The Mythical Appeal of Gourmet Coffee
http://www.foodndrinks.net/articles/6696/1/The-Mythical-Appeal-of-Gourmet-Coffee/Page1.html
Lili Rousso
Aroma Cafe Culture is a Los Angeles, California-based company. They are a distributor of Lavazza: Italy's Favorite Coffee, which is the largest family-owned coffee roaster in the world. They offer a popular "coffee-shop-in-a-box" that allows people to make gourmet coffee at home, for a small fraction of the price they would pay at a coffee shop. Visit their Web site at Aroma Cafe Culture. By Lili Rousso
Published on 09/27/2010
The history surrounding gourmet coffee is rich and storied, much like the delicious brew itself. Legend has it that a young goatherd allowed his goats to nibble on the red berries from the small, scrubby bush. After their snack, they frolicked and played like young goats again.
The history surrounding gourmet coffee is rich and storied, much like the delicious brew itself. Legend has it that a young goatherd allowed his goats to nibble on the red berries from the small, scrubby bush. After their snack, they frolicked and played like young goats again.
Curious, the goatherd chewed on the berries himself, and found himself energized enough to stay awake all night tending his flock. From there, locals began to steep the berries in hot water to make a delicious drink, and an icon was born.
While the jury is out on the exact origins of coffee (some experts say it was first brewed in Ethiopia; others point to Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula), there is no doubt that this drink has drawn a passionate following world-wide. Coffee culture has flourished in countless communities, where sitting down for a cup is not only a gastronomic event, but a social rite.
The Romance of Gourmet Coffee
There are any number of foods and beverages that people have consumed throughout the ages. What then lifts coffee to its status beyond beverage and closer to elixir of the gods?
Perhaps it was the Ethiopian monks who, having heard of the strange beans' effects on the goatherd and his flock, brewed some of their own. Infused with the heavenly aroma and intoxicating energy, they were uplifted to a new level of divine prayer and other-worldly inspiration. The monks had found their muse.
Gourmet coffee continued to spread across the African and Arabian lands, and became of staple of Islamic worship culture around the turn of the first millennium. Europe got into the frenzy 500 years later, and from there gourmet coffee had its firm foothold. It is widely believed to be the Dutch who first cultivated coffee plants, and began gifting European royalty with the plants.
Intrigue and espionage followed, in typical European court style, with legends abounding about scallywags making off with clippings in the middle of the night. No good legend is complete without pirates, and gourmet coffee's past is no exception. Crossing the Atlantic, the coffee plant was introduced to Martinique, and from there the Latin American world where it remains one of the primary crops for many regions.
The next time you brew your own cup of gourmet coffee, let your imagination wander to its exotic and far-flung beginnings. It's a story worthy to be shared with friends over a good cup of coffee.
Curious, the goatherd chewed on the berries himself, and found himself energized enough to stay awake all night tending his flock. From there, locals began to steep the berries in hot water to make a delicious drink, and an icon was born.
While the jury is out on the exact origins of coffee (some experts say it was first brewed in Ethiopia; others point to Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula), there is no doubt that this drink has drawn a passionate following world-wide. Coffee culture has flourished in countless communities, where sitting down for a cup is not only a gastronomic event, but a social rite.
The Romance of Gourmet Coffee
There are any number of foods and beverages that people have consumed throughout the ages. What then lifts coffee to its status beyond beverage and closer to elixir of the gods?
Perhaps it was the Ethiopian monks who, having heard of the strange beans' effects on the goatherd and his flock, brewed some of their own. Infused with the heavenly aroma and intoxicating energy, they were uplifted to a new level of divine prayer and other-worldly inspiration. The monks had found their muse.
Gourmet coffee continued to spread across the African and Arabian lands, and became of staple of Islamic worship culture around the turn of the first millennium. Europe got into the frenzy 500 years later, and from there gourmet coffee had its firm foothold. It is widely believed to be the Dutch who first cultivated coffee plants, and began gifting European royalty with the plants.
Intrigue and espionage followed, in typical European court style, with legends abounding about scallywags making off with clippings in the middle of the night. No good legend is complete without pirates, and gourmet coffee's past is no exception. Crossing the Atlantic, the coffee plant was introduced to Martinique, and from there the Latin American world where it remains one of the primary crops for many regions.
The next time you brew your own cup of gourmet coffee, let your imagination wander to its exotic and far-flung beginnings. It's a story worthy to be shared with friends over a good cup of coffee.