Draft:Coffee Plant

The Coffee plant is a small, broadleaf evergreen shrub or small tree in the Rubiaceae family with an upright habit and typically grown in tropical climates of its native Africa. Three to four years after initial planting, small white fragrant blooms will appear from late spring to early summer. Fissured bark appears on older branches. The berries that result from the blossoms are edible with a pulpy grape-like texture, but are more likely to be harvested and processed into coffee beans. The genus name comes from the Arabic word kahwah meaning beverage. The species name means of Arabia

= Introduce = Coffee comes from the Latin form of the genus Coffea, a member of the Rubiaceae family which includes more than 500 genera and 6,000 species of tropical trees and shrubs. Other members of the family include the gardenias and plants which yield quinine and other useful substances, but Coffea is by far the most important member of the family economically.

= Coffee Plant in Sweden = Eighteenth century Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) first described the genus but, to this day, botanists still disagree on the classification because of the wide variations that occur in coffee plants and seeds. Linnaeus classified the coffee shrubs in the family Rubiaceae comprising 4,500 species of which 60 are called 'coffea'. Species of coffea range from small shrubs to trees as tall as 32 feet high and the leaves can range in colour from purple to yellow, however, green is the predominant colour.

= Coffee Plant side effects = Coffee is a tropical plant which grows between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn but requires very specific environmental conditions for commercial cultivation. Temperature, rainfall, sunlight, wind and soils are all important, but requirements vary according to the varieties grown. All coffee neesd good drainage, but it can grow on soils of different depths, pH and mineral content, given suitable applications of fertilizer.

= Coffee Plant planation = Frost is the worst climatic event that could affect a coffee plantation. Though an unusual occurrence (approximately once every 20 years at latitudes above 20 degrees), one night below 0 degrees celcius is enough to cause extensive defoliation with little hope of later plant recovery. Plantation altitude and local wind and rainfall conditions may affect this phenomenon - the highest danger from frost being in southern Brazil or, closer to the Equator, at altitudes around 2,000 metres.

Cultivation of coffee trees begins with planting the seeds in potting soil and tended in nurseries for 9 to 18 months, until they reach a height of 18 to 24 inches when they are transplanted to permanent groves. Once planted, the bean, enclosed in its endocarp, develops rootlets in the earth and rises up at the top of a fragile stem. When the bean falls, two round "cotyledon" leaves appear, forming the shoot. It takes a year for the plant to reach just 30 centimetres tall.

After three to four years, when they reach maturity, coffee plants bear fruit in lines or clusters along their branches. The fruit turns red and cherry-like when it is ready to be harvested. Depending on the type of coffee plant, the cherry takes between 6 to 11 months to ripen.

The traditional way to grow coffee trees is to grow compatible trees nearby, to keep the coffee trees and their developing fruit from the sun. Often these are economic crops as well such as bananas which mimic the natural habitat of coffee. The modern techniques are to use irrigation systems and fertilizers. Coffee is grown on both large estates and in the smallest of forest clearings.

Manpower availability affects the planting style determining plant density. Also field operations like pruning and weed control are implemented in different ways according to local labour situations. Pruning is seldom implemented due to the high labour requirement - just when shrubs tend to grow too tall to be harvested without the aid of a ladder are the higher branches cut to keep the plant no taller than around 2 metres.

Many pests and diseases can affect the coffee plant or its fruits, the most dangerous being

= Origin =

In Ethiopia
Ethiopia is widely considered to be the epicentre of where coffee came from. If you've ever googled “coffee history”, you will have come across the famous story of how coffee was founded in Ethiopia by Kaldi, an Ethiopian goat herder, around 800 AD.

In Yemen
Most agree that the original coffee plants were native to the western regions of Ethiopia. Coffee was recorded as a beverage as early as the 6th century, utilized by the Ottoman Empire. It was in Yemen, however, that these plants were finally cultivated and developed into the beans and beverage that we know today. History records Sufi monasteries on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula processing Yemen coffee over 500 years ago. The Yemen farmers to advantage of the unique terrain of their country, which has conditions of climate and environment which were not considered ideal growing conditions for other plants. For 200 years, Yemen was the only source of coffee. Originally the primary mode of travel was by camel, but later, this Arabic Coffee was named after the Mokha Port which is on the coast of the Red Sea, from which these were eventually shipped. By 1650, coffee became popular in Europe, spawning the beginning of coffee shop and café businesses.

