The Birth of Coffee to a Worldwide Phenomenon
When coffee lovers tip up their mugs so that the warm liquid drains into their throats giving them the energy they need to face the day, they probably don’t consider the history of their favorite brew. They may not realize the role that coffee has played in political or social history that started on the African continent.
“It really started probably in Ethiopia around 500 A.D. and in Yemen around 500 years later,” said Bridgewater State College Professor James Hayes-Bohanan, who teaches a course on the geography of coffee. Coffee made its way to Asia and eventually into Europe. “Once it got to Europe it spread quickly,” Hayes-Bohanan said, adding that its popularity has many roots. “It’s mildly addictive. It’s stimulative. It helps you work better. It aids digestion. It seems to really work for some people.”
Therefore, it’s no wonder that it came over to America hundreds of years ago and firmly took its seat as one of America’s popular beverages in the 1800s and 1900s. Some people throughout history consumed coffee at such potent levels to be unheard of today. “Some intellectuals known for their coffee consumption would really consume a lot of coffee,” Hayes-Bohanan said.
Despite its popularity, coffee has had political opposition during different periods of time. There were times when the leaders of both Muslim and Christian cultures decided that coffee was not good for society. This could be partly due to coffee drinkers’ tendency to get together socially and share ideas, which might concern those in power, according to Hayes-Bohanan.
The world of coffee even has an unforgettable history in the media. For instance, most people remember watching television ads where someone is woken up by the aroma of coffee being brewed in the early morning. However, the world of television coffee commercials wasn’t always gentle and soothing. Television advertisements in the 1950s included a series of commercials that can now be seen on YouTube involving some Jim Henson characters for Wilkins Coffee. One character continually shoots, blows up and even electrocutes another character who will not admit they like Wilkins Coffee. “They’re really violent actually,” Hayes-Bohanan said.
American consumption of coffee actually has dropped over the past decades, but the country still accounts for 20 percent of all coffee consumption. “It used to be much higher as a percentage,” Hayes-Bohanan said. “We had been at 69 percent in 1947.” While the amount of consumption may have dropped, the world has more options when it comes to their favorite coffee drinks. Flavored coffee options has increased and, with the major coffee shop chains, the number of individual coffee shops grew as well. There’s also the ability for people to shop online for their coffee for even more options.
At this rate, coffee will probably continue to be a staple in many people’s homes and continue its trek through history. “Coffee connects us all,” Seattle’s Burke Museum representative Ruth Pelz stated in a press release about a coffee exhibit. “Most consumers don’t think about the people and places that bring coffee from the field to the roast to the cup … Coffee really has the power to remind us of our place in the world.”