God Bless The Inventors of Coffee...

VII (Very Important Information)
To soon replace Saturday morning Cartoons...

The most famous of the stories about the origin of coffee involves an Abyssinian goatherd named Kaldi who one day noticed that his normally docile goats had suddenly become exceptionally lively. On closer investigation Kaldi discovered his goats were nibbling the bright red berries from a shiny, dark-leafed shrub nearby.

Bravely the goatherd tasted these berries himself and soon found, to his amazement that he felt extraordinarily stimulated and invigorated. Convinced that he had discovered a miracle, Kaldi picked some more of the berries and rushed off with them to show his local Imam, a learned holy man. The Imam, on hearing the story, pronounced the beans to be evil and flung them onto the fire, whereupon a delicious and exotic aroma soon filled the air. Hastily the Imam, changing his mind, raked the beans from the fire and threw them into a bowl of water to cool, and then tasted the water. So was the first recorded coffee "brewed" and enjoyed.

Because of stories like this, coffee was first thought to have originated in Yemen on the Arabian peninsula when it was seen growing there by Europeans at a much later date. But the botanical evidence indicates that the coffee plant "Coffea Arabica" originated on the plateaus of central Ethiopia where it still grows wild.

Somehow the Arab traders got the beans from Ethiopia across the Red Sea to Yemen around the 6th century AD. Black African cultures were using the bean before this, but as a solid food: the ripe berries were squashed, combined with animal fats and shaped into round balls, which could be carried and eaten on long journeys.

1475: History's First Coffee Shop

The first coffee shop in history, named Kiva Han, was invented in Constantinople - what is now Istanbul. Coffee had been introduced to the region by the Ottoman Turks and became so popular that a woman could file for divorce if she did not get a daily quota of coffee from her husband.

1668: Invention of a Breakfast Tradition

It may be hard to believe, but at one point in history, beer was the preferred drink at breakfast. It wasn't until 1668 that New York City claimed coffee as its breakfast drink of choice. The world followed suit and, in another hundred years, it was declared an American's patriotic duty to drink coffee.

1713: Accidental Marketing Innovation

In 1713, the Dutch accidentally supplied King Louis XIV of France with a coffee bush. They may have been more careful if they knew that the French would transport a seedling overseas, where it would result in over 19 million coffee trees 50 years later. This historic coffee bush of the Dutch became responsible for over 90 percent of the world's coffee production.

1822: Invention of the Espresso Machine

Despite its Italian-sounding name, the espresso machine was invented in France. A prototype appeared there in 1822. It took over a hundred years for the invention of the espresso machine we know today - this time in Italy. The modern espresso machine was invented by Achilles Gaggia in 1946.

1901: Instant Coffee Invented

In 1901, Satori Kato, a Japanese-American chemist, invented instant coffee in Buffalo, NY at the Pan American Exposition. Kato received a patent for his invention and coffee history was made. He even started his own coffee company - appropriately named the Kato Coffee Company - in Chicago.

1952: Invention of the Coffee Break

At this time in history, workplaces in North America were becoming a bit more humane, installing lunchrooms in factories and offices for their employees to have a place to sit and relax. The American Coffee Bureau saw a marketing angle in the situation and invented the coffee break. It even had a slogan - "Give yourself a Coffee-Break -- and Get What Coffee Gives to You."

Today, coffee is loved all over the world. By 1995, over 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed every year. In fact, after oil, it is the world's second-largest commodity.

(Soooooo... Oil, Coffee, Diamonds??? That's the order of the highest consumed products on the planet? We humans are a strange lot!!!)