Culture
The formation of
culture around coffee and coffeehouses dates back to 14th century
Turkey. Coffeehouses in Western Europe and the Eastern
Mediterranean were traditionally social hubs, as well as artistic
and intellectual centres. In the late 17th and 18th centuries,
coffeehouses in London became popular meeting places for artists,
writers, and socialites and were also the centre for much political
and commercial activity. Coffee houses also served tea and
chocolate.
Ecology
All commercial
coffee species originate from Africa and belong to the genus
Coffea. The high quality Coffea arabica species originates from the
rainforests in the southwestern highlands of Ethiopia. One theory
suggests that the Ethiopians took it to Yemen when they conquered
the country by AD 500. Another hypothesis says that Arab merchants
brought it initially to Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, where it
was cultivated and has contributed to the prosperity of the seaport
of Mocca. This explains why Arabica coffee is associated with the
name Mocca. although the prime centre of origin and diversity is on
the African continent.
C. canephora
varieties, including Robusta coffee, grow at lower altitude and fit
well in the equatorial, warm and wet tropics below 1000 m: they
occur naturally in the western Congo basin. Robusta coffee is
resistant to coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) and. therefore,
with the expansion of coffee production in the world it replaced
Arabica in the areas where coffee leave rust was devastating the
production. As for Arabica. some early Brazilian coffee was
labelled after its major port of export. Santos.
There exist also two
additional minor coffee species. Coffea libeiica originates from
West Africa around Liberia. C. excelsa comes from the more
continental and drier parts of Central Africa, mainly the Central
African Republic. Genetically, the latter two species are now
considered as a single complex. Nevertheless, practically all
present cultivars are descendants of early coffee introductions
from Ethiopia to Arabia (Yemen), where they were subjected to a
relatively dry ecosystem without shade for a thousand years before
being introduced to Asia and Latin America.
The early history of
coffee growing followed the major colonial routes dominated by
France, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal.,The Netherlands, Germany
and Belgium. The material that followed these routes is of narrow
genetic basis. One such cultivar 'Bourbon' originates from Bourbon
(now Reunion) Island, the then French colony, and formed the basis
of a larger part of Arabica plantations worldwide due to its
excellent cup taste. Unfortunately, this cultivar is susceptible to
coffee leaf rust. Many crossing programmes used Bourbon to cross
with Hybrido de Timor, a natural inter-specific
cross between C.arabica and C. canephora, but having a lower cup
quality.
