Coffee is Everywhere
There is not an inhabited continent that hasn’t been touched by coffee. That a simple plant grown in the tropics has had a worldwide influence for so many years, and in most instances consumed daily, is one of humanity’s most noteworthy exploits.The diversity in ways to consume coffee is as varied as human cultures themselves – from steeping Turkish coffee to percolating to using a ceramic pour over coffee dripper – with just about every culture having their own take on this versatile staple of everyday social life.
Each year globally, about 150 million bags of coffee are consumed by the entire human population, translating into about 10 million tons. That’s about 500 million cups of coffee every year, or a mean consumption of 2.25 billion cups of coffee every day, rivalling only tea and water. So, what is the reason for this universal appeal? In order to fully understand what makes coffee so appealing, we need to look at its history, its origins, its worldwide spread, and its many cultural variations, in brief.
What is Coffee, Anyway?
Coffee, as we know it, is not a bean, contrary to both popular notion and even product labeling (bags are labeled “full-bean coffee”). It is actually a pit from a cherry that grows from a tree that thrives only in tropical regions. These cherries are harvested, soaked in water, and their pulps fleshed off and drained away, leaving only the pit, which until it is roasted, is green. According to an Ethiopian legend – Ethiopia being the site of the first known coffee trees – a farmer noticed how excited his goats became after feeding them the pits from this plant. This story is apocryphal, however, and very difficult to verify.
What is known is that coffee’s rise to worldwide fame began in the 15th century, when coffee beans were first brought from Ethiopia to a region of then-Arabia known today as Yemen. In fact, the first coffee beans made landfall in the Yemeni city of Mocha, whose name became the basis for Caffe Mocha!
Not long after, the first coffee shop was opened in then-Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) in 1475, and became one of the quickest goods to burst into international trade, having arrived in Venice in 1570, followed by coffee houses springing up in England, Austria, then-Germany, France, and Holland in the 1600s, and finally, America in the 18th century, whose pleasures were touted by the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.
The Four Types of Beans, and Their Taste Differences
The four main types of coffee beans, in descending order of consumption volume, are Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, and Excelsa.The one we in North America and most industrialized nations are most familiar with is Arabica, which is commonly found percolating in kitchen coffee pots,pressed in an espresso machine, or in a ceramic pour over coffee dripper. It comprises 60% of the world’s coffee consumption because of the smooth, complex flavor, which is short on bitterness. However, a well-versed aficionado could probably detect different notes of flavor depending on where the coffee beans have been grown.
Robusta beans grow at a lower altitude, and are slightly hardier against diseases, making them notably less expensive than their Arabica counterpart. Their popularity is hampered somewhat by their harsher, bolder, and more bitter taste, making them less amenable to consumption by the everyday drinker. They are also notable for having twice as much caffeine as Arabica beans.
Liberica and Excelsa beans are closer to one another, coming from the same plant variant. Both types combined make up only a few percent of the world’s coffee consumption, and the plants themselves can only grow in specific places like Indonesia. Liberica has a polarized reputation among tasters: some love it for its unusual nutty, woody flavor, some dislike it for its extra strong, roasted notes. Excelsa beans tend to have more of a tart, fruity flavor.
Different Coffee Drinks from Around the World
From iced coffees to steeped coffees to brewing in a ceramic pour over coffee dripper to percolators, people are as different in their preparation methods as they are in their cultural palates. Coffee may have become a common staple of global consumption, but everyone has their own spin on it.
In Brazil, coffee (cafezinho in Brazilian Portuguese) is the national beverage, and is the country with the highest global export numbers of coffee. Their consumption of coffee is typically comparable to espresso, in small cups of concentrated brews. It is a custom to offer cafezinho to guests and it is perceived as a slight to refuse.
The Philippines is one of the rare countries that hosts the Liberica variety of coffee beans, which is not for everyone due to its intense boldness. They call this Barako, the tagalog word for “macho.”
Meanwhile, Italy has a reputation for its own take on coffee, notably for its export of espresso, a seven-ounce cup of concentrated coffee beans for sipping at sidewalk cafes, usually while standing. A variant is the affogato, an espresso complemented with a spoon of ice cream.
In Indonesia, Kopi Tubruk is the country’s most popular coffee. It is prepared in the same way as instant coffee, with fine-ground coffee stirred into boiling water in the cup where it steeps in the water and eventually settles to the bottom, where the grounds are left unconsumed.
Finally, the conventions in both America and China are more adapted to fast-paced consumer culture: percolated coffee or in a ceramic pour over coffee dripper made largely to order in a quick manner for equally quick consumption on the go. Unlike many of the aforementioned countries, consumption in North America and China is not always a dedicated social function, and is often just for an energy jolt.
Conclusion
One would be hard-pressed (no pun intended) to find any food or drink staple with the illustrious history, the cultural impact, or the sheer numbers of consumption as coffee. Even as the world’s cultures gradually converge, the differences are still celebrated, and are now being tried by people of all nations in all corners of the globe. Now, espresso machines, copper-handled brewing pots, ceramic pour over coffee drippers, and exotic brewing methods are available through any number of global online retailers. Click here to learn more about the best pour over ceramic coffee drippers.