“Coffee is a language in itself.” ~Jackie Chan

If you are a Coffee Lover, by the time you finished reading this Article I should be prepared to get Caustic Comments. Caution: if you are not a Coffee Lover. On the other hand, if you are in state of exploring your love for Coffee then you might be the apt. reader for this Article.

Enough of beating around the bush let us come to the main Point. Coffee – Coffee is a brewed drink prepared from roasted coffee beans, which are the seeds of berries from the Coffee plant, as per Wikipedia. I am hell sure!; it is more than just that definition for many of us!

The Cup of Coffee is a wholesome Experience; it is not just yet another beverage for many. From the moment first sip touches our lips until the last drop, the whole process is no lesser than Love making, with Slurp no lesser than Moan and the pleasure no lesser than Orgasm.

No, matter how you like that Cup of Coffee, Light or Strong, with Accompaniment or without, Cold or Hot, Irish or Turkish, whether in a regular paper-cup or porcelain (I doubt though if anyone like his/her Coffee in Paper-cup, given the choice)– there is one commonality in all, one main ingredient, the Perfect creation of God – ‘The Coffee Beans’.

Let’s gauge a bit into its Origin: The first accounted story of Coffee Beans date back to 11th Century Ethiopia, but unlike modern Brews for casual drinking, there concoction was used for medicinal properties. Gradually it spread to Istanbul (the then Turkey) during early 16th or late 15th Century (depending on which source you are citing). It was then in Turkey the Coffee was introduced to Public Spaces and first Coffee-House aka Café came into being.

Within the Next Couple of Centuries Coffee spread from Turkey to Vienna (when Turkish army left behind the bags of Beans as they fled the Country) , to Britain and then gradually to entire Europe. It was in England that Business communities started sprawling around the Coffee-house and suddenly Cafés become much more than just the Coffeehouses, they become the Business hub and started including eateries along with flavors of Espressos. It was also Europe which added unique flavor to Coffee i.e Cream and Sweeteners (below image of Irish Coffee would have not been possible if it wasn’t for fresh cream to come to our rescue).

To America, the Coffee was introduced little later in 18th Century. ”The Tontine Coffee House (1792) in New York was the original location for the New York Stock Exchange because so much business was conducted there.”

Fast-forward to 1930s, Gaggia herald revolution in Coffee preparations. “Achille Gaggia’s 1938 patent becomes a reality and Gaggia starts producing its first coffee machine for use in bars: the Classic. Its unique piston mechanism produces crema – a natural layer of coffee oils resembling foam – on the surface of the coffee. It makes Gaggia’s espressos unlike anything else, giving the diminutive drink a more intense aroma and flavour.”

Coffee has truly become from luxury (consumed in palace by ottoman ruler of Istanbul) to a mass commodity, it has come so far from Istanbul to world-wide, one of most popular beverage. Today, Europe is perhaps the world’s largest consumer of Caffeine. Among Europe, top-most is the Scandinavian Countries.

If we think of variety their is loads to explore, and I think I have only tasted the tip of the Iceberg (being in India). My Top 3’s are Hazelnut Coffee, Café Mocha and Irish (as of now); no comments maybe the best one is yet to come. Irish perhaps because of fresh Cream, Mocha maybe because it contains two of my best drinks Chocolate & Coffee and Hazelnut, no comments, that was the love at first sip. Yes, it do happens, love at first sip exist and I hope many of the readers would agree to me.

Not just Coffee; Recently, Cafés have become my new found love, where i usually like to spend leisure evening, slurping my Coffee while i gently chimes my Mac. It was on one such lazy evening at Café that i decided to read a bit about Evolution of Coffee and pen down my thoughts.

I hope you liked it. Your suggestions and Feedback are most welcome 🙂 Would love to share/write more on the subject – till then keep Sipping 😉

References (source of my little knowledge):