean contains all of coffee’s acids, proteins and caffeine but none of the flavor. The flavor results when heat sparks a chemical reaction that turns carbohydrates and fats into aromatic oils, burn off moisture and carbon dioxide and break down and build up acids. The aromatic oil primarily responsible for the stereotypical aroma and flavor of coffee is called caffeol.

Grinding the roasted coffee beans can be done at the roastery, the grocery store or at home. Typically the beans are ground at the roastery, packaged and sold to the consumer however recent trends today are such that whole beans are sold to the consumer to be ground at home.


Coffee and Health

Scientists have long studied the relationship between coffee consumption and medical conditions including diabetes, cardio vascular disease, cancer and cirrhosis. To date coffee hasn’t proven to have specific health benefits, and results are similarly conflicting with respect to negative effects of coffee consumption. It is also unclear whether the negative effects or medical benefits are attributed to caffeine or other chemical substances found in coffee.

Coffee consumers have consistently shown a reduction of diabetes mellitus type 2, an association that cannot be explained by the caffeine content alone as results were stronger in decaffeinated coffee.

Coffee was also found to reduce the chances of developing cirrhosis of the liver by as high as 80%.