= Coffee Plant in Ottoman Empire = In 1536, the Ottomans invaded and took control of the coffee plantations in Yemen. Soon after, the coffee trade contributed to the growth of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Coffee was the most valuable and popular commodity at that time.The coffee business was the main source of profit, the Ottomans therefore strictly guarded the monopoly of cultivating this plant. No seeds are allowed to leave the country, unless it is dipped in boiling water or roasted so that it cannot germinate.

The 16th and 17th centuries witnessed the flourishing of Ottoman coffee culture, which was also the period of peak development of the Ottoman Empire. This vast empire had influence over the entire Asia-Europe-Africa regions. In the Ottoman Empire, the way the coffee was served was important as well as the flavor left on the palate. Along with the coffee, many sweets and sweets were served. It was served in small cups decorated with precious stones such as gold or diamonds

In 1511, it was forbidden for its stimulating effect by conservative, orthodox imams at a theological court in Mecca. However, these bans were to be overturned in 1524 by an order of the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Suleiman I, with Grand Mufti Mehmet Ebussuud el-İmadi issuing aPrus fatwa allowing the consumption of coffee.

Coffee was outlawed several times. Rulers believed it was a drug, rather than a drink. Murad IV believed that coffeehouses spread radical ideas and provoked social disorder. Murad IV sent out orders from Constantinople that anyone found purchasing or selling coffee get beaten on their first offence

= Coffee in Europe =

Coffee was hardly known in Europe before the seventeenth century. European travellers, who visited Middle Eastern countries at this time, probably visited the coffee houses, where business would be transacted, or saw street coffee pedlars carrying coffee for sale in copper pots.

When these travellers returned, their reports about coffee aroused European interest in coffee. Perhaps these travellers brought back small samples of coffee beans, but the Venetians were the first people to bring larger quantities of coffee into Europe. In 1615, Venice received Europes' first shipment of green coffee beans and the first coffee house there, Caffè Florian, opened in 1683.

Coffee was known in the first half of the 17th Century in Venice and Marseille but there was no trade in beans there. Although famous for their tea drinking, the British were the first European nation to embrace the pleasures of coffee drinking on a commercial basis. The first coffeehouse was in Oxford in 1650 where it was opened by a Turkish Jew named Jacob. More opened soon after in London in 1652 where there were soon to be hundreds - each serving their own customers.

The Ambassador of the Turkish Ottoman Empire to the court of Louis XIV in Paris brought coffee into fashion in Parisian High Society around 1669. As laid down by Turkish custom, he offered it to all who came to visit him and persuaded the Sun King to give the drink a try. The King, however, decided he prefered hot chocolate! The first cafe selling coffee was opened in Paris in 1686. Francesco Procopio de Coltelli of Sicily is credited with starting Le Procope - an establishment that's still in business today. It has been the hangout of such luminaries as Voltaire, Diderot and Robespierre.

Coffee reached Vienna in 1683, just after the city had been besieged in war with the Turks. The coffee was retained by a Polish Army Officer, Franz Georg Kolschitzky. He had previously lived in Turkey and, being the only person there who knew how to use it, claimed the stocks of coffee left by the fleeing Turkish army for himself. He later opened central Europe's first coffee house in Vienna and was reported to be quite rich as a result of this venture. He also established the habit of refining the brew by filtering out the grounds, sweetening it, and adding a dash of milk hence inventing Viennese coffee and also the pastries served with it.

The popularity spread through Europe to such an extent that, during the 17th and 18th centuries, there were more coffee shops in London than there are today. Coffee shops were nothing like the trendy shops that we have today. A true coffeehouse was crowded, smelly, noisy, feisty, smoky, celebrated and condemned. On the street in London you located the nearby coffeehouse by sniffing the air for roasting beans, or by looking for a wooden sign shaped to resemble a Turkish coffee pot.

