​

 

 

 

Fifteen hundred years of history between reality and myth The black beverage well known and spread throughout the world has its origins still shrouded in mystery.

 

Until the nineteenth century, even the geographical origin of the coffee plant was unknown, and among the possible birthplaces were cited, other than Ethiopia, also Persia and Yemen.

 

Pellegrino Artusi, the great Italian food reviewer of that age, argued that the best coffee came from the city of Mokha in Yemen, from which the name of the famous mocha quality is taken, and that the origins of the plant were to be found in that region.

 

Today we know that the Coffea Arabica, the coffee plant, originated in the highlands of Ethiopia and then spread to Yemen, where we have the first evidence of the consumption of the drink among the followers of Sufism.

 

The best known legend about its discovery tells that a Ethiopian shepherd named Kaldi noticed an unusual excitement in his goats when they ate the berries of a plant. Intrigued, he took the red cherries to the nearby monastery: the monks, intimidated by his story, flung them into the fire. The scent that sprang was great, and destined to change history. 

Currently the coffee plant, spontaneous in Africa, is cultivated in large quantities in Asia and America in the intertropical bands, where the succession of rainy and dry seasons creates the ideal growing conditions. Famous are the vast fields in Brazil, which with its 50 million sacks a year is considered the coffee giant. The fruit, when ripe, is similar to a cherry in shape and color: from drupa, this is the name of the cherry, the grain is extracted, appearing in origin light green in color.

Later a process of roasting make it dark brown as we all know. The humidity is perhaps the worst enemy of farmers, in fact causing the spread of fungi and fermentation. That's why, after harvesting, the coffee must be brought quickly to processing and storage in dry environments.

 

The main varieties used commercially are the Arabica (Coffea arabica) and Robusta (Coffea canephora or Robusta). The Arabica has a more gentle but intense aroma, with a slight hint of bitterness. By contrast the Robusta presents a lesser scent and is more bitter, having a caffeine content about twice.

​