There are several coffee beans but the major supply of coffee comes from only
a couple of coffee plants. The two most important species of coffee are Coffea
arabica (Arabica coffee) and Coffea canephora (Robusta coffee). Two other species
which are grown on a smaller scale are Coffea liberica (Liberica coffee) and Coffea
dewevrei (Excelsa coffee).
Linnaeus classified the coffee plant in the Rubiacee family, to which belongs
also, for example, the gardenia. A member of the rubiaceae family includes quinine,
yohimbe, gardenia, cat's claw, ipecac, bouvaria, buttonweek and the Texas firecracker
bush. The coffee plant is a woody perennial evergreen dicotyledonous of genus
"Coffea". There are number of species of coffee, around sixty species,
growing vastly in the subtropical areas of Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Madagascar
that are without any commercial importance.
Coffee plants grow the best at an average altitude of 600 to 1200 meters in hard,
permeable, deep, well-drained and well-irrigated soil with the daily temperature
varying from 15 to 25 degrees centigrade and frequent rains. The wild plant can
reach even 10-12 meters in height; the plantation one reaches a height varying
between 3-5 meters, except in Colombia where it rarely exceeds two meters. This
makes the harvest and flowering easier, and cultivation more economical.
The plant has a deep green leaves which vary from the colors of light green and
bronze green, depending on the stage of growth. Flowers of the plant are white,
smelling sweet fragrnace of Spanish jasmine. Flowers gradually turn into berries
ranging from dark to light red color.
The berry is coated with a thin film called epicarp or esocarpo containing a sugary
mucilaginous flesh also called mesocarp. Inside the pulp there are the seeds in
the form of two beans coupled at their flat surface. Beans are in turn coated
with a kind of parchment, very resistant, and golden yellow called endocarp or
pergamino.When peeled, the real bean appears, coated -in its turn- with another
very thin silvery film.
The bean is of medium to long pointed size, 11 millimeters long and 8 millimeters
wide, and has a greenish to yellowish/golden color. The color and size vary from
specie to specie.
Coffee and its never forgetting inventions Expresso Machines
For coffee lovers the first espresso machine was made in France in 1822. Dr. Ernest
Illy invented the first automatic espresso machine in 1933. Later in 1946 the
modern-day espresso machine was created by Italian Achilles Gaggia. Gaggia invention
gave a new dimension to coffee. Her invention was a high pressure espresso machine
which used a spring powered lever system. In 1960 the the Faema company produced
the first pump driven espresso machine.
Coffee Filters
Coffee filters were invented by a housewife who wanted to sip a perfect cup
of java with bitterness caused by overbrewing. Melitta Bentz was a housewife
from Dresden, Germany, decided to invent a way to make a filtered coffee, pouring
boiling water over ground coffee and having the liquid be filtered, removing
any grinds. Melitta Bentz experimented with different materials to get a just
the right flavor, until she found that the blotter paper used by her son for
school worked best. She cut a round piece of blotting paper and put it in a
metal cup, and result was tasty and flavorful.
On June 20th, 1908, the coffee filter and filter paper were patented. Soon on
December 15th, 1908, Melitta Bentz and her husband Hugo started the Melitta
Bentz Company. The response they got was overwhelming and they sold 1200 coffee
filters at the Leipziger fair in Germany the next year. Seeing the increasing
demand the Mellitta Bentz Company also patented the filter bag in 1937 and vacuum
packing in 1962.
James Mason' s role
James Mason invented the coffee percolator and patented it in 1865.
Instant Coffee
In 1901, soluble "instant" coffee was invented by Japanese American
chemist Satori Kato of Chicago. It was commercialized in 1938, with Nescafe
or freeze-dried coffee. In 1906, English chemist George Constant Washington,
living in Guatemala invented the first mass-produced instant coffee.
Washington was living in Guatemala during the years of his experiments and and
put his invention, Red E Coffee, in the markets in 1909 when he observed dried
coffee on his coffee carafe.
Some interesting facts about coffee for coffee lovers.
Captain John Smith helped found the first US colony of Virginia at Jamestown
- it is believed he introduced coffee to North America (1607).
The first coffee house opened in Italy (1645).
The first coffee houses opened in England and are dubbed "pennie universities"
for becoming forums for learned groups of people, and because a penny was
the price of a cup of coffee (1652).
Coffee replaced beer as New York City's favorite breakfast drink(1668).
The Boston Tea Party decreed drinking coffee was an American patriotic duty
(1773).
During prohibition, coffee sales boom (1920).
Nestle invented freeze-dried coffee and developed Nescafe, introducing it
to Switzerland (1938).
The United States imported 70% of the world's coffee crops (1940). During
World War II, US soldiers were issued instant Maxwell House coffee in their
ration kits (1942).
Achilles Gaggia perfected the espresso machine in Italy (1946).
Starbuck's opened it's first store in Seattle, creating a boom over fresh-roasted
whole bean coffee (1971).
