PREPARATION OF THE UNIVERSAL BEVERAGE
The evolution of grinding and brewing methods--Coffee was first a food,
then a wine, a medicine, a devotional refreshment, a confection, and
finally a beverage--Brewing by boiling, infusion, percolation, and
filtration--Coffee making in Europe in the nineteenth century--Early
coffee making in the United States--Latest developments in better coffee
making--Various aspects of scientific coffee brewing--Advice to coffee
lovers on how to buy coffee, and how to make it in perfection
Page 693
A COFFEE CHRONOLOGY
Giving dates and events of historical interest in legend, travel,
literature, cultivation, plantation treatment, trading, and in the
preparation and use of coffee from the earliest time to the present
Page 725
A COFFEE BIBLIOGRAPHY
A list of references gathered from the principal general and scientific
libraries--Arranged in alphabetic order of topics Page 738
INDEX
Page 769
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATIONS
_Color Plates_
_Facing page_
Coffee branches, flowers, and fruit (painted
by Blendon Campbell) _Frontispiece_ v
_Coffea arabica_; leaves, flowers, and fruit
(painted by M.E. Eaton) 1
The coffee tree bears fruit, leaf, and blossom
at the same time 16
A close-up of ripe coffee berries 32
Coffee under the Stars and Stripes 144
Coffee scenes in British India 160
Picking and sacking coffee in Brazil 176
Mild-coffee culture and preparation 192
Coffee scenes in Java 200
Coffee scenes in Sumatra 216
Coffee preparation in Central and South
America 248
Typical coffee scenes in Costa Rica 336
Principal varieties of green-coffee beans,
natural size and color 352
Coal-roasting plant, New York 408
Coffee scenes in the Near and Far East 544
Primitive transportation methods, Arabia 640
Hulling coffee in Aden, Arabia 656
_Black and White Illustrations_
_Page_
Coffee tree in flower 4
De Clieu and his coffee plant 7
Legendary discovery of coffee drink 10
Title page of Dufour's book 13
Frontispiece from Dufour's book 15
Turkish coffee house, 17th century 21
Serving coffee to a guest, Arabia 23
First printed reference to coffee 24
An 18th-century Italian coffee house 26
Nobility in an early Venetian café 27
Goldoni in a Venetian coffee house 28
Florian's famous coffee house 29
Title page of La Roque's work 32
Coffee tree as pictured by La Roque 32
Coffee branch in La Roque's work 33
First printed reference in English 37
Reference in Sherley's travels 39
References in Biddulph's travels 40
Mol's coffee house at Exeter 41
Reference in Sandys' travels 42
Richter's coffee house, Leipsic 46
Coffee house, Germany, 17th century 47
Kolschitzky in his Blue Bottle coffee house 48
First coffee house in Leopoldstadt 50
Statue of Kolschitzky 51
First advertisement for coffee 55
First newspaper advertisement 57
Coffee house, time of Charles II 60
London coffee house, 17th century 61
Coffee house, Queen Anne's time 62
Coffee-house keepers' tokens (plate 1) 63
A broadside of 1663 64
Coffee-house keepers' tokens (plate 2) 65
A broadside of 1667 68
A broadside of 1670 70
A broadside of 1672 70
A broadside of 1674 71
White's and Brooke's coffee houses 78
London coffee-house politicians 78
Great Fair on the frozen Thames 79
Lion's head at Button's 80
Trio of notables at Button's 81
Vauxhall Gardens on a gala night 82
Rotunda in Ranelagh Gardens 83
Garraway's coffee house 84
Button's coffee house 84
Slaughter's coffee house 85
Tom's coffee house 85
Lloyd's coffee house 86
Dick's coffee house 87
Grecian coffee house 87
Don Saltero's coffee house 88
British coffee house 88
French coffee house in London 89
Ramponaux' Royal Drummer café 90
La Foire St.-Germain 92
Street coffee vender of Paris 92
Armenian decorations in Paris café 93
Corner of historic Café de Procope 93
Café de Procope, Paris 95
Cashier's desk in coffee house, Paris 96
Café Foy 97
Café des Mille Colonnes 99
Café de Paris 101
Interior of a typical Parisian café 103
Chess at the Café de la Régence 104
Types of colonial coffee roasters 106
Early family coffee roaster 106
Historic relics, early New England 107
Mayflower "coffee grinder" 108
Crown coffee house, Boston 108
Coffee devices, Massachusetts colony 109
Coffee devices of western pioneers 110
Coffee pots of colonial days 110
Green Dragon tavern, Boston 111
Metal coffee pots, New York colony 112
Exchange coffee house, Boston 113
President-elect Washington's official welcome
at Merchants Coffee House 114
King's Arms coffee house, New York 116
Burns coffee house 117
Merchants coffee house 119
Tontine coffee house 121
Tontine building of 1850 122
Niblo's Garden 122
Coffee relics, Dutch New York 122
New York's Vauxhall Garden of 1803 123
Tavern and grocers' signs, old New York 124
Second London coffee house, Philadelphia 127
Selling slaves, old London coffee house 128
City tavern, Philadelphia 129
Coffee-house scene in "Hamilton" 130
Coffee tree, flowers and fruit 132
Germination of the coffee plant 133
Brazil coffee plantation in flower 134
_Coffea arabica_, Porto Rico 135
_Coffea arabica_, flower and fruit, Costa Rica 135
Young _Coffea arabica_, Kona, Hawaii 136
Survivors of first Liberian trees in Java 136
_Coffea arabica_ in flower, Java 137
Liberian coffee tree, Lamoa, P.I. 138
_Coffea congensis_, 2-1/2 years old 138
Flowering of 5-year-old _Coffea excelsa_ 139
Branches of _Coffea excelsa_ 140
_Coffea stenophylla_ 140
Near view of _Coffea arabica_ berries 141
Wild caffein-free coffee tree 142
Coffee bean characteristics 142
_Coffea arabica_ berries 143
_Robusta_ coffee in flower 144
One-year-old _robusta_ estate 145
_Coffea Quillou_ flowers 146
_Quillou_ coffee tree in blossom 147
_Coffea Ugandæ_ 148
_Coffea arabica_ under the microscope 149
Cross-section of coffee bean 150
Cross-section of hull and bean 150
Epicarp and pericarp under microscope 151
Endocarp and endosperm under microscope 152
Spermoderm under microscope 152
Tissues of embryo under microscope 152
Coffee-leaf disease under microscope 153
Green and roasted coffee under microscope 153
Green and roasted Bogota under microscope 154
Cross-section of endosperm 156
Portion of the investing membrane 157
Structure of the green bean 157
Ground coffee under microscope 167
Coffee tree in bearing, Lamoa, P.I. 196
Early coffee implements 198
Cross-section of mountain slope, Yemen 198
First steps in coffee-growing 199
Coffee nursery, Guatemala 200
Coffee under shade, Porto Rico 201
Boekit Gompong estate, Sumatra 202
Estate in Antioquia, Colombia 203
Weeding and harrowing, São Paulo 204
Fazenda Dumont, São Paulo 205
Fazenda Guatapara, São Paulo 206
Picking coffee, São Paulo 207
Intensive cultivation, São Paulo 207
Private railroad, São Paulo 208
Coffee culture in São Paulo 209
Heavily laden coffee tree, Bogota 210
Picking coffee, Bogota 211
Altamira Hacienda, Venezuela 212
Carmen Hacienda, Venezuela 213
Heavy fruiting, _Coffea robusta_, Java 214
Road through coffee estate, Java 215
Native picking coffee, Sumatra 216
Administrator's bungalow, Java 216
Administrator's bungalow, Sumatra 217
Coffee culture in Guatemala 218
Indians picking coffee, Guatemala 219
Bungalow, coffee estate, Guatemala 220
Thirty-year-old coffee trees, Mexico 221
Mexican coffee picker 222
Receiving coffee, Mexico 223
Heavily laden coffee tree, Porto Rico 224
Coffee cultivation, Costa Rica 225
Picking Costa Rica coffee 226
Mountain coffee estate, Costa Rica 226
Mysore coffee estate 227
Coffee growing under shade, India 228
Coffee estate at Harar 229
Wild coffee near Adis Abeba 231
Mocha coffee growing on terraces 232
Picking Blue Mountain berries, Jamaica 233
Coffee pickers, Guadeloupe 234
Coffee in blossom, Panama 235
_Robusta_ coffee, Cochin-China 237
Bourbon trees, French Indo-China 238
Picking coffee in Queensland 239
Coffee in bloom, Kona, Hawaii 240
Coffee at Hamakua, Hawaii 241
Coffee trees, South Kona, Hawaii 242
Plantation near Sagada, P.I. 243
Coffee preparation, São Paulo 244
Walker's original disk pulper 246
Early English coffee peeler 246
Group of English cylinder pulpers 247
Copper covers for pulper cylinders 248
Granada unpulped coffee separator 249
Hand-power double-disk pulper 249
Tandem coffee pulper 250
Horizontal coffee washer 251
Vertical coffee washer 251
Cobán pulper, Venezuela 252
Niagara power coffee huller 252
British and American coffee driers 253
American Guardiola drier 254
Smout peeler and polisher 254
Smout peeler and polisher, exposed 255
O'Krassa's coffee drier 255
Six well-known hullers and separators 256
El Monarca coffee classifier 257
Hydro-electric installation, Guatemala 258
Preparing Brazil coffee for market 259
Working coffee on the drying flats 260
Fermenting and washing tanks, São Paulo 260
Drying grounds, Fazenda Schmidt 261
Preparing Colombian coffee for market 262
Old-fashioned ox-power huller 263
Street-car coffee transport, Orizaba 264
Coffee on drying floors, Porto Rico 264
Sun-drying coffee 265
Drying patio, Costa Rica 266
Early Guardiola steam drier 266
Indian women cleaning Mocha coffee 267
Cleaning-and-grading machinery, Aden 268
Drying coffee at Harar 269
Preparing Java coffee for market 270
Coffee transport in Java 271
Meeting of Amsterdam coffee brokers, 1820 291
Bill of public sale of coffee, 1790 292
Last sample before export, Santos 304
Stamping bags for export 304
Preparing Brazil coffee for export 305
Grading coffee at Santos 306
The test by the cups, Santos 306
New York importers' warehouse, Santos 307
Pack-mule transport in Venezuela 308
Coffee-carrying cart, Guatemala 308
Pack-oxen fording stream, Colombia 308
Coffee transport, Mexico and South America 309
Donkey coffee-transport at Harar 310
Coffee camels at Harar 310
Selling coffee by tapping hands, Aden 310
Packing and transporting coffee, Aden 311
Coffee camel train at Hodeida 312
Methods of loading coffee, Santos 313
Coffee freighter, Cauca River, Colombia 314
Coffee steamers on the Magdalena 314
Loading heavy cargo on Santa Cecilia 315
Unloading Java coffee from sailing vessel 317
Receiving piers for coffee, New York 318
Unloading coffee, covered pier, New York 319
Receiving and storing coffee, New York 320
Tester at work, Bush Terminal, New York 321
Loading lighters, Bush Docks, Brooklyn 321
New Terminal system on Staten Island 322
Motor tractor, Bush piers 322
Unloading with modern conveyor 323
Coffee handling, New Orleans piers 324
Coffee in steel-covered sheds, New Orleans 325
Unloading and storing coffee, San Francisco 326
Modern device for handling green coffee 327
Handling green coffee at European ports 328
New York Coffee and Sugar Exchange 329
Coffee section, Coffee and Sugar Exchange 330
Blackboards, Coffee Exchange 331
"Coffee afloat" blackboard 332
Well known green-coffee marks 339
Bourbon-Santos beans, roasted 343
Flat and Bourbon-Santos beans, roasted 343
Rio beans, roasted 343
Mexican beans, roasted 347
Guatemala beans, roasted 347
Bogota (Colombia) beans, roasted 348
Maracaibo beans, roasted 349
Mocha beans, roasted 351
Washed Java beans, roasted 353
Sample-roasting and cup-testing outfit 357
