Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Coffee
Origins of Coffee
Coffee drinking first became popular in Yemen in the 15th century Coffee derives its name from Arabic Qahwah is the Arabic word for coffee and Turkish influence resulted in pronunciation as
qahveh
Italian origin? Caffe but is derived from Turkish, which derives from Arabic Qahwah is the name given to coffee in Arabic but means wine
Coffee first became popular in Yemenite Sufi circles who began to refer to coffee as wine because like wine it also dulls the appetite and therefore was called qahwah Coffee became the replacement for wine and Sufis transferred the meaning wine to coffee and introduced it further into Cairo Coffee was spread to Turkey through the Sufis who used the coffee to help keep them stay awake during devotional exercises performed all night
Coffee is not a native plant to Arabia It is a native plant of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and can be found growing wild and cultivated From Ethiopia it was brought to Arabia and a variety of legends exist to how coffee was discovered
Coffee Legends
Around 800 A.D. coffee was said to be discovered by an Ethiopian goatherd whose name was Kaldi Kaldi noticed his goats had more energy and were dancing from shrub to shrub eating the cherry-red berries that contained the coffee bean He tried the beans himself and soon found himself frolicking with his flock
Coffee in Europe
There are many legends to how coffee spread into Europe Arrived strapped to the belly of an Indian smuggler who left Mecca with the seeds and initiated agricultural expansion of the coffee bean into Europe
For about a half a century Arabia supplied Europe with all coffee consumed and was considered a luxury item by British elite Coffee was supplied to the Europeans by the old Dutch East India Company that traded with the Arabian ports on the Red Sea
Coffee was then introduced into Jamaica by the British and Martinique by the French Coffee then spread to the rest of Latin America Shift in coffee ideology
Shift
However, this changed with the introduction of coffee into European colonies and control of production by commercial capital The colonists coerced the peoples of the colonies into producing coffee or used African slave labor
Latin America
Produces more than twice as much coffee as the rest of the world combined Before, this time Arabia produced all of the worlds coffee and today only yields about one hundred and sixtieth percent of this production, but yet produces more than it ever had
Coffee Century
The history of coffee in Latin America begins in the late 18th century when the first coffee trees were introduced This was followed by the coffee century in Latin America and entered into a coffee period that was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the world trade of coffee The consumption of coffee in the U.S. increased from 3lbs in 1830 to 10lbs in 1900, and 16lbs in 1960 With this Expansion we see: Territorial expansion Movement of settlers Expanding world market-strive to increase production and profit The creation of class conflicts and the creation of the coffee elite
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Coffee Elite
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The coffee elite was made up of aristocratic families of pure decent and new European immigrants Around two or three families control the entire coffee industry How do these families remain in power? Lawless military regimes that make family ties the only safe way to gain political power Absence of mass parties and effective parliamentary institutions Limited development of higher education, professional education could only be acquired abroad
Transnational Corporations
Market is controlled by 4 coffee companies Kraft foods, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, and Sara lee These companies produce the major coffee brands: Maxwell House, Nescafe, Folgers, and Douwe Egberts Nestl's instant coffee alone is consumed at a rate of 3,900 cups of coffee every second
Instant Coffee
Latin American countries are attempting to make changes to respond to the growing instant coffee market Three Latin American countries (Brazil, Columbia, and Ecuador) have become significant exporters of instant coffee Benefits from this change over have been limited because of transnational corporations Local Exporters face many challenges: Inability to fund large advertising campaigns Compete with brand names Distribute to large market
Traditionally a shade grown crop that is grown under a canopy of trees These shade trees provide an excellent source of biodiversity The new modern system however, emphasizes the use of pesticides and the increase in chemical inputs to retain high yields Sun plantations-ultimately more prone to water and soil runoff and long term damage of the soil
70% of the worlds coffee in grown on farms of less than ten hectares and the vast majority is grown on family plots of between one and five hectares Coffee is grown in the wide tropical and sub-tropical belt around the Equator, including some of the countries who face severe development challenges
Fair Trade
Commercial businesses that develop relationships with farmers and are interested in improving the lives of those farmers from which they buy from Commitment is to pay farmers a fair price and what they deserve fro producing that product The price must cover the costs of production and must also be stable Fair trade coffee sales are growing and in 2001 coffee grew by 12 per cent
The End!