I found an interesting article on PBS.ORG about the history of coffee. It’s wild to think that there was ever a time that we didn’t know the seed inside the coffee berry made coffee. These days most of us know just what to do to make a decent cup of coffee. Here’s a little blurb on how it started.
“Before coffee became our morning beverage of choice, it appeared in a variety of different preparations. In its most basic, unprocessed form, coffee is a cherry-like fruit, which becomes red when ripe; the coffee bean is found at the center of the red coffee fruit. Early on, the fruit were mixed with animal fat to create a protein rich snack bar.
PBS.ORG
A snack bar!! haha The first thing we did was add fat to it! We started with coffee berry bars. This is so accurate. So human. Let’s see what we did next.
At one point, the fermented pulp was used to make a wine-like concoction; incidentally, a similar beverage was made from the cacao fruit, before the advent of chocolate, which goes to show that humans are especially adept at finding new ways to imbibe.
PBS.ORG
There it is. We tried it as liquor. Why wouldn’t liquor be our next option? As good ol Willy Wonka says, “Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker.” I’m cracking up. Let’s see what’s next.
Another drink that appeared around 1000 A.D. was made from the whole coffee fruit, including the beans and the hull. It wasn’t until the 13th century that people began to roast coffee beans, the first step in the process of making coffee as we know it today.
PBS.ORG
Ah ha! After some time, we finally made it to the billion dollar drink! With that timeline, we could fill in the blanks with plenty of pre-coffee stories. But what a great reminder this is that creating something that’s new and long lasting takes experimentation and time.
Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.
Saadi