Modern gas coffee-roasting plant 380
Sixteen-cylinder coal roasting plant 382
Green-coffee separating and milling machines 384
English gas coffee-roasting plant 385
German gas coffee-roasting plant 386
French gas coffee-roasting plant 387
Jumbo coffee roaster, Arbuckle plant 388
Roasting plant of Reid, Murdoch & Co. 389
Complete gas coffee-plant installation 390
Burns Jubilee gas roaster 391
Burns coal roaster 392
Open perforated cylinder with flexible back head 392
Trying the roast 394
Monitor gas roaster 394
A group of roasting-room accessories 394
Dumping the roast 395
A four-bag coffee finisher 396
Burns sample-coffee roaster 396
Lambert coal coffee-roasting outfit 397
Coles No. 22 grinding mill 398
Monitor coffee-granulating machine 398
Challenge pulverizer 398
Burns No. 12 grinding mill 399
Monitor steel-cut grinder, separator, etc 399
Johnson carton-filling, weighing, and sealing machine 400
Ideal steel-cut mill 400
Smyser package-making and filling machine 401
Automatic coffee-packing machine 402
Complete coffee-cartoning outfit 403
Automatic coffee-weighing machines 404
Units in manufacture of soluble coffee 405
Types of coffee containers 411
Fresh-roasted-coffee idea in retailing 414
Premium tea and coffee dealer's display 416
Chain-store interior 417
Familiar A & P store front 418
Specialist idea in coffee merchandising 419
Monitor gas roaster, cooler, and stoner 420
Royal gas coffee roaster for retailers 420
Burns half-bag roaster, cooler, and stoner 421
Lambert Jr. roasting outfit for retailers 421
Faulder and Simplex gas roasters 422
Coffee roasters used in Paris shops 423
Small German roasters 424
Popular French retail roaster 424
Uno cabinet gas roaster and cooler 424
Educational window exhibit 425
Better-class American grocery, interior 426
Prize-winning window display 427
Americanized English grocer's shop 429
Famous package coffees 430
First coffee advertisement in U.S. 433
Coffee advertisement of 1790 434
First colored handbill for package coffee 435
Reverse side of colored handbill 435
St. Louis handbill of 1854 436
Advertising-card copy, 1873 437
Handbill copy of the seventies 437
Box-end sticker, 1833 438
Chase & Sanborn advertisement, 1888 438
A Goldberg cartoon, 1910 439
Copy used by Chase & Sanborn, 1900 439
An effective cut-out 442
How coffee is advertised to the trade 443
Joint Coffee Trade Publicity Committee 447
Magazine and newspaper copy, 1919 449
Copy that stressed helpfulness of coffee, 1919-20 450
Joint Committee's house organ 451
Introductory medical-journal copy 451
Telling the doctors the truth, 1920 452
Joint Committee's attractive booklets 453
More medical journal copy, 1920 454
Magazine and newspaper copy, 1921 455
Educating the doctor, 1922 456
Magazine and newspaper copy, 1922 457
Specimen of early Yuban copy 459
Historical association in advertising 459
Package coffee advertising in 1922 460
The social distinction argument 461
Drawing upon history for atmosphere 461
An impressive electric sign, Chicago 462
How coffee is advertised outdoors 463
Attractive car cards, spring of 1922 464
Effective iced-coffee copy 465
European advertising novelty, New York 465
Coenties Slip, in days of sailing vessels 466
First U.S. coffee-grinder patent 469
Carter's Pull-out roaster patent 469
First registered trade mark for coffee 470
Original Arbuckle coffee packages 471
Merchants coffee house tablet 473
Departed dominant figures in New York green coffee trade 476
"Their association with New York green coffee trade
dates back nearly fifty years" 477
Green coffee trade-builders who have passed on 478
"Their race is run, their course is done" 479
112 Front Street, New York, 1879 480
At 87 Wall Street, New York, years ago 480
Wall and Front Streets, New York, 1922 481
Front Street, New York, 1922 483
In the New Orleans coffee district 486
Green coffee district, New Orleans 487
California Street, San Francisco 488
San Francisco's coffee district 489
Pioneer coffee roasters, New York City 493
Oldtime New York coffee roasters 495
Pioneer coffee roasters of the North and East, U.S. 500
Pioneer coffee roasters of the South and West, U.S. 504
Ground coffee price list of 1862 507
Organization convention, N.C.R.A., 1911 510
Former presidents, N.C.R.A. 512
Earliest coffee manuscript 540
Song from "The Coffee House" 555
Dr. Johnson's seat, the Cheshire Cheese 567
Original coffee room, old Cock Tavern 568
Morning gossip in the coffee room 569
"His Warmest Welcome at an Inn" 571
Alexander Pope at Button's, 1730 577
Dutch coffee house, 1650 (by Van Ostade) 586
White's coffee house, 1733 (by Hogarth) 588
Tom King's, 1738 (by Hogarth) 589
Petit Déjeuner (by Boucher) 590
Coffee service in the home of Madame de Pompadour
(by Van Loo) 590
Madame Du Barry (by Decreuse) 591
Coffee house at Cairo (by Gérôme) 592
Kaffeebesuch (by Philippi) 593
Coffee comes to the aid of the Muse (by Ruffio) 593
Mad dog in a coffee house (by Rowlandson) 594
Napoleon and the Curé (by Charlet) 595
Coffee, a chanson (music by Colet) 596
Statue of Kolschitzky 597
Betty's Aria, Bach's coffee cantata 598
Café Pedrocchi, Padua 599
Coffee grinder set with jewels 600
Italian wrought-iron coffee roaster 600
Seventeenth-century tea and coffee pots 601
Lantern coffee pot, 1692 602
Folkingham pot, 1715-16 602
Wastell pot, 1720-21 603
Dish of coffee-boy design, 1692 603
Chinese porcelain coffee pot 604
Silver coffee pots, early 18th century 604
Silver coffee pots, 18th century 605
Pottery and porcelain pots 606
Silver coffee pots, late 18th century 607
Porcelain pots, Metropolitan Museum 608
Vienna coffee pot, 1830 609
Spanish coffee pot, 18th century 609
Silver coffee pots in American collections 610
Coffee pot by Win. Shaw and Wm. Priest 611
Pot of Sheffield plate, 18th century 611
Pot by Ephraim Brasher 611
French silver coffee pot 612
Green Dragon tavern coffee urn 612
Coffee pots by American silversmiths 613
Twentieth-century American coffee service 613
Turkish coffee set, Peter collection 614
Oldest coffee grinder 616
Grain mill used by Greeks and Romans 616
First coffee roaster 616
First cylinder roaster, 1650 616
Historical relics, U.S. National Museum 617
Turkish coffee mill 618
Early French wall and table grinders 618
Bronze and brass mortars, 17th century 619
Early American coffee roasters 619
Roaster with three-sided hood 620
Roasting, making, and serving devices, 17th century 620
English and French coffee grinders 621
Eighteenth-century roaster 621
Original French drip pot 621
Belgian, Russian, and French pewter pots 622
17th and 18th century pewter pots 623
Count Rumford's percolator 623
Drawings of early French coffee makers 624
Early French filtration devices 624
Early American coffee-maker patents 625
French coffee makers, 19th century 625
First English commercial roaster patent 626
Early French coffee-roasting machines 627
Battery of Carter pull-out machines 628
Early English and American roasters 630
Early Foreign and American coffee-making devices 632
Dakin roasting machine of 1848 633
Globe stove roaster of 1860 634
Hyde's combined roaster and stove 634
Original Burns roaster, 1864 635
Burns granulating mill, 1872-74 636
Napier's vacuum machine 637
German gas and coal roasting machines 638
Other German coffee roasters 639
Original Enterprise mill 640
Max Thurmer's quick gas roaster 640
An English gas coffee-roasting plant 641
French globular roaster 642
Sirocco machine (French) 642
English roasting and grinding equipment 643
Magic gas machine (French) 644
Burns Jubilee gas machine 644
Double gas roasting outfit (French) 645
Lambert's Victory gas machine 646
One of the first electric mills 647
English electric-fuel roaster 648
Ben Franklin electric coffee roaster 648
Enterprise hand store mill 649
Latest types electric store mills 650
Italian rapid coffee-making machines 651
Working of Italian rapid machines 652
La Victoria Arduino Mignonne 652
N.C.R.A. Home coffee mill 653
Manthey-Zorn rapid infuser and dispenser 653
Tricolette, single-cup filter device 654
Moorish coffee house in Algiers 656
Coffee house in Cairo 656
Coffee service in Cairo barber shop 657
Coffee-laden camels, Arabia 658
Arabian coffee house 658
Mahommedan brewing coffee for guest 659
Native café, Harar 661
Early coffee, tea, and chocolate service 661
Nubian slave girl with coffee service 662
Persian coffee service, 1737 663
In a Turkish coffee house 664
Roasting coffee outside a Turkish café 664
Turkish caffinet, early 19th century 665
Coffee-making in Turkey 666
Street coffee vender in the Levant 666
A coffee house in Syria 667
Cafetan--garb of oriental café-keeper 668
Street coffee service in Constantinople 668
Riverside café in Damascus 669
Coffee _al fresco_ in Jerusalem 671
Café Schrangl, Vienna 672
Favorite English way of making coffee 673
A café of Ye Mecca Company, London 673
Groom's coffee house, London 674
Café Monico, Piccadilly Circus, London 674
Gatti's, The Strand, London 675
Tea lounge, Hotel Savoy, London 675
Two popular places for coffee in London 676
Temple Bar restaurant, London 677
Tea balcony, Hotel Cecil, London 677
One of Slater's chain-shops, London 677
St. James's restaurant, Picadilly, London 678
An A.B.C. shop, London 678
Halt of caravaners at a serai, Bulgaria 678
Café de la Paix, Paris 679
Sidewalk annex, Café de la Paix 680
Café de la Régence, Paris 681
Café de la Régence in 1922 682
One of the Biard cafés, Paris 683
Restaurant Procope, 1922 683
Morning coffee at a Boulevard café 684
Café Bauer, Unter den Linden, Berlin 684
Café Bauer, exterior 685
Kranzler's Unter den Linden, Berlin 685
Swedish coffee boilers 687
Sidewalk café, Lisbon 687
Coffee rooms replacing hotel bars, U.S. 688
Britannia coffee pot--a Lincoln relic 690
Coffee service, Hotel Astor, New York 691
Early coffee-making in Persia 694
Napier vacuum coffee maker 700
Napier-List steam coffee machine 700
Finley Acker's filter-paper coffee pot 700
Kin-Hee pot in operation 701
Tricolator in operation 701
King percolator 701
Three American coffee-making machines in operation 702
How the Tru-Bru pot operates 702
Coffee-making devices used in U.S. 703
English hotel coffee-making machines 706
Well-known makes of large coffee urns 707
Popular German drip pot 708
Section of roasted bean, magnified 719
Cross-section of roasted bean, magnified 720
Coarse grind under the microscope 720
Medium grind under the microscope 721
Fine-meal grind under the microscope 721
_Portraits_
Ach, F.J. 447, 512
Akers, Fred 495
Ames, Allan P. 447
Arbuckle, John 523
Arnold, Benjamin Greene 476, 517
Arnold, F.B. 476
Bayne, William 479
Bayne, William, Jr. 447
Beard, Eli 493
Beard, Samuel 493
Bennett, William H. 479
Bickford, C.E. 478
Boardman, Thomas J. 500
Boardman, William 500
Brand, Carl W. 512
Brandenstein, M.J. 504
Burns, Jabez 527
Canby, Edward 500
Casanas, Ben C. 512
Cauchois. F.A. 493
Chase, Caleb 500
Cheek, J.O. 504, 515
Closset, Joseph 504
Coste, Felix 447
Crossman, Geo. W. 479
Devers, A.H. 504
Dwinell, James F. 500
Eppens, Fred 495
Eppens, Julius A. 495, 497
Eppens, W.H. 493, 495
