I mentioned in an earlier post how coffee came to the Americas in the late 1700s. Brewed coffee has been a favorite drink long before that. It is just that the first known instance of a "civilized" man tasting coffee was recorded in the ninth century. The traveler went into the highlands of Ethiopia and tasted it. He liked it and brought some back home.Gradually the use of coffee as a drink of choice spread to Egypt. It took another 600 years for coffee to work its way into the lives of people in Persia and northern Africa. Then another couple hundred years later coffee worked its way into Italy. England still prefers tea but much of the rest of the world wants coffee.
Matter of fact, petroleum is the number one physical commodity traded and coffee comes in as a close second. I know I pay dearly for my beloved coffee beans and may pay even more as I experiment with beans from various plantations and countries.
