Coffee
In the middle of the 15th century, Sufi communities in Yemen began drinking a dark liquid made from roasted coffee beans. These groups used the beverage to stay awake during their religious rituals that lasted through the night. The earliest credible reports place this consumption specifically within regions like Aden, Mocha, and Zabid. A Portuguese crew met with a ship from Zeila transporting clarified butter and coffee to Al-Shihr in Yemen in 1542. This event marked one of the first recorded interactions between European observers and the trade routes moving coffee out of the region. By the late 15th century, coffee drinking was well established among these Sufi circles before spreading further across the Red Sea.
The Dutch East India Company became the first entity to import coffee on a large scale during the colonial era. They later grew the crop in Java and Ceylon under strict control. The first exports of Indonesian coffee from Java to the Netherlands occurred in 1711. Meanwhile, Frenchman Gabriel de Clieu took a coffee plant to the French territory of Martinique in the Caribbean in the 1720s. From this single plant, much of the world's cultivated arabica coffee is descended. Coffee thrived in the climate and was conveyed across the Americas. Coffee was cultivated in Saint-Domingue from 1734, and by 1788 it had supplied half the world's coffee. The conditions that the enslaved people worked in on coffee plantations were a factor in the Haitian Revolution, and the industry never fully recovered there.
Two main species of shrub produce the berries from which coffee is extracted commercially. C. arabica is native to the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia, the Boma Plateau in southeastern Sudan, and Mount Marsabit in northern Kenya. This species is predominantly self-pollinating, meaning seedlings are generally uniform and vary little from their parents. In contrast, C. canephora, known as robusta, is native to western and central Subsaharan Africa, ranging from Guinea to Uganda and southern Sudan. Robustas contain about 40, 50% more caffeine than arabica. They are less susceptible to disease and can be cultivated in lower altitudes and warmer climates where arabica does not thrive. Arabica berries ripen in six to eight months, while robusta takes nine to eleven months.
The actual roasting begins when the temperature inside the bean reaches approximately 196 degrees Celsius. During this process, caramelization occurs as intense heat breaks down starches into simple sugars that begin to brown. Sucrose is rapidly lost during the roasting process and may disappear entirely in darker roasts. One oil called caffeol is created at about 200 degrees Celsius and is largely responsible for coffee's aroma and flavor. The difference in caffeine content between a light roast and a dark roast is only about 0.1%. Darker roasts are generally bolder because they have less fiber content and a more sugary flavor. Lighter roasts have a more complex and therefore perceived stronger flavor from aromatic oils and acids otherwise destroyed by longer roasting times.
In 2023, world production of green coffee beans was 11 million tonnes, led by Brazil with 31% of the total. Coffee farmers disproportionately live in poverty despite the global industry being worth $495.50 billion as of 2023. The concept of fair trade labeling began in the late 1980s with the Max Havelaar Foundation's labeling program in the Netherlands. In 2004, 24,222 metric tons were fair trade out of 7,050,000 produced worldwide. A 2005 study in Belgium concluded that consumers' buying behavior is not consistent with their positive attitude toward ethical products. On average 46% of European consumers claimed to be willing to pay substantially more for ethical products, including fair-trade products such as coffee. The study found that the majority of respondents were unwilling to pay the actual price premium of 27% for fair trade coffee.
Originally, coffee was grown in the shade of trees that provided a habitat for many animals and insects. Starting in the 1970s, many farmers switched their production methods to sun cultivation. This causes berries to ripen more rapidly and bushes to produce higher yields but requires the clearing of trees and increased use of fertilizer and pesticides. Unshaded coffee plants grown with fertilizer yield the most coffee, although unfertilized shaded crops generally yield more than unfertilized unshaded crops. Coffee production uses a large volume of water. On average it takes about 140 liters of water to grow the coffee beans needed to produce one cup of coffee. Climate change may significantly impact coffee yields during the 21st century, such as in Nicaragua and Ethiopia which could lose more than half of the farming land suitable for growing arabica coffee.
A psychoactive chemical in coffee is caffeine, an adenosine receptor antagonist known for its stimulant effects. In a healthy liver, caffeine is mostly metabolized by liver enzymes into paraxanthines, theobromine, and theophylline. A 2017 review of clinical trials found that drinking coffee is generally safe within usual levels of intake and is more likely to improve health outcomes than to cause harm at doses of 3, 4 cups of coffee daily. Exceptions include a possible increased risk in women having bone fractures and a possible increased risk in pregnant women of fetal loss or decreased birth weight. Coffee has a significant amount of water-soluble dietary fiber compared to other commonly consumed beverages such as factory orange juice. The amount of dietary fiber ranges from 0.47 to 0.75 g per 100 mL of prepared coffee in a 2007 experiment testing on espresso, drip coffee, and freeze-dried coffee with the beverage made from freeze-dried containing the highest amount fiber.
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Common questions
When did Sufi communities in Yemen begin drinking coffee?
Sufi communities in Yemen began drinking coffee in the middle of the 15th century. These groups used the beverage to stay awake during their religious rituals that lasted through the night.
Who was the first entity to import coffee on a large scale?
The Dutch East India Company became the first entity to import coffee on a large scale during the colonial era. They later grew the crop in Java and Ceylon under strict control.
Where is C. arabica native to?
C. arabica is native to the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia, the Boma Plateau in southeastern Sudan, and Mount Marsabit in northern Kenya. This species is predominantly self-pollinating, meaning seedlings are generally uniform and vary little from their parents.
How much water does it take to grow enough beans for one cup of coffee?
On average it takes about 140 liters of water to grow the coffee beans needed to produce one cup of coffee. Coffee production uses a large volume of water.
What year did world production of green coffee beans reach 11 million tonnes?
In 2023, world production of green coffee beans was 11 million tonnes, led by Brazil with 31% of the total. Coffee farmers disproportionately live in poverty despite the global industry being worth $495.50 billion as of 2023.