Evans, David G. 504
Fischer, Benedickt 493
Flint, J.G. 500
Folger, J.A., Jr. 504
Folger, J.A., Sr. 504
Forbes, A.E. 504
Forbes, Jas. H. 504
Geiger, Frank J. 500
Gillies, Jas. W. 493
Gillies, Wright 493
Grossman, William 500
Harrison, D.Y. 500
Harrison, W.H. 500
Haulenbeek, Peter 493
Hayward, Martin 500
Heekin, James 500
Jones, W.T. 504
Kimball, O.G. 478
Kinsella, W.J. 504
Kirkland, Alexander 495
Kolschitzky, Franz George 50
McLaughlin, W.F. 500
Mahood, Samuel 500
Mayo, Henry 495
Meehan, P.C. 477
Menezes, Th. Langgaard de 446
Meyer, Robert 511
Peck, Edwin H. 477
Phyfe, Jas. W. 478
Pierce, O.W., Sr. 500
Pupke, John F. 495
Purcell, Joseph 476
Reid, Fred 495
Reid, Thomas 493, 495
Roome, Col. William P. 499
Russell, James C. 478
Sanborn, James S. 500
Schilling, A. 504
Schotten, Julius J. 504, 512
Schotten, William 504
Seelye, Frank R. 512
Sielcken, Hermann 476, 519
Simmonds, H. 477
Sinnot, J.B. 504
Smith, L.B. 493
Smith, M.E. 504
Sprague, Albert A. 500
Stephens, Henry A. 500
Stoffregen, Charles 504
Stoffregen, C.H. 447
Taylor, James H. 477
Thomson, A.M. 500
Van Loan, Thomas 498
Weir, Ross W. 447, 512
Westfeldt, George 479
Widlar, Francis 500
Wilde, Samuel 493
Withington, Elijah 493
Woolson, Alvin M. 500
Wright, George C. 500
Wright, George S. 447
Young, Samuel 500
Zinsmeister, J. 504
_Maps, Charts, and Diagrams_
Map of London coffee-house district, 1748 76
Formula for Caffein 160
Commercial coffee chart 191
Eiffel and Woolworth towers in coffee 272
World's coffee cup and largest ship 275
Coffee exports, 1850-1920 277
Coffee exports, 1916-1920 277
Brazil coffee exports, 1850-1920 278
World's coffee consumption, 1850 286
Coffee imports, 1916-1920 286
World trend of consumption of tea and coffee, 1860-1920 288
Coffee map of World (folded insert) _facing_ 288
Pre-war annual average production of coffee by continents 294
Pre-war annual average production of coffee by countries 294
Pre-war average annual imports of coffee into U.S. by continents 295
Pre-war average annual imports of coffee into U.S. by countries 295
Pre-war coffee-imports chart 297
Pre-war consumption and price chart 297
Coffee map, Brazil 342
Coffee map, São Paulo, Minãs, and Rio 344
Mild-coffee map, 1 346
Coffee map, Africa and Arabia 352
Mild-coffee map, 2 354
Complete reference table (21 pp.) 358
Plan of milling-machine connections 381
Plan of green-coffee-mixer connections 383
Layout for coffee and tea department 418
Chart, advertising of coffee and coffee substitutes, 1911-20 440
Charts, per capita consumption of coffee, and coffee and substitute
advertising 441
Chart, plan of advertising campaign 448
Chart, private-brand advertising, 1921 458
A COFFEE THESAURUS
_Encomiums and descriptive phrases applied to the plant, the berry, and
the beverage_
_The Plant_
The precious plant
This friendly plant
Mocha's happy tree
The gift of Heaven
The plant with the jessamine-like flowers
The most exquisite perfume of Araby the blest
Given to the human race by the gift of the Gods
_The Berry_
The magic bean
The divine fruit
Fragrant berries
Rich, royal berry
Voluptuous berry
The precious berry
The healthful bean
The Heavenly berry
The marvelous berry
This all-healing berry
Yemen's fragrant berry
The little aromatic berry
Little brown Arabian berry
Thought-inspiring bean of Arabia
The smoking, ardent beans Aleppo sends
That wild fruit which gives so beloved a drink
_The Beverage_
Nepenthe
Festive cup
Juice divine
Nectar divine
Ruddy mocha
A man's drink
Lovable liquor
Delicious mocha
The magic drink
This rich cordial
Its stream divine
The family drink
The festive drink
Coffee is our gold
Nectar of all men
The golden mocha
This sweet nectar
Celestial ambrosia
The friendly drink
The cheerful drink
The essential drink
The sweet draught
The divine draught
The grateful liquor
The universal drink
The American drink
The amber beverage
The convivial drink
The universal thrill
King of all perfumes
The cup of happiness
The soothing draught
Ambrosia of the Gods
The intellectual drink
The aromatic draught
The salutary beverage
The good-fellow drink
The drink of democracy
The drink ever glorious
Wakeful and civil drink
The beverage of sobriety
A psychological necessity
The fighting man's drink
Loved and favored drink
The symbol of hospitality
This rare Arabian cordial
Inspirer of men of letters
The revolutionary beverage
Triumphant stream of sable
Grave and wholesome liquor
The drink of the intellectuals
A restorative of sparkling wit
Its color is the seal of its purity
The sober and wholesome drink
Lovelier than a thousand kisses
This honest and cheering beverage
A wine which no sorrow can resist
The symbol of human brotherhood
At once a pleasure and a medicine
The beverage of the friends of God
The fire which consumes our griefs
Gentle panacea of domestic troubles
The autocrat of the breakfast table
The beverage of the children of God
King of the American breakfast table
Soothes you softly out of dull sobriety
The cup that cheers but not inebriates[1]
Coffee, which makes the politician wise
Its aroma is the pleasantest in all nature
The sovereign drink of pleasure and health[2]
The indispensable beverage of strong nations
The stream in which we wash away our sorrows
The enchanting perfume that a zephyr has brought
Favored liquid which fills all my soul with delight
The delicious libation we pour on the altar of friendship
This invigorating drink which drives sad care from the heart
EVOLUTION OF A CUP OF COFFEE
_Showing the various steps through which the bean passes from plantation
to cup_
1 Planting the seed in nursery
2 Transplanting into rows
3 Cultivating and pruning
4 Picking the cherries
5 Pulping
6 Fermenting
7 Washing
8 Drying in the parchment
9 Hulling
10 Polishing
11 Grading
12 Transporting to the seaport
13 Buying and selling for export
14 Transhipment overseas
15 Buying and selling at wholesale
16 Shipment to the point of manufacture
17 Separating
18 Milling
19 Mixing or blending
20 Roasting
21 Cooling and stoning
22 Buying and selling at retail
23 Grinding
24 Making the beverage
[Illustration: COFFEE ARABICA; LEAVES, FLOWERS AND FRUIT
Painted from nature by M.E. Eaton--Detail sketches show anther, pistil,
and section of corolla]
CHAPTER I
DEALING WITH THE ETYMOLOGY OF COFFEE
_Origin and translation of the word from the Arabian into various
languages--Views of many writers_
The history of the word coffee involves several phonetic difficulties.
The European languages got the name of the beverage about 1600 from the
original Arabic [Arabic] _qahwah_, not directly, but through its
Turkish form, _kahveh_. This was the name, not of the plant, but the
beverage made from its infusion, being originally one of the names
employed for wine in Arabic.
Sir James Murray, in the _New English Dictionary_, says that some have
conjectured that the word is a foreign, perhaps African, word disguised,
and have thought it connected with the name Kaffa, a town in Shoa,
southwest Abyssinia, reputed native place of the coffee plant, but that
of this there is no evidence, and the name _qahwah_ is not given to the
berry or plant, which is called [Arabic] _bunn_, the native name in
Shoa being _bun_.
Contributing to a symposium on the etymology of the word coffee in
_Notes and Queries_, 1909, James Platt, Jr., said:
The Turkish form might have been written _kahvé_, as its final _h_
was never sounded at any time. Sir James Murray draws attention to
the existence of two European types, one like the French _café_,
Italian _caffè_, the other like the English _coffee_, Dutch
_koffie_. He explains the vowel _o_ in the second series as
apparently representing _au_, from Turkish _ahv_. This seems
unsupported by evidence, and the _v_ is already represented by the
_ff_, so on Sir James's assumption _coffee_ must stand for
_kahv-ve_, which is unlikely. The change from _a_ to _o_, in my
opinion, is better accounted for as an imperfect appreciation. The
exact sound of a in Arabic and other Oriental languages is that
of the English short U, as in "cuff." This sound, so easy to us, is
a great stumbling-block to other nations. I judge that Dutch
_koffie_ and kindred forms are imperfect attempts at the notation
of a vowel which the writers could not grasp. It is clear that the
French type is more correct. The Germans have corrected their
_koffee_, which they may have got from the Dutch, into _kaffee_.
The Scandinavian languages have adopted the French form. Many must
wonder how the _hv_ of the original so persistently becomes _ff_ in
the European equivalents. Sir James Murray makes no attempt to
solve this problem.
Virendranath Chattopádhyáya, who also contributed to the _Notes and
Queries_ symposium, argued that the _hw_ of the Arabic _qahwah_ becomes
sometimes _ff_ and sometimes only _f_ or _v_ in European translations
because some languages, such as English, have strong syllabic accents
(stresses), while others, as French, have none. Again, he points out
that the surd aspirate _h_ is heard in some languages, but is hardly
audible in others. Most Europeans tend to leave it out altogether.
Col. W.F. Prideaux, another contributor, argued that the European
languages got one form of the word coffee directly from the Arabic
_qahwah_, and quoted from Hobson-Jobson in support of this:
_Chaoua_ in 1598, _Cahoa_ in 1610, _Cahue_ in 1615; while Sir
Thomas Herbert (1638) expressly states that "they drink (in Persia)
... above all the rest, _Coho_ or _Copha_: by Turk and Arab called
_Caphe_ and _Cahua_." Here the Persian, Turkish, and Arabic
pronunciations are clearly differentiated.
Col. Prideaux then calls, as a witness to the Anglo-Arabic
pronunciation, one whose evidence was not available when the _New
English Dictionary_ and Hobson-Jobson articles were written. This is
John Jourdain, a Dorsetshire seaman, whose _Diary_ was printed by the
Hakluyt Society in 1905. On May 28, 1609, he records that "in the
afternoone wee departed out of Hatch (Al-Hauta, the capital of the Lahej
district near Aden), and travelled untill three in the morninge, and
then wee rested in the plaine fields untill three the next daie, neere
unto a cohoo howse in the desert." On June 5 the party, traveling from
Hippa (Ibb), "laye in the mountaynes, our camells being wearie, and our
selves little better. This mountain is called Nasmarde (Nakil
Sumara), where all the cohoo grows." Farther on was "a little
village, where there is sold cohoo and fruite. The seeds of this cohoo
is a greate marchandize, for it is carried to grand Cairo and all other
places of Turkey, and to the Indias." Prideaux, however, mentions that
another sailor, William Revett, in his journal (1609) says, referring to
Mocha, that "Shaomer Shadli (Shaikh 'Ali bin 'Omar esh-Shadil) was
the fyrst inventour for drynking of coffe, and therefor had in
esteemation." This rather looks to Prideaux as if on the coast of
Arabia, and in the mercantile towns, the Persian pronunciation was in
vogue; whilst in the interior, where Jourdain traveled, the Englishman
reproduced the Arabic.