It was the coffeehouses of England that started the custom of tipping waiters and waitresses. People who wanted good service and better seating would put some money in a tin labelled "To Insure Prompt Service" - hence "TIPS". Coffee shops then were influential places, used extensively by artists, intellectuals, merchants, bankers and a forum for political activities and developments. When they became popular in England, the coffee houses were dubbed "penny universities". It was said that in a coffee house a man could "pick up more useful knowledge than by applying himself to his books for a whole month". A penny was the price of a coffee.

If it were not for the cafes in Paris and the fact that they attracted revolutionaries then the French could still have a monarchy! In Paris, one cafe had a separate room reserved for fighting duels; another hosted the premiere of the world's first motion picture.

It is no suprise, therefore, that such a popular institution had opponents everywhere. In Italy, around 1600, priests asked Pope Clement VIII to forbid the favourite drink of the Ottoman Empire considering it part of the Infidel threat. On taking one sip, the pope found the drink delicious and baptised it - making it an acceptable Christian beverage.

In 1674 The Women's Petition Against Coffee was set up in London. Women complained that men were never to be found at home during times of domestic crises, since they were always enjoying themselves in the coffee houses. They circulated a petition protesting "the grand inconveniences accruing to their sex from the excessive use of the drying and enfeebling liquor". A year later, King Charles II tries to supress the coffee houses because they were regarded as hotbeds of revolution but his proclamation is revoked after a huge public outcry and the ban lasts just 11 days.


 * YeSome o
 * Indif the coffee houses in London became very well known with different groups of workers and soon became the kingpins around which the capital's social, political and commercial life revolved. Jonathan's Coffee House in Change Alley was where stockbrokers usually met - it eventually became the London Stock Exchange. Likewise, ship owners and marine insurance brokers visited Edward Lloyd's Coffee House in Lombard Street - it too moved on and up in the world and became the centre of world insurance and the headquarters of Lloyds of London. Johann Sebastian Bach composed his "Kafee-Kantate" or Coffee Cantata in 1732. Partly an ode to coffee and partly a stab at the movement in Germany to prevent women from drinking coffee (it was thought to make them sterile), the cantata includes the aria "Ah! How sweet coffee tastes! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter far than muscatel wine! I must have coffee..."

Prussia's Frederick The Great attempted to block imports of green coffee in 1775 as Prussia's wealth is drained. He condemned the increase in coffee consumption as "disgusting" and urged his subjects to drink beer instead. He employed coffee smellers, who stalked the streets sniffing for the outlawed aroma of home roasting. Public outcry changes his mind. Coffee fever spread throughout Europe in the 18th Century and the French had introduced coffee into the New World by 1715. Coffee consumption in Britain began to decline as import duties for coffee increased. The British East India Company concentrated on importing tea as the market began to grow. In Europe, however, people were gradually inventing new and improved ways of making coffee and, in 1822, a Frenchman Louis Bernard Rabaut invented a machine which forced the hot water through the coffee grounds using steam instead of merely letting it drip through. The first espresso machine had been born.

= Coffee in Indian Subcontinent = Coffee was introduced to India during the late seventeenth century. The story goes that an Indian pilgrim to Mecca – known as Baba Budan – smuggled seven beans back to India from Yemen in 1670 (it was illegal to take coffee seeds out of Arabia at the time) and planted them in the Chandragiri hills of Karnataka. The Dutch (who occupied much of India throughout the 17th century) helped spread the cultivation of coffee across the country, but it was with the arrival of the British Raj in the mid-nineteenth century that commercial coffee farming fully flourished. Initially Arabica was widespread, but huge infestations of coffee leaf rust led many farms to switch to Robusta or Arabica/Liberica hybrids.

The India Coffee Board was established in 1907 to help improve quality and presence of Indian coffee through various research and education endeavors. The board, throughout the modern history of the country, has stringently regulated the coffee sector, particularly in the period between 1942 and 1995. Upon liberalisation in 1995, growers were given free rein to sell their produce wherever they choose.

= See also =


 * Coffee
 * Tea
 * Khat
 * List of coffeehouse chains
 * Viennese coffee house
 * Coffee Plant
 * Arabic Coffee