BRIEF HISTORY OF COFFEE Italians played an instrumental role in eradicating the five o'clock tea ritual typically English and replacing it with coffee, which the English found more aromatic and exciting. The English espresso, although weak and long, is of Italian origin. 
If we look back over the years and read the historic records we find that the English were the ones who introduced coffee into their own island in the 17th century. In our country it was the Venetian merchants who introduced us to what was then called "the Arabian wine" and the first coffee shops originated in Venice and in the 18th century spread and thrived throughout all Europe as meeting places, places of cultural and news exchange. The discovery of coffee dates back to the year 1000 in Ethiopia. A charming tale narrates that some goats became sprightly after eating coffee leaves and berries and their shepherd took the magic fruit to a nearby convent where the monks prepared a hot and bitter drink which helped them stay awake during the long prayer vigils. From Ethiopia and Yemen the cultivation of coffee rapidly spread to subtropical areas with a particularly favourable climate, such as Central America and the Caribbean's that have a good quality produce (Washed Arabian) and to South America, with Brazil accounting for about a third of the world production (Natural Arabian). Good producers are also Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela (Washed Arabian). In Africa they farm full - bodied coffee, whereas in Asia, particularly in India and Indonesia, the production is rapidly and strongly rising thanks to the rationalization and the propagation of modern cultivations.
|