Mr. Chattopádhyáya, discussing Col. Prideaux's views as expressed above,
said:
Col. Prideaux may doubt "if the worthy mariner, in entering the
word in his log, was influenced by the abstruse principles of
phonetics enunciated" by me, but he will admit that the change from
_kahvah_ to _coffee_ is a phonetic change, and must be due to the
operation of some phonetic principle. The average man, when he
endeavours to write a foreign word in his own tongue, is
handicapped considerably by his inherited and acquired phonetic
capacity. And, in fact, if we take the quotations made in
"Hobson-Jobson," and classify the various forms of the word
_coffee_ according to the nationality of the writer, we obtain very
interesting results.
Let us take Englishmen and Dutchmen first. In Danvers's _Letters_
(1611) we have both "_coho_ pots" and "_coffao_ pots"; Sir T. Roe
(1615) and Terry (1616) have _cohu_; Sir T. Herbert (1638) has
_coho_ and _copha_; Evelyn (1637), _coffee_; Fryer (1673) _coho_;
Ovington (1690), _coffee_; and Valentijn (1726), _coffi_. And from
the two examples given by Col. Prideaux, we see that Jourdain
(1609) has _cohoo_, and Revett (1609) has _coffe_.
To the above should be added the following by English writers, given in
Foster's _English Factories in India_ (1618-21, 1622-23, 1624-29): cowha
(1619), cowhe, couha (1621), coffa (1628).
Let us now see what foreigners (chiefly French and Italian) write. The
earliest European mention is by Rauwolf, who knew it in Aleppo in 1573.
He has the form _chaube_. Prospero Alpini (1580) has _caova_; Paludanus
(1598) _chaoua_; Pyrard de Laval (1610) _cahoa_; P. Della Valle (1615)
_cahue_; Jac. Bontius (1631) _caveah_; and the _Journal d'Antoine
Galland_ (1673) _cave_. That is, Englishmen use forms of a certain
distinct type, _viz._, cohu, coho, coffao, coffe, copha, coffee, which
differ from the more correct transliteration of foreigners.
In 1610 the Portuguese Jew, Pedro Teixeira (in the Hakluyt Society's
edition of his _Travels_) used the word _kavàh_.
The inferences from these transitional forms seem to be: 1. The word
found its way into the languages of Europe both from the Turkish and
from the Arabic. 2. The English forms (which have strong stress on the
first syllable) have _o_ instead of _a_, and _f_ instead of _h_.
3. The foreign forms are unstressed and have no _h_. The original _v_ or
_w_ (or labialized _u_) is retained or changed into _f_.
It may be stated, accordingly, that the chief reason for the existence
of two distinct types of spelling is the omission of _h_ in unstressed
languages, and the conversion of _h_ into _f_ under strong stress in
stressed languages. Such conversion often takes place in Turkish; for
example, _silah dar_ in Persian (which is a highly stressed language)
becomes _zilif dar_ in Turkish. In the languages of India, on the other
hand, in spite of the fact that the aspirate is usually very clearly
sounded, the word _qahvah_ is pronounced _kaiva_ by the less
educated classes, owing to the syllables being equally stressed.
Now for the French viewpoint. Jardin[3] opines that, as regards the
etymology of the word coffee, scholars are not agreed and perhaps never
will be. Dufour[4] says the word is derived from _caouhe_, a name given
by the Turks to the beverage prepared from the seed. Chevalier
d'Arvieux, French consul at Alet, Savary, and Trevoux, in his
dictionary, think that coffee comes from the Arabic, but from the word
_cahoueh_ or _quaweh_, meaning to give vigor or strength, because, says
d'Arvieux, its most general effect is to fortify and strengthen.
Tavernier combats this opinion. Moseley attributes the origin of the
word coffee to Kaffa. Sylvestre de Sacy, in his _Chréstomathie Arabe_,
published in 1806, thinks that the word _kahwa_, synonymous with
_makli_, roasted in a stove, might very well be the etymology of the
word coffee. D'Alembert in his encyclopedic dictionary, writes the word
_caffé_. Jardin concludes that whatever there may be in these various
etymologies, it remains a fact that the word coffee comes from an
Arabian word, whether it be _kahua_, _kahoueh_, _kaffa_ or _kahwa_, and
that the peoples who have adopted the drink have all modified the
Arabian word to suit their pronunciation. This is shown by giving the
word as written in various modern languages:
French, _café_; Breton, _kafe_; German, _kaffee_ (coffee tree,
_kaffeebaum_); Dutch, _koffie_ (coffee tree, _koffieboonen_); Danish,
_kaffe_; Finnish, _kahvi_; Hungarian, _kavé_; Bohemian, _kava_; Polish,
_kawa_; Roumanian, _cafea_; Croatian, _kafa_; Servian, _kava_; Russian,
_kophe_; Swedish, _kaffe_; Spanish, _café_; Basque, _kaffia_; Italian,
_caffè_; Portuguese, _café_; Latin (scientific), _coffea_; Turkish,
_kahué_; Greek, _kaféo_; Arabic, _qahwah_ (coffee berry, _bun_);
Persian, _qéhvé_ (coffee berry, _bun_[5]); Annamite, _ca-phé_;
Cambodian, _kafé_; Dukni[6], _bunbund_[7]; Teluyan[8], _kapri-vittulu_;
Tamil[9], _kapi-kottai_ or _kopi_; Canareze[10], _kapi-bija_; Chinese,
_kia-fey_, _teoutsé_; Japanese, _kéhi_; Malayan, _kawa_, _koppi_;
Abyssinian, _bonn_[11]; Foulak, _legal café_[12]; Sousou, _houri
caff_[13]; Marquesan, _kapi_; Chinook[14], _kaufee_; Volapuk, _kaf_;
Esperanto, _kafva_.
[Illustration: THE FAIRY BEAUTY OF A COFFEE TREE IN FLOWER]
CHAPTER II
HISTORY OF COFFEE PROPAGATION
_A brief account of the cultivation of the coffee plant in the Old
World and its introduction into the New--A romantic coffee
adventure_
The history of the propagation of the coffee plant is closely interwoven
with that of the early history of coffee drinking, but for the purposes
of this chapter we shall consider only the story of the inception and
growth of the cultivation of the coffee tree, or shrub, bearing the
seeds, or berries, from which the drink, coffee, is made.
Careful research discloses that most authorities agree that the coffee
plant is indigenous to Abyssinia, and probably Arabia, whence its
cultivation spread throughout the tropics. The first reliable mention of
the properties and uses of the plant is by an Arabian physician toward
the close of the ninth century A.D., and it is reasonable to suppose
that before that time the plant was found growing wild in Abyssinia and
perhaps in Arabia. If it be true, as Ludolphus writes,[15] that the
Abyssinians came out of Arabia into Ethiopia in the early ages, it is
possible that they may have brought the coffee tree with them; but the
Arabians must still be given the credit for discovering and promoting
the use of the beverage, and also for promoting the propagation of the
plant, even if they found it in Abyssinia and brought it to Yemen.
Some authorities believe that the first cultivation of coffee in Yemen
dates back to 575 A.D., when the Persian invasion put an end to the
Ethiopian rule of the negus Caleb, who conquered the country in 525.
Certainly the discovery of the beverage resulted in the cultivation of
the plant in Abyssinia and in Arabia; but its progress was slow until
the 15th and 16th centuries, when it appears as intensively carried on
in the Yemen district of Arabia. The Arabians were jealous of their new
found and lucrative industry, and for a time successfully prevented its
spread to other countries by not permitting any of the precious berries
to leave the country unless they had first been steeped in boiling water
or parched, so as to destroy their powers of germination. It may be that
many of the early failures successfully to introduce the cultivation of
the coffee plant into other lands was also due to the fact, discovered
later, that the seeds soon lose their germinating power.
However, it was not possible to watch every avenue of transport, with
thousands of pilgrims journeying to and from Mecca every year; and so
there would appear to be some reason to credit the Indian tradition
concerning the introduction of coffee cultivation into southern India by
Baba Budan, a Moslem pilgrim, as early as 1600, although a better
authority gives the date as 1695. Indian tradition relates that Baba
Budan planted his seeds near the hut he built for himself at Chickmaglur
in the mountains of Mysore, where, only a few years since, the writer
found the descendants of these first plants growing under the shade of
the centuries-old original jungle trees. The greater part of the plants
cultivated by the natives of Kurg and Mysore appear to have come from
the Baba Budan importation. It was not until 1840 that the English began
the cultivation of coffee in India. The plantations extend now from the
extreme north of Mysore to Tuticorin.
_Early Cultivation by the Dutch_
In the latter part of the 16th century, German, Italian, and Dutch
botanists and travelers brought back from the Levant considerable
information regarding the new plant and the beverage. In 1614
enterprising Dutch traders began to examine into the possibilities of
coffee cultivation and coffee trading. In 1616 a coffee plant was
successfully transported from Mocha to Holland. In 1658 the Dutch
started the cultivation of coffee in Ceylon, although the Arabs are said
to have brought the plant to the island prior to 1505. In 1670 an
attempt was made to cultivate coffee on European soil at Dijon, France,
but the result was a failure.
In 1696, at the instigation of Nicolaas Witsen, then burgomaster of
Amsterdam, Adrian Van Ommen, commander at Malabar, India, caused to be
shipped from Kananur, Malabar, to Java, the first coffee plants
introduced into that island. They were grown from seed of the _Coffea
arabica_ brought to Malabar from Arabia. They were planted by
Governor-General Willem Van Outshoorn on the Kedawoeng estate near
Batavia, but were subsequently lost by earthquake and flood. In 1699
Henricus Zwaardecroon imported some slips, or cuttings, of coffee trees
from Malabar into Java. These were more successful, and became the
progenitors of all the coffees of the Dutch East Indies. The Dutch were
then taking the lead in the propagation of the coffee plant.
In 1706 the first samples of Java coffee, and a coffee plant grown in
Java, were received at the Amsterdam botanical gardens. Many plants were
afterward propagated from the seeds produced in the Amsterdam gardens,
and these were distributed to some of the best known botanical gardens
and private conservatories in Europe.
While the Dutch were extending the cultivation of the plant to Sumatra,
the Celebes, Timor, Bali, and other islands of the Netherlands Indies,
the French were seeking to introduce coffee cultivation into their
colonies. Several attempts were made to transfer young plants from the
Amsterdam botanical gardens to the botanical gardens at Paris; but all
were failures.
In 1714, however, as a result of negotiations entered into between the
French government and the municipality of Amsterdam, a young and
vigorous plant about five feet tall was sent to Louis XIV at the chateau
of Marly by the burgomaster of Amsterdam. The day following, it was
transferred to the Jardin des Plantes at Paris, where it was received
with appropriate ceremonies by Antoine de Jussieu, professor of botany
in charge. This tree was destined to be the progenitor of most of the
coffees of the French colonies, as well as of those of South America,
Central America, and Mexico.
