Erowid Coffee Vault : Timeline

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coffee

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Coffee

Timeline

by Erowid

Stone Age		Some anthropologists believe the first use of caffeine containing plants may have been as early as 600,000 BCE.
900 BCE		Homer makes reference to a mysterious black and bitter beverage with the power to ward off sleep ... a reference repeated in several Arabian legends from the same period.
850		Legendary discovery of coffee by an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi. One night his goats don't return home. When he finds them, they are dancing around a shrub with red berries. After trying the berries himself, he too starts dancing. He later speaks with local monks who make a drink of the berries. [Details] During the same time period, other Africans consumed balls made from coffee beans and animal fat.
1100		First coffee trees are cultivated on the Arabian peninsula. Coffee beans are first boiled by Arabs making qahwa --- "that which prevents sleep". [More Info]
1450-1475		Arabia. Coffee cultivation and drinking spreads rapidly in Yemen, at first for medicinal or religious purposes, such as promoting alertness during long nights of devotional exercises. 1
1475		The worlds first coffee shop, Kiva Han, opens in Constantinople. Turkish law makes it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he fail to provide her with her daily quota of coffee. [More Info]
1475 - 1500		Arabia. Dervishes spread the use of coffee to Medina and Mecca. Secular use becomes more prominent, in part because wine is forbidden by the Koran. Coffee houses are established and coffee becomes a much desired luxury. Many holy men begin to attack coffee as also contrary to the Koran. 1
1511		Khair Bey, the governor of Mecca, tries to ban coffee for fear that its influence might foster opposition to his rule. Coffee merchants are temporarily shut down in Constantinople. After a week long "reign of terror", the sultan sends word that coffee is sacred and has the governor executed.
1529		The Turkish army, fleeing Vienna after being defeated, leaves behind bags of coffee. Franz Georg Kolshitzky, the man responsible for Vienna's victory, claims the coffee as his reward and establishes central Europe's first coffee house. [Details] He also establishes the habit of refining the brew by filtering out the grounds, sweetening it, and adding a dash of milk.
1542		Arabia/Turkey. The coffee controversy spreads throughout the Ottoman Empire, as coffee --the "Wine of Islam"-- becomes a regular article of diet in all classes. Sultan Suleiman the Great bans coffee in 1542, but coffee houses multiply in Constantinople. 1
c. 1600		Pope Clemente VIII was asked to place a ban on coffee drinking, he refused saying, "This beverage is so delicious it would be a sin to let only misbelievers drink it!" His subsequent "baptism" of coffee put the issue to rest.
1607		Coffee is brought to the New World by Captain John Smith, founder of Virginia at Jamestown. Canadian historians claim it had previously arrived in Canada.
1616		The Dutch smuggle a coffee plant into Europe and attempt cultivation, but fail.
1652		First coffee house opens in Britain. [Details] Coffeehouses are called "penny universities" (a penny is charged for admission and a cup of coffee). Edward Lloyd's coffee house opens in 1668. It eventually becomes Lloyd's of London, the world's best known insurance company. The word “TIPS” is coined in an English coffee house: A sign reading “To Insure Prompt Service” (TIPS) was place by a cup. Those desiring prompt service and better seating threw a coin into the cup.
1654		First coffee house opens in Italy.
1668		Coffee replaces beer as New York's City's favourite breakfast drink.
1672		First coffee house opens in Paris.
Dec 23, 1675		In response to the Women's Petition Against Coffee, King Charles II closes all coffee houses in Britain, but reversed his decision Jan 8th when faced with public protest. [Details] "A PROCLAMATION FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF COFFEE HOUSES: Whereas it is most apparent that the multitude of Coffee Houses of late years set up and kept within this Kingdom...and the great resort of idle and disaffected persons to them, have produced very evil and dangerous effects; as well for that many tradesmen and others, do herein misspend much of their time, which might and probably would be employed in and about their Lawful Calling and Affairs; but also for that in such houses...divers, false, malitious, and scandalous reports are devised and spread abroad to the Defamation of His Majesty's Government, and to the disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm; his Majesty hath though it fit and necessary, that the said Coffee Houses be (for the Future) put down and suppressed..." King Charles II of England, December 23, 1675
c. 1685		The Dutch become the first to transport and cultivate coffee commercially. A coffee plant is smuggled out of the Arab port of Mocha and transported to Ceylon and their East Indian colony at Java for cultivation.
1685		Treatise on coffee, tea and chocolate published by French druggist Dufour, titled "Traitez nouveaux & curieux du café du thé et du chocolate". [Details] This was a much expanded edition of a work Dufour published 12 years earlier (in 1671) titled "De l'usage du café, du thé et du chocolate".
1721		The first coffeehouse opens in Berlin.
1723		Coffee plants are introduced in the Americas for cultivation. Gabriel de Clieu, a French naval officer, transports a seedling to Martinique. By 1777, 19 million coffee plants are cultivated on the island.
1727		The Brazilian coffee industry gets its start from seedlings smuggled out of Paris.
1763		Venice has over 2,000 coffee shops.
1777		Frederick the Great of Prussia tries to block the importation of green coffee because it is competing with local products. He reverses his decision because of public outcry. 2 [Details] "It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects, and the amount of money that goes out of the country as a consequence. Everybody is using coffee; this must be prevented. His Majesty was brought up on beer, and so were both his ancestors and officers. Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer, and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be relied upon to endure hardships in case of another war." Frederick the Great of Prussia (1777)
1822		The prototype of the first espresso machine is created in France.
1869		Coffee leaf rust appears in Ceylon and destroys most of the plantations in India, Ceylon and other parts of Asia within the next 10 years.
1880's		Caffinated soft drinks are first invented.
1882		The New York Coffee Exchange opens.
1886		Former wholesale grocer Joel Cheek names his popular coffee blend "Maxwell House," after the hotel in Nashville, TN where it's served.
1903		German coffee importer Ludwig Roselius gives a batch of ruined coffee beans to a researcher, who perfects the process of removing caffeine from beans without destroying the flavor. Roselius markets the "de-caffinated" coffee under the name "Sanka", which is introduced to the U.S. in 1923.
1905		The first commercial espresso machine is manufactured in Italy.
1908		The invention of the worlds first drip coffeemaker. Melitta Bentz makes a filter using blotting paper.
1910		German decaffeinated coffee is introduced to the U.S. by Merck & Co., under the name Dekafa.
1933		Dr. Ernest Illy develops the first automatic espresso machine.
1938		Nescafé instant coffee (freeze dried) is invented by the Nestlé company to assist the Brazilian government in solving its coffee surplus problem.
1940		The US imports 70 percent of the world coffee crop.
1942		During W.W.II, American soldiers are issued instant Maxwell House coffee in their ration kits. In the U.S., widespread hoarding leads to coffee rationing.
1962		American per-capita coffee consumption peaks at more than three cups a day.
1971		First Starbucks opens in Seattle.
1995		Coffee is the worlds most popular beverage. More than 400 billion cups are consumed each year.

References

Austin G. "A Chronology of Psychoactive Substance Use".
Scientific American. Jun 1998.