34. Happy International Coffee Day ,

"Coffee - the favorite drink of the civilized world." - Thomas Jefferson

It wont be Shafiqa without coffee on any day especially during International Coffee Day. I had my cup of coffee at 123Gasing, near LaSalle School at Jalan Gasing. I had Honey Pistachio Latte, the taste of it was nice, with the elements of nuts inside. A good try indeed. 

Lets talk about coffee. 

No one knows exactly how or when coffee was first discoved, though there are many legends about its origin. 

According to Ethopian Legand, the goat herder Kaldi first discovered the potential of these beloved beans. The story goes that that Kaldi discovered coffee after he noticed that after eating the berries from a certain tree, his goats became so energetic that they did not want to sleep at night. 

Kaldi reported his findings to the abbot of the local monastery, who made a drink with the berries and found that it kept him alert through the long hours of evening prayer. The abbot shared his discovery with the other monks at the monastery, and knowledge of the energizing berries began to spread. 

On the other side of history, the first coffee plants came from the Horn of Africa. Native tribes would grind the coffee cherries together, mixing the paste with animal fat. Rolled into little balls, the mixture was used to give warriors energy for battle.

During these ancient times, coffee’s stimulating properties were thought to be a sort of religious ecstasy. The drink earned a mystical reputation, shrouded in secrecy and associated with priests and doctors. Two prominent legends emerged to explain the discovery of this magic bean.

The other story is that a Muslim dervish was condemned by his enemies to wander in the desert. In his delirium, the man heard a voice instructing him to eat the fruit from a nearby coffee tree. He tried to soften the beans in water, and when this failed, he simply drank the liquid. Interpreting his survival and energy as a sign of fate, he returned to his people, spreading the faith and the recipe.

We can see that the history was really shallow and unidentified however, coffee beans first started being roasted in the 13th century, with the 15th century seeing the appearance of the first coffee houses in Mecca. Coffee beans were first exported from Ethiopia to Yemen. Yemeni traders brought coffee back to their homeland and began to cultivate the bean.

England first became acquainted with coffee in 1637 when a Turk introduced the drink to Oxford. It quickly became popular among students and teachers who established the "Oxford Coffee Club". The first coffeehouse in Oxford opened in 1650 and was called the "Angel".

In Germany, coffee was considered a beverage of the nobility. Although,  coffee was introduced to Germany in 1675 and their first coffeehouses opened in 1679-1680 in Hamburg, Bremen and Hanover. the middle and lower classes were not introduced to coffee until the early 18th century, and it was only much later that it came to be prepared and consumed at home.

Coffee culture had spread widely to most countries in the world. Especially among youngsters. Coffee culture is absolutely different in every country and have different taste preferences prior to the locals as well. Coffee in Italy much more bitter compare to Malaysia and Korea definitely has very light taste when it come to coffee. 

In Malaysia, we have our own label of coffee representative which it Kopi O (Kopi Kampung ) or White Coffee.

Kopi 434 from Muar definitely my favourite. 

Coffee session might tell the coffee story on its own but for me it is a journey that calms the mind, create wonder thought and relation bounding time. It might seem small but big in impact.

So let's coffee time. 

Shafiqa Hanafi

** article come from all sort of source and knowledge.