_The Romance of Captain Gabriel de Clieu_
Two unsuccessful attempts were made to transport to the Antilles plants
grown from the seed of the tree presented to Louis XIV; but the honor of
eventual success was won by a young Norman gentleman, Gabriel Mathieu de
Clieu, a naval officer, serving at the time as captain of infantry at
Martinique. The story of de Clieu's achievement is the most romantic
chapter in the history of the propagation of the coffee plant.
His personal affairs calling him to France, de Clieu conceived the idea
of utilizing the return voyage to introduce coffee cultivation into
Martinique. His first difficulty lay in obtaining several of the plants
then being cultivated in Paris, a difficulty at last overcome through
the instrumentality of M. de Chirac, royal physician, or, according to a
letter written by de Clieu himself, through the kindly offices of a lady
of quality to whom de Chirac could give no refusal. The plants selected
were kept at Rochefort by M. Bégon, commissary of the department, until
the departure of de Clieu for Martinique. Concerning the exact date of
de Clieu's arrival at Martinique with the coffee plant, or plants, there
is much conflict of opinion. Some authorities give the date as 1720,
others 1723. Jardin[16] suggests that the discrepancy in dates may arise
from de Clieu, with praiseworthy perseverance, having made the voyage
twice. The first time, according to Jardin, the plants perished; but the
second time de Clieu had planted the seeds when leaving France and these
survived, "due, they say, to his having given of his scanty ration of
water to moisten them." No reference to a preceding voyage, however, is
made by de Clieu in his own account, given in a letter written to the
_Année Littéraire_[17] in 1774. There is also a difference of opinion as
to whether de Clieu arrived with one or three plants. He himself says
"one" in the letter referred to.
According to the most trustworthy data, de Clieu embarked at Nantes,
1723.[18] He had installed his precious plant in a box covered with a
glass frame in order to absorb the rays of the sun and thus better to
retain the stored-up heat for cloudy days. Among the passengers one man,
envious of the young officer, did all in his power to wrest from him the
glory of success. Fortunately his dastardly attempt failed of its
intended effect.
"It is useless," writes de Clieu in his letter to the _Année
Littéraire_, "to recount in detail the infinite care that I was obliged
to bestow upon this delicate plant during a long voyage, and the
difficulties I had in saving it from the hands of a man who, basely
jealous of the joy I was about to taste through being of service to my
country, and being unable to get this coffee plant away from me, tore
off a branch."
[Illustration: CAPTAIN DE CLIEU SHARES HIS DRINKING WATER WITH THE
COFFEE PLANT HE IS CARRYING TO MARTINIQUE]
The vessel carrying de Clieu was a merchantman, and many were the trials
that beset passengers and crew. Narrowly escaping capture by a corsair
of Tunis, menaced by a violent tempest that threatened to annihilate
them, they finally encountered a calm that proved more appalling than
either. The supply of drinking water was well nigh exhausted, and what
was left was rationed for the remainder of the voyage.
"Water was lacking to such an extent," says de Clieu, "that for more
than a month I was obliged to share the scanty ration of it assigned to
me with this my coffee plant upon which my happiest hopes were founded
and which was the source of my delight. It needed such succor the more
in that it was extremely backward, being no larger than the slip of a
pink." Many stories have been written and verses sung recording and
glorifying this generous sacrifice that has given luster to the name of
de Clieu.
Arrived in Martinique, de Clieu planted his precious slip on his estate
in Prêcheur, one of the cantons of the island; where, says Raynal, "it
multiplied with extraordinary rapidity and success." From the seedlings
of this plant came most of the coffee trees of the Antilles. The first
harvest was gathered in 1726.
De Clieu himself describes his arrival as follows:
Arriving at home, my first care was to set out my plant with great
attention in the part of my garden most favorable to its growth.
Although keeping it in view, I feared many times that it would be
taken from me; and I was at last obliged to surround it with thorn
bushes and to establish a guard about it until it arrived at
maturity ... this precious plant which had become still more dear
to me for the dangers it had run and the cares it had cost me.
Thus the little stranger thrived in a distant land, guarded day and
night by faithful slaves. So tiny a plant to produce in the end all the
rich estates of the West India islands and the regions bordering on the
Gulf of Mexico! What luxuries, what future comforts and delights,
resulted from this one small talent confided to the care of a man of
rare vision and fine intellectual sympathy, fired by the spirit of real
love for his fellows! There is no instance in the history of the French
people of a good deed done by stealth being of greater service to
humanity.
De Clieu thus describes the events that followed fast upon the
introduction of coffee into Martinique, with particular reference to
the earthquake of 1727:
Success exceeded my hopes. I gathered about two pounds of seed
which I distributed among all those whom I thought most capable of
giving the plants the care necessary to their prosperity.
The first harvest was very abundant; with the second it was
possible to extend the cultivation prodigiously, but what favored
multiplication, most singularly, was the fact that two years
afterward all the cocoa trees of the country, which were the
resource and occupation of the people, were uprooted and totally
destroyed by horrible tempests accompanied by an inundation which
submerged all the land where these trees were planted, land which
was at once made into coffee plantations by the natives. These did
marvelously and enabled us to send plants to Santo Domingo,
Guadeloupe, and other adjacent islands, where since that time they
have been cultivated with the greatest success.
By 1777 there were 18,791,680 coffee trees in Martinique.
De Clieu was born in Angléqueville-sur-Saane, Seine-Inférieure
(Normandy), in 1686 or 1688.[19] In 1705 he was a ship's ensign; in 1718
he became a chevalier of St. Louis; in 1720 he was made a captain of
infantry; in 1726, a major of infantry; in 1733 he was a ship's
lieutenant; in 1737 he became governor of Guadeloupe; in 1746 he was a
ship's captain; in 1750 he was made honorary commander of the order of
St. Louis; in 1752 he retired with a pension of 6000 francs; in 1753 he
re-entered the naval service; in 1760 he again retired with a pension of
2000 francs.
In 1746 de Clieu, having returned to France, was presented to Louis XV
by the minister of marine, Rouillé de Jour, as "a distinguished officer
to whom the colonies, as well as France itself, and commerce generally,
are indebted for the cultivation of coffee."
Reports to the king in 1752 and 1759 recall his having carried the first
coffee plant to Martinique, and that he had ever been distinguished for
his zeal and disinterestedness. In the _Mercure de France_, December,
1774, was the following death notice:
Gabriel d'Erchigny de Clieu, former Ship's Captain and Honorary
Commander of the Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis, died in
Paris on the 30th of November in the 88th year of his age.
A notice of his death appeared also in the _Gazette de France_ for
December 5, 1774, a rare honor in both cases; and it has been said that
at this time his praise was again on every lip.
One French historian, Sidney Daney,[20] records that de Clieu died in
poverty at St. Pierre at the age of 97; but this must be an error,
although it does not anywhere appear that at his death he was possessed
of much, if any, means. Daney says:
This generous man received as his sole recompense for a noble deed
the satisfaction of seeing this plant for whose preservation he had
shown such devotion, prosper throughout the Antilles. The
illustrious de Clieu is among those to whom Martinique owes a
brilliant reparation.
Daney tells also that in 1804 there was a movement in Martinique to
erect a monument upon the spot where de Clieu planted his first coffee
plant, but that the undertaking came to naught.
Pardon, in his _La Martinique_ says:
Honor to this brave man! He has deserved it from the people of two
hemispheres. His name is worthy of a place beside that of
Parmentier who carried to France the potato of Canada. These two
men have rendered immense service to humanity, and their memory
should never be forgotten--yet alas! Are they even remembered?
Tussac, in his _Flora de las Antillas_, writing of de Clieu, says,
"Though no monument be erected to this beneficent traveler, yet his name
should remain engraved in the heart of every colonist."
In 1774 the _Année Littéraire_ published a long poem in de Clieu's
honor. In the feuilleton of the _Gazette de France_, April 12, 1816, we
read that M. Donns, a wealthy Hollander, and a coffee connoisseur,
sought to honor de Clieu by having painted upon a porcelain service all
the details of his voyage and its happy results. "I have seen the cups,"
says the writer, who gives many details and the Latin inscription.
That singer of navigation, Esménard, has pictured de Clieu's devotion in
the following lines:
Forget not how de Clieu with his light vessel's sail,
Brought distant Moka's gift--that timid plant and frail.
The waves fell suddenly, young zephyrs breathed no more,
Beneath fierce Cancer's fires behold the fountain store,
Exhausted, fails; while now inexorable need
Makes her unpitying law--with measured dole obeyed.
Now each soul fears to prove Tantalus torment first.
De Clieu alone defies: While still that fatal thirst,
Fierce, stifling, day by day his noble strength devours,
And still a heaven of brass inflames the burning hours.
With that refreshing draught his life he will not cheer;
But drop by drop revives the plant he holds more dear.
Already as in dreams, he sees great branches grow,
One look at his dear plant assuages all his woe.
The only memorial to de Clieu in Martinique is the botanical garden at
Fort de France, which was opened in 1918 and dedicated to de Clieu,
"whose memory has been too long left in oblivion.[21]"
In 1715 coffee cultivation was first introduced into Haiti and Santo
Domingo. Later came hardier plants from Martinique. In 1715-17 the
French Company of the Indies introduced the cultivation of the plant
into the Isle of Bourbon (now Réunion) by a ship captain named
Dufougeret-Grenier from St. Malo. It did so well that nine years later
the island began to export coffee.
The Dutch brought the cultivation of coffee to Surinam in 1718. The
first coffee plantation in Brazil was started at Pará in 1723 with
plants brought from French Guiana, but it was not a success. The English
brought the plant to Jamaica in 1730. In 1740 Spanish missionaries
introduced coffee cultivation into the Philippines from Java. In 1748
Don José Antonio Gelabert introduced coffee into Cuba, bringing the seed
from Santo Domingo. In 1750 the Dutch extended the cultivation of the
plant to the Celebes. Coffee was introduced into Guatemala about
1750-60. The intensive cultivation in Brazil dates from the efforts
begun in the Portuguese colonies in Pará and Amazonas in 1752. Porto
Rico began the cultivation of coffee about 1755. In 1760 João Alberto
Castello Branco brought to Rio de Janeiro a coffee tree from Goa,
Portuguese India. The news spread that the soil and climate of Brazil
were particularly adapted to the cultivation of coffee. Molke, a Belgian
monk, presented some seeds to the Capuchin monastery at Rio in 1774.
Later, the bishop of Rio, Joachim Bruno, became a patron of the plant
and encouraged its propagation in Rio, Minãs, Espirito Santo, and São
Paulo. The Spanish voyager, Don Francisco Xavier Navarro, is credited
with the introduction of coffee into Costa Rica from Cuba in 1779. In
Venezuela the industry was started near Caracas by a priest, José
Antonio Mohedano, with seed brought from Martinique in 1784.
Coffee cultivation in Mexico began in 1790, the seed being brought from
the West Indies. In 1817 Don Juan Antonio Gomez instituted intensive
cultivation in the State of Vera Cruz. In 1825 the cultivation of the
plant was begun in the Hawaiian Islands with seeds from Rio de Janeiro.
As previously noted, the English began to cultivate coffee in India in
1840. In 1852 coffee cultivation was begun in Salvador with plants
brought from Cuba. In 1878 the English began the propagation of coffee
in British Central Africa, but it was not until 1901 that coffee
cultivation was introduced into British East Africa from Réunion. In
1887 the French introduced the plant into Tonkin, Indo-China. Coffee
growing in Queensland, introduced in 1896, has been successful in a
small way.
