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A Journey Threw Time

The history of coffee dates back to the 15th century, and possibly earlier with a number of reports and legends surrounding its first use. The native (undomesticated) origin of coffee is thought to have been Ethiopia.

According to legend, ancestors of today’s Oromo people in a region of Kaffa in Ethiopia were believed to have been the first to recognize the energizing effect of the coffee plant, though no direct evidence has been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the native populations might have used it as a stimulant or even known about it, earlier than the 17th century. The story of Kaldi, the 9th-century Ethiopian goatherd who discovered coffee when he noticed how excited his goats became after eating the beans from a coffee plant, did not appear in writing until 1671 and is probably apocryphal.

Other accounts attribute the discovery of coffee to Sheikh Omar. According to an ancient chronicle (preserved in the Abd-Al-Kadir manuscript), Omar, who was known for his ability to cure the sick through prayer, was once exiled from Mocha in Yemen to a desert cave near Ousab (modern-day Wusab, about 90 km east of Zabid).

Starving, Omar chewed berries from nearby shrubbery but found them to be bitter. He tried roasting the seeds to improve the flavor, but they became hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the seed, which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. Upon drinking the liquid Omar was revitalized and sustained for days. As stories of this “miracle drug” reached Mocha, Omar was asked to return and was made a saint. From Ethiopia, the coffee plant was introduced into the Arab World through Egypt and Yemen

25September
2017
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Americano

The term “Americano” means “American”, and comes from American Spanish, dating to the 1970s, or from Italian. The term “caffè Americano” specifically is Italian for “American coffee”. There is a popular, but unconfirmed, belief that the name has its origins in World War II when American G.I.s in Italy would dilute espresso with hot water to approximate the coffee to which they were accustomed.

Earlier, in his 1928 novel Ashenden: Or the British Agent, Somerset Maugham has his protagonist order and drink something called an americano in Naples during World War I, but there is not enough information to indicate whether it is the same drink.

25September
2017
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Roasting Profile & Guide

Before green coffee makes the transition to retail, it needs to be roasted. Roasting increases the solubility of coffee beans (meaning flavors can be more easily extracted), and develops the flavors and aromas we associate with coffee.

Generally, the longer and hotter a coffee bean is roasted, the more its flavor changes. Heat induces chemical reactions within the bean, each of which contribute to the final flavor profile. (These reactions include the Maillard reaction and caramelization.)

As coffee roasts, it darkens in color, transforming from green, to yellow, to brown, then dark brown, and eventually to black. Though color is an indicator of roast level, it is misleading to categorize coffees by hue. Calling a coffee “light” or “dark” oversimplifies its characteristics, and might be misleading for customers.

While some might attribute light coffees to the third-wave sector, it would be more correct to say that craft roasters favor profiles highlighting certain characteristics of the seed (bean) that develop based on where it was grown and/or how it was processed. This is generally referred to as profile roasting.

25September
2017
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