Perfect Blend - how the humble coffee berry became the world's second most valuable commodity

Feature Story:

The drink that changed the world

Mark Pendergrast, author of ‘Uncomon Grounds ’, unravels the tale of the world ’s favorite beverage

Human beings around the world are addicted to two black energy-promoting liquids. Oil is the most valuable legal traded commodity on earth. Coffee is the second most valuable, and it has become the beverage of choice to jump-start people on the go around the world. In short, coffee is just a berry, encasing a double-sided seed. Yet it has had a profound effect on human history.

On the mountainsides of Ethiopia, the native coffee tree grows to seven to ten meters in the dappled shade of the rainforest canopy. There are many species of the coffee plant, but only two have proven to be commercially viable. Coffea arabica, the original Ethiopian species considered superior in taste, accounts for 75 per cent of world consumption. It grows best in mild tropical climates between 1,000 to 3,000 meters above sea level. Coffea canephora, also known as robusta, has a more bitter taste, twice the caffeine. It was discovered in the Congo in the late 19th century. Robusta is more disease-resistant, endures higher temperatures, and can be grown in a harsher climate than the arabica. Today coffee grows in a girdle around the earth between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, in over 50 countries, often on volcanic mountainsides.

The journey from tree to cup
Exactly how does your coffee arrive in your morning cup? It’s an amazing odyssey, and the amount of labor and the number of people who contribute to that cup should make you appreciate every sip. Over 25 million people make their living from coffee in one way or another.

Coffee is an incredibly labor-intensive crop, with all but a tiny percentage requiring the
individual human hand. First the coffee seeds are sowed and nursed under a shade canopy, then transplanted to mountainside ranks, where the coffee-growers prune, fertilize, spray for pests, irrigate, and finally pick the coffee-cherries. The coffeecherries are harvested and lugged from the mountainsides in 200-pound bags.

The complicated process of removing the precious bean from its covering of pulp and mucilage is also by hand. How it is done varies, and depends on the climate. In Brazil, the complete coffee-cherries are often allowed to dry on tarpaulins before the pulp is removed from the beans. In more mountainous countries, the skin is often stripped off and the beans are then allowed to partially ferment for 24 hours or so before being washed, spread to dry for several days, and having the parchment – a tough husk around the bean – removed. The resulting green beans are sorted and graded, and bagged for shipment, roasting, grinding, and brewing around the world.

The roasting process itself is an art form. Most beans are roasted for about twelve minutes at 450 degrees. During the roasting, the coffee beans expand to twice their size, and about 500 subtle chemical compounds form the familiar taste and scent of coffee ... Download the Magazine (below) to read the complete article

Coffee through the centuries

10th century: Rhazes, an Arabian physician, first mentioned coffee in print in the 10th century.

16th century: In Arabia, coffeehouses had become popular meeting places.

17th century: Coffee comes to Europe. The Dutch broke the Arab monopoly on coffee, setting up plantations in Java and Ceylon. The French, too, began to grow coffee in the Caribbean, the Spanish in Central America and Colombia, and the Portuguese in Brazil, which became the world’s largest coffee producer.

1688: Edward Lloyd founded his coffeehouse in London, catering primarily to seafarers and merchants. He regularly prepared “ships’ lists” for underwriters who met there to offer insurance. Thus began Lloyd’s of London, the most famous insurance company on earth.

1700: London had more than 2,000 coffeehouses, occupying more premises and paying more rent than any other trade. Each coffeehouse specialized in a different type of clientele, with establishments serving such diverse callings as doctors, writers, merchants, traders, fops,
Whigs, Tories, army officers, actors, lawyers, clergy, or wits. Other coffeehouses spawned the Stock Exchange, the Bankers’ Clearing-house, and journals such as The Tatler and The Spectator.

1773: The British government introduced a tax on tea within the American colonies. The furious colonists destroyed tea crates in Boston harbor (The Boston Tea Party), and sparked the American Revolution. It became unpatriotic to drink tea, and Americans turned to coffee.

19th century: With the growth of trade inspired by the Industrial Revolution, coffee became an international commodity, and speculation in coffee beans made and lost fortunes.

1880: An oversupply of Brazilian coffee ruined hundreds of speculators. In response to this disaster, a coffee exchange was opened in New York. It provided a way to hedge and bet on coffee futures, but it did nothing to prevent speculation and attempts to corner the market. Today the robusta exchange resides in London, while arabica prices are still determined in New York.

1903: Decaffeinated coffee was developed by German coffee importer Ludwig Roselius, whose staff successfully removed the caffeine without impairing the flavour. The resulting brew was marketed under the name of Sanka (as in ‘sans caffeine’).

1946: Achilles gaggia perfected the modern espresso machine in italy. his breakthrough was achieving a higher pressure than just steam by using a spring-powered lever system.

1953: irish coffee, a combination of coffee, whiskey and cream, is alleged to have been invented in san francisco’s Buena Vista Café. irish sources dispute this version, claiming that café owner Jack Koeppler got the idea on a trip to ireland and simply recreated it in the us.

1971: starbucks opens its fi rst location in seattle’s Pike Place Market. this eventually triggers a global boom in coffeehouses. By october 2006, starbucks had more than 12,000 coffeehouses.