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Read more about how coffee spread across the world in part 2
There are 2.25 billion cups of coffee consumed every day in the world. That's a lotta liquid gold, bean brew, cuppa Joe, hot stuff, mug o' mud, java jam, er, well, you get the picture. That's a lot of coffee! Most of us use it as a way to inject caffeine's psychoactive properties into our bloodstreams for that early morning energy boost, while some of us drink it simply for its divine taste.
Coffee's caffeinated history of evolution isn't always as pleasant as that first sip of brain booster from our favorite ceramic mug, though. Unfortunately, it's steeped in slavery and cultivated through colonization while large swaths of rainforests reaped their own demise. On the lighter side, western civilization did sober up once the beverage replaced beer as its breakfast of champions.
Culturally speaking, the consumption of coffee was related to religious practices during its onslaught. After that, it expanded into a space known as the coffee house, where the creative advancement of ideas could be exchanged between caffeine junkies of varying backgrounds, including females. Whether or not women were explicitly prohibited from coffee houses as the commodity made its global debut remains to be determined. The institutions, however, provided places of employment.
As coffee spread throughout Europe in the 17th century, coffee houses used the coffee pot, which evolved into different pots and filtering methods. Some historians believe the first-ever coffee filter was actually a sock. I can only hope it was clean. Paper filters, which were cheaper and more efficient than cloth ones, wouldn't arrive until two hundred or so years later.
Supposed unhappy wives, or the political conspirators seeking to outlaw coffee, petitioned that the drink rendered their husbands impotent. The petition humorously claimed men were “as unfruitful as those deserts whence that unhappy berry is said to be brought.” Ironically enough, coffee was and is produced on rich, fertile soil.
Coffee-consuming men retorted with their own amusing petition. They claimed that coffee made “the erection more vigorous, the ejaculation more full, adding a spiritual ascendency to the sperm.” 17th-century petitions = your high school buddy who posts politically charged content on Facebook all day. Nonetheless, while impotence is certainly not caused by caffeine, some studies have shown that caffeine is linked to reduced odds of erectile dysfunction in men who drink two to three cups per day, perking up more than just the brain.
Before the process of making coffee as we know it today, people mixed the fruit with animal fat to create a protein-rich snack, and at another time, they fermented the pulp and used it to make a wine-like beverage. Another drink that appeared early on, around 1,000 A.D., was made from the entire coffee fruit, including the beans and the hull.
When the masses were first enjoying coffee on the Arabian peninsula, the coffee grounds were seeped in hot water for upwards of five hours to half a day. Not exactly conducive to today's on-the-go culture, but certainly a long way from mixing it with animal fat, more reminiscent of today's process.
Turkey is home to the first method of brewing that is still used today. Known as the Ibrik method, pulverized coffee grounds are tossed into a vessel with water, brought to a near boil, then cooled, then heated near the boiling point, then cooled, and so forth several times. This approach revolutionized the time it took to get to the good part - actually drinking the coffee.
Four times, beginning in the mid-1700s, Sweden banned coffee and its paraphernalia, including cups and dishes. King Gustav III ordered convicted murderers to drink coffee while doctors monitored how long it took to kill them. I'm not sure what I'm sadder about - the thought of losing my exquisite coffee paraphernalia or dying from drinking my favorite beverage? I don't foresee coffee being used to kill anyone in the present day. Still, according to Robert Glatter, a physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, it would take about 50-100 cups to result in a lethal dose.
Biggin' pots, siphon pots, percolators, espresso machines, French presses, instant coffee - all of these inventions have been a part of the evolution of the preparation of coffee. Some are still used today. Folger's, Maxwell House, and Starbucks have all become household names, a simple cup of black coffee has become a multi-adjective order at a drive-thru, and the options for obtaining that perfect cup of Joe are as accessible as our fingertips on our smartphone screens.
Have you ever been to Europe? Have you ever tasted European coffee and wondered about its origins? In Part 4 of this five-part series, we'll pour over the History of European Coffee a bean more. Puns, intended.