In recent years several attempts have been made to propagate the coffee
plant in the southern United States, but without success. It is
believed, however, that the topographic and climatic conditions in
southern California are favorable for its cultivation.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: OMAR AND THE MARVELOUS COFFEE BIRD]
[Illustration: KALDI AND HIS DANCING GOATS]
[Illustration: THE LEGENDARY DISCOVERY OF THE COFFEE DRINK
From drawings by a modern French artist]
CHAPTER III
EARLY HISTORY OF COFFEE DRINKING
_Coffee in the Near East in the early centuries--Stories of its
origin--Discovery by physicians and adoption by the Church--Its
spread through Arabia, Persia and Turkey--Persecutions and
intolerances--Early coffee manners and customs_
The coffee drink had its rise in the classical period of Arabian
medicine, which dates from Rhazes (Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya El
Razi) who followed the doctrines of Galen and sat at the feet of
Hippocrates. Rhazes (850-922) was the first to treat medicine in an
encyclopedic manner, and, according to some authorities, the first
writer to mention coffee. He assumed the poetical name of Razi because
he was a native of the city of Raj in Persian Irak. He was a great
philosopher and astronomer, and at one time was superintendent of the
hospital at Bagdad. He wrote many learned books on medicine and surgery,
but his principal work is _Al-Haiwi_, or _The Continent_, a collection
of everything relating to the cure of disease from Galen to his own
time.
Philippe Sylvestre Dufour (1622-87)[22], a French coffee merchant,
philosopher, and writer, in an accurate and finished treatise on coffee,
tells us (see the early edition of the work translated from the Latin)
that the first writer to mention the properties of the coffee bean under
the name of _bunchum_ was this same Rhazes, "in the ninth century after
the birth of our Saviour"; from which (if true) it would appear that
coffee has been known for upwards of 1000 years. Robinson[23], however,
is of the opinion that _bunchum_ meant something else and had nothing to
do with coffee. Dufour, himself, in a later edition of his _Traitez
Nouveaux et Curieux du Café_ (the Hague, 1693) is inclined to admit that
_bunchum_ may have been a root and not coffee, after all; however, he is
careful to add that there is no doubt that the Arabs knew coffee as far
back as the year 800. Other, more modern authorities, place it as early
as the sixth century.
_Wiji Kawih_ is mentioned in a Kavi (Javan) inscription A.D. 856; and it
is thought that the "bean broth" in David Tapperi's list of Javanese
beverages (1667-82) may have been coffee[24].
While the true origin of coffee drinking may be forever hidden among the
mysteries of the purple East, shrouded as it is in legend and fable,
scholars have marshaled sufficient facts to prove that the beverage was
known in Ethiopia "from time immemorial," and there is much to add
verisimilitude to Dufour's narrative. This first coffee merchant-prince,
skilled in languages and polite learning, considered that his character
as a merchant was not inconsistent with that of an author; and he even
went so far as to say there were some things (for instance, coffee) on
which a merchant could be better informed than a philosopher.
Granting that by _bunchum_ Rhazes meant coffee, the plant and the drink
must have been known to his immediate followers; and this, indeed, seems
to be indicated by similar references in the writings of Avicenna (Ibn
Sina), the Mohammedan physician and philosopher, who lived from 980 to
1037 A.D.
Rhazes, in the quaint language of Dufour, assures us that "_bunchum_
(coffee) is hot and dry and very good for the stomach." Avicenna
explains the medicinal properties and uses of the coffee bean (_bon_ or
_bunn_), which he, also, calls _bunchum_, after this fashion:
As to the choice thereof, that of a lemon color, light, and of a
good smell, is the best; the white and the heavy is naught. It is
hot and dry in the first degree, and, according to others, cold in
the first degree. It fortifies the members, it cleans the skin, and
dries up the humidities that are under it, and gives an excellent
smell to all the body.
The early Arabians called the bean and the tree that bore it, _bunn_;
the drink, _bunchum_. A. Galland[25] (1646-1715), the French Orientalist
who first analyzed and translated from the Arabic the Abd-al-Kâdir
manuscript[26], the oldest document extant telling of the origin of
coffee, observes that Avicenna speaks of the _bunn_, or coffee; as do
also Prospero Alpini and Veslingius (Vesling). Bengiazlah, another great
physician, contemporary with Avicenna, likewise mentions coffee; by
which, says Galland, one may see that we are indebted to physicians for
the discovery of coffee, as well as of sugar, tea, and chocolate.
Rauwolf[27] (d. 1596), German physician and botanist, and the first
European to mention coffee, who became acquainted with the beverage in
Aleppo in 1573, telling how the drink was prepared by the Turks, says:
In this same water they take a fruit called _Bunnu_, which in its
bigness, shape, and color is almost like unto a bayberry, with two
thin shells surrounded, which, as they informed me, are brought
from the _Indies_; but as these in themselves are, and have within
them, two yellowish grains in two distinct cells, and besides,
being they agree in their virtue, figure, looks, and name with the
_Bunchum_ of Avicenna and _Bunco_, of _Rasis ad Almans_ exactly:
therefore I take them to be the same.
In Dr. Edward Pocoke's translation (Oxford, 1659) of _The Nature of the
Drink Kauhi, or Coffee, and the Berry of which it is Made, Described by
an Arabian Phisitian_, we read:
_Bun_ is a plant in _Yaman_ [Yemen], which is planted in _Adar_,
and groweth up and is gathered in _Ab_. It is about a cubit high,
on a stalk about the thickness of one's thumb. It flowers white,
leaving a berry like a small nut, but that sometimes it is broad
like a bean; and when it is peeled, parteth in two. The best of it
is that which is weighty and yellow; the worst, that which is
black. It is hot in the first degree, dry in the second: it is
usually reported to be cold and dry, but it is not so; for it is
bitter, and whatsoever is bitter is hot. It may be that the scorce
is hot, and the Bun it selfe either of equall temperature, or cold
in the first degree.
That which makes for its coldnesse is its stipticknesse. In summer
it is by experience found to conduce to the drying of rheumes, and
flegmatick coughes and distillations, and the opening of
obstructions, and the provocation of urin. It is now known by the
name of _Kohwah_. When it is dried and thoroughly boyled, it
allayes the ebullition of the blood, is good against the small poxe
and measles, the bloudy pimples; yet causeth vertiginous headheach,
and maketh lean much, occasioneth waking, and the Emrods, and
asswageth lust, and sometimes breeds melancholly.
He that would drink it for livelinesse sake, and to discusse
slothfulnesse, and the other properties that we have mentioned, let
him use much sweat meates with it, and oyle of pistaccioes, and
butter. Some drink it with milk, but it is an error, and such as
may bring in danger of the leprosy.
Dufour concludes that the coffee beans of commerce are the same as the
_bunchum_ (_bunn_) described by Avicenna and the _bunca_ (_bunchum_) of
Rhazes. In this he agrees, almost word for word, with Rauwolf,
indicating no change in opinion among the learned in a hundred years.
Christopher Campen thinks Hippocrates, father of medicine, knew and
administered coffee.
Robinson, commenting upon the early adoption of coffee into materia
medica, charges that it was a mistake on the part of the Arab
physicians, and that it originated the prejudice that caused coffee to
be regarded as a powerful drug instead of as a simple and refreshing
beverage.
_Homer, the Bible, and Coffee_
In early Grecian and Roman writings no mention is made of either the
coffee plant or the beverage made from the berries. Pierre (Pietro)
Delia Valle[28] (1586-1652), however, maintains that the _nepenthe_,
which Homer says Helen brought with her out of Egypt, and which she
employed as surcease for sorrow, was nothing else but coffee mixed with
wine.[29] This is disputed by M. Petit, a well known physician of Paris,
who died in 1687. Several later British authors, among them, Sandys,
the poet; Burton; and Sir Henry Blount, have suggested the probability
of coffee being the "black broth" of the Lacedæmonians.
George Paschius, in his Latin treatise of the _New Discoveries Made
since the Time of the Ancients_, printed at Leipsic in 1700, says he
believes that coffee was meant by the five measures of parched corn
included among the presents Abigail made to David to appease his wrath,
as recorded in the _Bible_, 1 Samuel, xxv, 18. The _Vulgate_ translates
the Hebrew words _sein kali_ into _sata polentea_, which signify wheat,
roasted, or dried by fire.
[Illustration: TITLE PAGE OF DUFOUR'S BOOK, EDITION OF 1693]
Pierre Étienne Louis Dumant, the Swiss Protestant minister and author,
is of the opinion that coffee (and not lentils, as others have supposed)
was the red pottage for which Esau sold his birthright; also that the
parched grain that Boaz ordered to be given Ruth was undoubtedly roasted
coffee berries.
Dufour mentions as a possible objection against coffee that "the use and
eating of beans were heretofore forbidden by Pythagoras," but intimates
that the coffee bean of Arabia is something different.
Scheuzer,[30] in his _Physique Sacrée_, says "the Turks and the Arabs
make with the coffee bean a beverage which bears the same name, and many
persons use as a substitute the flour of roasted barley." From this we
learn that the coffee substitute is almost as old as coffee itself.
_Some Early Legends_
After medicine, the church. There are several Mohammedan traditions that
have persisted through the centuries, claiming for "the faithful" the
honor and glory of the first use of coffee as a beverage. One of these
relates how, about 1258 A.D., Sheik Omar, a disciple of Sheik Abou'l
hasan Schadheli, patron saint and legendary founder of Mocha, by chance
discovered the coffee drink at Ousab in Arabia, whither he had been
exiled for a certain moral remissness.
Facing starvation, he and his followers were forced to feed upon the
berries growing around them. And then, in the words of the faithful Arab
chronicle in the Bibliothéque Nationale at Paris, "having nothing to eat
except coffee, they took of it and boiled it in a saucepan and drank of
the decoction." Former patients in Mocha who sought out the good
doctor-priest in his Ousab retreat, for physic with which to cure their
ills, were given some of this decoction, with beneficial effect. As a
result of the stories of its magical properties, carried back to the
city, Sheik Omar was invited to return in triumph to Mocha where the
governor caused to be built a monastery for him and his companions.
Another version of this Oriental legend gives it as follows:
The dervish Hadji Omar was driven by his enemies out of Mocha into
the desert, where they expected he would die of starvation. This
undoubtedly would have occurred if he had not plucked up courage to
taste some strange berries which he found growing on a shrub. While
they seemed to be edible, they were very bitter; and he tried to
improve the taste by roasting them. He found, however, that they
had become very hard, so he attempted to soften them with water.
The berries seemed to remain as hard as before, but the liquid
turned brown, and Omar drank it on the chance that it contained
some of the nourishment from the berries. He was amazed at how it
refreshed him, enlivened his sluggishness, and raised his drooping
spirits. Later, when he returned to Mocha, his salvation was
considered a miracle. The beverage to which it was due sprang into
high favor, and Omar himself was made a saint.
A popular and much-quoted version of Omar's discovery of coffee, also
based upon the Abd-al-Kâdir manuscript, is the following:
In the year of the Hegira 656, the mollah Schadheli went on a
pilgrimage to Mecca. Arriving at the mountain of the Emeralds
(Ousab), he turned to his disciple Omar and said: "I shall die in
this place. When my soul has gone forth, a veiled person will
appear to you. Do not fail to execute the command which he will
give you."
The venerable Schadheli being dead, Omar saw in the middle of the
night a gigantic specter covered by a white veil.
"Who are you?" he asked.
The phantom drew back his veil, and Omar saw with surprise
Schadheli himself, grown ten cubits since his death. The mollah dug
in the ground, and water miraculously appeared. The spirit of his
teacher bade Omar fill a bowl with the water and to proceed on his
way and not to stop till he reached the spot where the water would
stop moving.
