Coffee History Timeline
Who, When and Where

Coffee History Timeline

This is especially true when something as powerful as coffee is involved, as coffees have brought people much wealth and prosperity throughout the Coffee History Timeline.

It was discovered around 850 A.D. in the part of Africa now known as Ethiopia. According to one story that has been passed down through the generations, a sheep herder named Kaldi discovered it as he tended his sheep. He noted that his sheep became extremely active after eating the red cherries from a plant as they went from one pasture to another.

Originally, the plant grew naturally in Ethiopia. But once the people of Arabia became enthralled with coffee they transplanted plants to Arabia. This is how they monopolized the bean.

Later, inhabitants of countries beyond Arabia who believed it to be a delicacy began to siphon off the plants. The Arabian government prohibited the transportation of the plant out of the Muslim nations, so the actual spread of was started illegally.

Coffee Houses began opening in the mid-17th century in the Western world. The first house opened in Italy in 1645, in England in 1652, in Paris in 1672, and in Berlin in 1721.

Coffee History Timeline shows that in 1668, Edward Lloyd's coffee house opened in England and eventually became Lloyd's of London, the best-known insurance company in the world. By this time as well, it had replaced beer as New York's City's favorite breakfast beverage.

However, the French stole a seedling and transported it to Martinique. Fifty years later, an official survey found 19 million trees on Martinique and eventually, it’s estimated that ninety percent of the world's coffee spread from this one seedling.

The Dutch and French monopoly was broken up in 1727 when Brazil entered the fray. Lieutenant colonel Francisco de Melo Palheta was sent by the Brazilian government to arbitrate a border dispute between the French and Dutch colonies in Guiana. Not only did he settle the disagreement, but he also began an affair with the wife of the governor of French Guiana. The dear lady bid the lieutenant colonel adieu with a bouquet in which she hid cuttings and fertile seeds that began the Brazilian portion of the Coffee History Timeline. By 1907, Brazil accounted for 97% of the world’s production.

The Coffee History Timeline shows that as the Industrial Revolution swept through Europe and the United States, coffees were changed forever. Hills Bros. became the first company to vacuum pack them, changing the industry from a local one to a regional and even national one.

Sanka was introduced to the United States as the first decaffeinated coffee. And Nestle learned how to freeze dry it and keep it fresher longer.

The most recent changes in the Coffee History Timeline has come over the last sixty years. In 1946, the espresso machine was invented in Italy, giving rise to the Cappuccino.

And in 1971, Starbucks opened its first store in Seattle’s Pike Place public market. And that ladies and gentlemen is a small and brief Coffee History Timeline. One of the latest additions to brewing is the pod brewer.