As one of the largest consumed commodities today, coffee has come a long way and been an interesting journey from its origins into the rest of the world into your morning cup of coffee!
Have you ever wondered how coffee was discovered?
Which people embraced this coffee culture first and for why?
The mention of coffee plants dates back to as far as 850AD. The coffee grown in the world traces its origins right back to the Ethiopian plateau. Legend has it, a goat herder named Kaldi, while herding his goats, he noticed that his goats were always unusually energized and active whenever they consume a certain type or red cherries (this is the coffee plant). After Kaldi tried them and found them very stimulating, he brought the cherries to the local monetary where the monks later developed a hot drink from the coffee plant that discovered how it kept them awake through long prayer sessions. This grew throughout the monks and the community and coffee started being used. This is where coffee started its journey.
Though the Kaldi tales varies from version to version and cannot be proven, one thing is certain, coffee came from Ethiopia. It then found its way into Yemen, and into the Arabian Peninsula with countries like Egypt, Persia and Turkey. This beverage took on the name "qahveh khaneh," public coffee businesses became commonplace in the Middle East and eastern Africa. People gathered to drink coffee, and it was a part of many different social events. Coffee became popular with Muslims on pilgrimage to Mecca and earned its nickname the, ‘Wine of Araby’. this beverage had its fair share of controversies. In the 1500s it was banned for a while in some Arab nations due to the stimulating effect. This ban was later lifted due to different protests made by the community.
From then on, coffee beans spread east into India and Indonesia and west into Italy and the rest of Europe. According to some accounts, Coffee was in Venice by around 1570 but was used only by physicians and chemists for medicinal purposes but once the first cafes were opened in Europe it became one of the most enjoyable beverages and part of the Italian culture. In the 1600s it took the trend in France, Austria and throughout Europe and became a hit. The first ever café to open in Austria was called ‘The Blue Bottle’. Since then coffee grew rapidly throughout the world and in different cultures and different ways to make it. It’s one of the most consumed and enjoyed beverage in almost every culture and place in the world.
In 1892, Mr. Herman Hausbrandt opened our coffee house Hausbrandt as the brand, ‘Specialita Caffé Hausbrandt’. We were actually the first coffee house to offer products that were processed and packaged in sealed metal containers at a production plant level. Ever since then, we never stopped and we in over 80 different countries spreading our passion and love for coffee with the expertise accumulated over the years.