"It is there," he added, "that a great destiny awaits you."
Omar started his journey. Arriving at Mocha in Yemen, he noticed
that the water was immovable. It was here that he must stop.
The beautiful village of Mocha was then ravaged by the plague. Omar
began to pray for the sick and, as the saintly man was close to
Mahomet, many found themselves cured by his prayers.
The plague meanwhile progressing, the daughter of the King of Mocha
fell ill and her father had her carried to the home of the dervish
who cured her. But as this young princess was of rare beauty, after
having cured her, the good dervish tried to carry her off. The king
did not fancy this new kind of reward. Omar was driven from the
city and exiled on the mountain of Ousab, with herbs for food and a
cave for a home.
"Oh, Schadheli, my dear master," cried the unfortunate dervish one
day; "if the things which happened to me at Mocha were destined,
was it worth the trouble to give me a bowl to come here?"
To these just complaints, there was heard immediately a song of
incomparable harmony, and a bird of marvelous plumage came to rest
in a tree. Omar sprang forward quickly toward the little bird which
sang so well, but then he saw on the branches of the tree only
flowers and fruit. Omar laid hands on the fruit, and found it
delicious. Then he filled his great pockets with it and went back
to his cave. As he was preparing to boil a few herbs for his
dinner, the idea came to him of substituting for this sad soup,
some of his harvested fruit. From it he obtained a savory and
perfumed drink; it was coffee.
The Italian _Journal of the Savants_ for the year 1760 says that two
monks, Scialdi and Ayduis, were the first to discover the properties of
coffee, and for this reason became the object of special prayers. "Was
not this Scialdi identical with the Sheik Schadheli?" asks Jardin.[31]
The most popular legend ascribes the discovery of the drink to an
Arabian herdsman in upper Egypt, or Abyssinia, who complained to the
abbot of a neighboring monastery that the goats confided to his care
became unusually frolicsome after eating the berries of certain shrubs
found near their feeding grounds. The abbot, having observed the fact,
determined to try the virtues of the berries on himself. He, too,
responded with a new exhilaration. Accordingly, he directed that some be
boiled, and the decoction drunk by his monks, who thereafter found no
difficulty in keeping awake during the religious services of the night.
The abbé Massieu in his poem, _Carmen Caffaeum_, thus celebrates the
event:
The monks each in turn, as the evening draws near,
Drink 'round the great cauldron--a circle of cheer!
And the dawn in amaze, revisiting that shore,
On idle beds of ease surprised them nevermore!
According to the legend, the news of the "wakeful monastery" spread
rapidly, and the magical berry soon "came to be in request throughout
the whole kingdom; and in progress of time other nations and provinces
of the East fell into the use of it."
The French have preserved the following picturesque version of this
legend:
A young goatherd named Kaldi noticed one day that his goats, whose
deportment up to that time had been irreproachable, were abandoning
themselves to the most extravagant prancings. The venerable buck,
ordinarily so dignified and solemn, bounded about like a young kid.
Kaldi attributed this foolish gaiety to certain fruits of which the
goats had been eating with delight.
The story goes that the poor fellow had a heavy heart; and in the
hope of cheering himself up a little, he thought he would pick and
eat of the fruit. The experiment succeeded marvelously. He forgot
his troubles and became the happiest herder in happy Arabia. When
the goats danced, he gaily made himself one of the party, and
entered into their fun with admirable spirit.
One day, a monk chanced to pass by and stopped in surprise to find
a ball going on. A score of goats were executing lively pirouettes
like a ladies' chain, while the buck solemnly _balancé-ed_, and the
herder went through the figures of an eccentric pastoral dance.
The astonished monk inquired the cause of this saltatorial madness;
and Kaldi told him of his precious discovery.
Now, this poor monk had a great sorrow; he always went to sleep in
the middle of his prayers; and he reasoned that Mohammed without
doubt was revealing this marvelous fruit to him to overcome his
sleepiness.
[Illustration: ARAB DRINKING COFFEE; CHINAMAN, TEA; AND INDIAN,
CHOCOLATE
Frontispiece from Dufour's work]
Piety does not exclude gastronomic instincts. Those of our good
monk were more than ordinary; because he thought of drying and
boiling the fruit of the herder. This ingenious concoction gave us
coffee. Immediately all the monks of the realm made use of the
drink, because it encouraged them to pray and, perhaps, also
because it was not disagreeable.
In those early days it appears that the drink was prepared in two ways;
one in which the decoction was made from the hull and the pulp
surrounding the bean, and the other from the bean itself. The roasting
process came later and is an improvement generally credited to the
Persians. There is evidence that the early Mohammedan churchmen were
seeking a substitute for the wine forbidden to them by the Koran, when
they discovered coffee. The word for coffee in Arabic, _qahwah_, is the
same as one of those used for wine; and later on, when coffee drinking
grew so popular as to threaten the very life of the church itself, this
similarity was seized upon by the church-leaders to support their
contention that the prohibition against wine applied also to coffee.
La Roque,[32] writing in 1715, says that the Arabian word _cahouah_
signified at first only wine; but later was turned into a generic term
applied to all kinds of drink. "So there were really three sorts of
coffee; namely, wine, including all intoxicating liquors; the drink made
with the shells, or cods, of the coffee bean; and that made from the
bean itself."
Originally, then, the coffee drink may have been a kind of wine made
from the coffee fruit. In the coffee countries even today the natives
are very fond, and eat freely, of the ripe coffee cherries, voiding the
seeds. The pulp surrounding the coffee seeds (beans) is pleasant to
taste, has a sweetish, aromatic flavor, and quickly ferments when
allowed to stand.
Still another tradition (was the wish father to the thought?) tells how
the coffee drink was revealed to Mohammed himself by the Angel Gabriel.
Coffee's partisans found satisfaction in a passage in the _Koran_ which,
they said, foretold its adoption by the followers of the Prophet:
They shall be given to drink an excellent wine, sealed; its seal is
that of the musk.
The most diligent research does not carry a knowledge of coffee back
beyond the time of Rhazes, two hundred years after Mohammed; so there is
little more than speculation or conjecture to support the theory that it
was known to the ancients, in Bible times or in the days of The Praised
One. Our knowledge of tea, on the other hand, antedates the Christian
era. We know also that tea was intensively cultivated and taxed under
the Tang dynasty in China, A.D. 793, and that Arab traders knew of it in
the following century.
_The First Reliable Coffee Date_
About 1454 Sheik Gemaleddin Abou Muhammad Bensaid, mufti of Aden,
surnamed Aldhabani, from Dhabhan, a small town where he was born, became
acquainted with the virtues of coffee on a journey into Abyssinia.[33]
Upon his return to Aden, his health became impaired; and remembering the
coffee he had seen his countrymen drinking in Abyssinia, he sent for
some in the hope of finding relief. He not only recovered from his
illness; but, because of its sleep-dispelling qualities, he sanctioned
the use of the drink among the dervishes "that they might spend the
night in prayers or other religious exercises with more attention and
presence of mind.[34]"
It is altogether probable that the coffee drink was known in Aden before
the time of Sheik Gemaleddin; but the endorsement of the very learned
imam, whom science and religion had already made famous, was sufficient
to start a vogue for the beverage that spread throughout Yemen, and
thence to the far corners of the world. We read in the Arabian
manuscript at the Bibliothéque Nationale that lawyers, students, as well
as travelers who journeyed at night, artisans, and others, who worked at
night, to escape the heat of the day, took to drinking coffee; and even
left off another drink, then becoming popular, made from the leaves of a
plant called _khat_ or _cat_ (_catha edulis_).
Sheik Gemaleddin was assisted in his work of spreading the gospel of
this the first propaganda for coffee by one Muhammed Alhadrami, a
physician of great reputation, born in Hadramaut, Arabia Felix.
A recently unearthed and little known version of coffee's origin shows
how features of both the Omar tradition and the Gemaleddin story may be
combined by a professional Occidental tale-writer[35]:
Toward the middle of the fifteenth century, a poor Arab was
traveling in Abyssinia. Finding himself weak and weary, he stopped
near a grove. For fuel wherewith to cook his rice, he cut down a
tree that happened to be covered with dried berries. His meal being
cooked and eaten, the traveler discovered that these half-burnt
berries were fragrant. He collected a number of them and, on
crushing them with a stone, found that the aroma was increased to a
great extent. While wondering at this, he accidentally let the
substance fall into an earthen vessel that contained his scanty
supply of water.
A miracle! The almost putrid water was purified. He brought it to
his lips; it was fresh and agreeable; and after a short rest the
traveler so far recovered his strength and energy as to be able to
resume his journey. The lucky Arab gathered as many berries as he
could, and having arrived at Aden, informed the mufti of his
discovery. That worthy was an inveterate opium-smoker, who had been
suffering for years from the influence of the poisonous drug. He
tried an infusion of the roasted berries, and was so delighted at
the recovery of his former vigor that in gratitude to the tree he
called it _cahuha_ which in Arabic signifies "force".
Galland, in his analysis of the Arabian manuscript, already referred to,
that has furnished us with the most trustworthy account of the origin of
coffee, criticizes Antoine Faustus Nairon, Maronite professor of
Oriental languages at Rome, who was the author of the first printed
treatise on coffee only,[36] for accepting the legends relating to Omar
and the Abyssinian goatherd. He says they are unworthy of belief as
facts of history, although he is careful to add that there is _some_
truth in the story of the discovery of coffee by the Abyssinian goats
and the abbot who prescribed the use of the berries for his monks, "the
Eastern Christians being willing to have the honor of the invention of
coffee, for the abbot, or prior, of the convent and his companions are
only the mufti Gemaleddin and Muhammid Alhadrami, and the monks are the
dervishes."
Amid all these details, Jardin reaches the conclusion that it is to
chance we must attribute the knowledge of the properties of coffee, and
that the coffee tree was transported from its native land to Yemen, as
far as Mecca, and possibly into Persia, before being carried into Egypt.
Coffee, being thus favorably introduced into Aden, it has continued
there ever since, without interruption. By degrees the cultivation of
the plant and the use of the beverage passed into many neighboring
places. Toward the close of the fifteenth century (1470-1500) it reached
Mecca and Medina, where it was introduced, as at Aden, by the dervishes,
and for the same religious purpose. About 1510 it reached Grand Cairo in
Egypt, where the dervishes from Yemen, living in a district by
themselves, drank coffee on the nights they intended to spend in
religious devotion. They kept it in a large red earthen vessel--each in
turn receiving it, respectfully, from their superior, in a small bowl,
which he dipped into the jar--in the meantime chanting their prayers,
the burden of which was always: "There is no God but one God, the true
King, whose power is not to be disputed."
[Illustration: A BOUQUET OF RIPE FRUIT]
[Illustration: FLOWERS, FRUIT, AND LEAVES]
[Illustration: THE COFFEE TREE BEARS FRUIT, LEAF, AND BLOSSOM AT THE
SAME TIME]
After the dervishes, the bowl was passed to lay members of the
congregation. In this way coffee came to be so associated with the act
of worship that "they never performed a religious ceremony in public and
never observed any solemn festival without taking coffee."
Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Mecca became so fond of the beverage that,
disregarding its religious associations, they made of it a secular drink
to be sipped publicly in _kaveh kanes_, the first coffee houses. Here
the idle congregated to drink coffee, to play chess and other games, to
discuss the news of the day, and to amuse themselves with singing,
dancing, and music, contrary to the manners of the rigid Mahommedans,
who were very properly scandalized by such performances. In Medina and
in Cairo, too, coffee became as common a drink as in Mecca and Aden.
