Historical facts about coffee

Historical facts about coffee

JAKARTA (JP): What was the historical route of the brew which
perks up millions?

Origins: Coffee is believed to have originated in the town of
Kaffa in Ethiopia, writes Jane Pettigrew in Coffee, a 1999
tribute to the finest coffees of the world. Coffee's discovery is
often attributed to a shepherd whose flock wandered over to a
strange bush and were invigorated after consuming the beans.
Pettigrew says coffee was originally rolled into balls of fat and
eaten by travelers for sustenance over long journeys. By the
early 1500s, however, the beans were being brewed and coffee
houses were common in Mecca.

Varieties: There are about 25 different types of coffee but
only two -- arabica and robusta -- are produced on a commercial
basis. Indonesia is one of 36 coffee-producing countries (Sumatra
is the world's third largest producer). Robusta is generally used
for instant coffees, arabica for gourmet selections (in Indonesia
coffee is often mixed with roasted corn to save on costs).

Java Jive: Coffee was first produced by the Dutch in Java in
1699. Pettigrew writes that coffee from Java developed its
outstanding reputation due to a quirk of logistics; because of
Java's distance from Europe and North America, the beans were
well-matured by the time they the reached foreign markets.

"Customers became so used to the more mellow flavor that they
refused to accept younger, more acidic beans. So Indonesian
producers developed a system of storing the beans for several
years in warehouses prior to export," Pettigrew writes. One of
the most famous is the Aroma factory in Bandung, dating back to
the 1930s. (brc)