_The First Coffee Persecution_
At length the pious Mahommedans began to disapprove of the use of coffee
among the people. For one thing, it made common one of the best
psychology-adjuncts of their religion; also, the joy of life, that it
helped to liberate among those who frequented the coffee houses,
precipitated social, political, and religious arguments; and these
frequently developed into disturbances. Dissensions arose even among the
churchmen themselves. They divided into camps for and against coffee.
The law of the Prophet on the subject of wine was variously construed as
applying to coffee.
About this time (1511) Kair Bey was governor of Mecca for the sultan of
Egypt. He appears to have been a strict disciplinarian, but lamentably
ignorant of the actual conditions obtaining among his people. As he was
leaving the mosque one evening after prayers, he was offended by seeing
in a corner a company of coffee drinkers who were preparing to pass the
night in prayer. His first thought was that they were drinking wine; and
great was his astonishment when he learned what the liquor really was
and how common was its use throughout the city. Further investigation
convinced him that indulgence in this exhilarating drink must incline
men and women to extravagances prohibited by law, and so he determined
to suppress it. First he drove the coffee drinkers out of the mosque.
The next day, he called a council of officers of justice, lawyers,
physicians, priests, and leading citizens, to whom he declared what he
had seen the evening before at the mosque; and, "being resolved to put a
stop to the coffee-house abuses, he sought their advice upon the
subject." The chief count in the indictment was that "in these places
men and women met and played tambourines, violins, and other musical
instruments. There were also people who played chess, mankala, and other
similar games, for money; and there were many other things done contrary
to our sacred law--may God keep it from all corruption until the day
when we shall all appear before him![37]"
The lawyers agreed that the coffee houses needed reforming; but as to
the drink itself, inquiry should be made as to whether it was in any way
harmful to mind or body; for if not, it might not be sufficient to close
the places that sold it. It was suggested that the opinion of the
physicians be sought.
Two brothers, Persian physicians named Hakimani, and reputed the best in
Mecca, were summoned, although we are told they knew more about logic
than they did about physic. One of them came into the council fully
prejudiced, as he had already written a book against coffee, and filled
with concern for his profession, being fearful lest the common use of
the new drink would make serious inroads on the practise of medicine.
His brother joined with him in assuring the assembly that the plant
_bunn_, from which coffee was made, was "cold and dry" and so
unwholesome. When another physician present reminded them that
Bengiazlah, the ancient and respected contemporary of Avicenna, taught
that it was "hot and dry," they made arbitrary answer that Bengiazlah
had in mind another plant of the same name, and that anyhow, it was not
material; for, if the coffee drink disposed people to things forbidden
by religion, the safest course for Mahommedans was to look upon it as
unlawful.
The friends of coffee were covered with confusion. Only the mufti spoke
out in the meeting in its favor. Others, carried away by prejudice or
misguided zeal, affirmed that coffee clouded their senses. One man arose
and said it intoxicated like wine; which made every one laugh, since he
could hardly have been a judge of this if he had not drunk wine, which
is forbidden by the Mohammedan religion. Upon being asked whether he had
ever drunk any, he was so imprudent as to admit that he had, thereby
condemning himself out of his own mouth to the bastinado.
The mufti of Aden, being both an officer of the court and a divine,
undertook, with some heat, a defense of coffee; but he was clearly in an
unpopular minority. He was rewarded with the reproaches and affronts of
the religious zealots.
So the governor had his way, and coffee was solemnly condemned as thing
forbidden by the law; and a presentment was drawn up, signed by a
majority of those present, and dispatched post-haste by the governor to
his royal master, the sultan, at Cairo. At the same time, the governor
published an edict forbidding the sale of coffee in public or private.
The officers of justice caused all the coffee houses in Mecca to be
shut, and ordered all the coffee found there, or in the merchants'
warehouses, to be burned.
Naturally enough, being an unpopular edict, there were many evasions,
and much coffee drinking took place behind closed doors. Some of the
friends of coffee were outspoken in their opposition to the order, being
convinced that the assembly had rendered a judgment not in accordance
with the facts, and above all, contrary to the opinion of the mufti who,
in every Arab community, is looked up to as the interpreter, or
expounder, of the law. One man, caught in the act of disobedience,
besides being severely punished, was also led through the most public
streets of the city seated on an ass.
However, the triumph of the enemies of coffee was short-lived; for not
only did the sultan of Cairo disapprove the "indiscreet zeal" of the
governor of Mecca, and order the edict revoked; but he read him a severe
lesson on the subject. How dared he condemn a thing approved at Cairo,
the capital of his kingdom, where there were physicians whose opinions
carried more weight than those of Mecca, and who had found nothing
against the law in the use of coffee? The best things might be abused,
added the sultan, even the sacred waters of Zamzam, but this was no
reason for an absolute prohibition. The fountain, or well, of Zamzam,
according to the Mohammedan teaching, is the same which God caused to
spring up in the desert to comfort Hagar and Ishmael when Abraham
banished them. It is in the enclosure of the temple at Mecca; and the
Mohammedans drink of it with much show of devotion, ascribing great
virtues to it.
It is not recorded whether the misguided governor was shocked at this
seeming profanity; but it is known that he hastened to obey the orders
of his lord and master. The prohibition was recalled, and thereafter he
employed his authority only to preserve order in the coffee houses. The
friends of coffee, and the lovers of poetic justice, found satisfaction
in the governor's subsequent fate. He was exposed as "an extortioner and
a public robber," and "tortured to death," his brother killing himself
to avoid the same fate. The two Persian physicians who had played so
mean a part in the first coffee persecution, likewise came to an unhappy
end. Being discredited in Mecca they fled to Cairo, where, in an
unguarded moment, having cursed the person of Selim I, emperor of the
Turks, who had conquered Egypt, they were executed by his order.
Coffee, being thus re-established at Mecca, met with no opposition until
1524, when, because of renewed disorders, the kadi of the town closed
the coffee houses, but did not seek to interfere with coffee drinking at
home and in private. His successor, however, re-licensed them; and,
continuing on their good behavior since then, they have not been
disturbed.
In 1542 a ripple was caused by an order issued by Soliman the Great,
forbidding the use of coffee; but no one took it seriously, especially
as it soon became known that the order had been obtained "by surprise"
and at the desire of only one of the court ladies "a little too nice in
this point."
One of the most interesting facts in the history of the coffee drink is
that wherever it has been introduced it has spelled revolution. It has
been the world's most radical drink in that its function has always been
to make people think. And when the people began to think, they became
dangerous to tyrants and to foes of liberty of thought and action.
Sometimes the people became intoxicated with their new found ideas; and,
mistaking liberty for license, they ran amok, and called down upon their
heads persecutions and many petty intolerances. So history repeated
itself in Cairo, twenty-three years after the first Mecca persecution.
_Coffee's Second Religious Persecution_
Selim I, after conquering Egypt, had brought coffee to Constantinople in
1517. The drink continued its progress through Syria, and was received
in Damascus (about 1530), and in Aleppo (about 1532), without
opposition. Several coffee houses of Damascus attained wide fame, among
them the Café of the Roses, and the Café of the Gate of Salvation.
Its increasing popularity and, perhaps, the realization that the
continued spread of the beverage might lessen the demand for his
services, caused a physician of Cairo to propound (about 1523) to his
fellows this question:
What is your opinion concerning the liquor called coffee which is
drank in company, as being reckoned in the number of those we have
free leave to make use of, notwithstanding it is the cause of no
small disorders, that it flies up into the head and is very
pernicious to health? Is it permitted or forbidden?
At the end he was careful to add, as his own opinion (and without
prejudice?), that coffee was unlawful. To the credit of the physicians
of Cairo as a class, it should be recorded that they looked with
unsympathetic eyes upon this attempt on the part of one of their number
to stir up trouble for a valuable adjunct to their materia medica, and
so the effort died a-borning.
If the physicians were disposed to do nothing to stop coffee's progress,
not so the preachers. As places of resort, the coffee houses exercised
an appeal that proved stronger to the popular mind than that of the
temples of worship. This to men of sound religious training was
intolerable. The feeling against coffee smouldered for a time; but in
1534 it broke out afresh. In that year a fiery preacher in one of
Cairo's mosques so played upon the emotions of his congregation with a
preachment against coffee, claiming that it was against the law and that
those who drank it were not true Mohammedans, that upon leaving the
building a large number of his hearers, enraged, threw themselves into
the first coffee house they found in their way, burned the coffee pots
and dishes, and maltreated all the persons they found there.
Public opinion was immediately aroused; and the city was divided into
two parties; one maintaining that coffee was against the law of
Mohammed, and the other taking the contrary view. And then arose a
Solomon in the person of the chief justice, who summoned into his
presence the learned physicians for consultation. Again the medical
profession stood by its guns. The medical men pointed out to the chief
justice that the question had already been decided by their predecessors
on the side of coffee, and that the time had come to put some check "on
the furious zeal of the bigots" and the "indiscretions of ignorant
preachers." Whereupon, the wise judge caused coffee to be served to the
whole company and drank some himself. By this act he "re-united the
contending parties, and brought coffee into greater esteem than ever."
_Coffee in Constantinople_
The story of the introduction of coffee into Constantinople shows that
it experienced much the same vicissitudes that marked its advent at
Mecca and Cairo. There were the same disturbances, the same unreasoning
religious superstition, the same political hatreds, the same stupid
interference by the civil authorities; and yet, in spite of it all,
coffee attained new honors and new fame. The Oriental coffee house
reached its supreme development in Constantinople.
Although coffee had been known in Constantinople since 1517, it was not
until 1554 that the inhabitants became acquainted with that great
institution of early eastern democracy--the coffee house. In that year,
under the reign of Soliman the Great, son of Selim I, one Schemsi of
Damascus and one Hekem of Aleppo opened the first two coffee houses in
the quarter called Taktacalah. They were wonderful institutions for
those days, remarkable alike for their furnishings and their comforts,
as well as for the opportunity they afforded for social intercourse and
free discussion. Schemsi and Hekem received their guests on "very neat
couches or sofas," and the admission was the price of a dish of
coffee--about one cent.
Turks, high and low, took up the idea with avidity. Coffee houses
increased in number. The demand outstripped the supply. In the seraglio
itself special officers (_kahvedjibachi_) were commissioned to prepare
the coffee drink for the sultan. Coffee was in favor with all classes.
The Turks gave to the coffee houses the name _kahveh kanes_
(_diversoria_, Cotovicus called them); and as they grew in popularity,
they became more and more luxurious. There were lounges, richly
carpeted; and in addition to coffee, many other means of entertainment.
To these "schools of the wise" came the "young men ready to enter upon
offices of judicature; kadis from the provinces, seeking re-instatement
or new appointments; muderys, or professors; officers of the seraglio;
bashaws; and the principal lords of the port," not to mention merchants
and travelers from all parts of the then known world.
_Coffee House Persecutions_
About 1570, just when coffee seemed settled for all time in the social
scheme, the imams and dervishes raised a loud wail against it, saying
the mosques were almost empty, while the coffee houses were always full.
Then the preachers joined in the clamor, affirming it to be a greater
sin to go to a coffee house than to enter a tavern. The authorities
began an examination; and the same old debate was on. This time,
however, appeared a mufti who was unfriendly to coffee. The religious
fanatics argued that Mohammed had not even known of coffee, and so could
not have used the drink, and, therefore, it must be an abomination for
his followers to do so. Further, coffee was burned and ground to
charcoal before making a drink of it; and the _Koran_ distinctly forbade
the use of charcoal, including it among the unsanitary foods. The mufti
decided the question in favor of the zealots, and coffee was forbidden
by law.