The Coffee Timeline
575-850 C.E.:
Coffee was eaten as food sometime between 575 and 850 C.E., Nomadic peoples from the Galla tribe in Ethiopia (where coffee is indigenous) crushed the beans into balls of animal fat to be used for quick energy and sustenance during long treks or warfare. The fat, combined with the high protein content of raw coffee (not present in the beverage) was developed as the first "Energy Bar". Tribes in Africa reputedly used the beans as porridge and drank wine fermented from its fruit.
Coffee was first made into a hot beverage sometime between 1000 and 1300 C.E.
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1000:
Physician and Philosopher Avicenna Bukhara is the first writer to describe the medicinal properties of coffee
1470-1500:
Coffee use spreads to Mecca and Medina
1517:
After conquering Egypt, Sultan Selim I introduces coffee to Constantinople
1554:
First coffeehouses open in Constantinople
1570-1580:
Religious authorities in Constantinople order coffeehouses to close
1600:
Coffee is brought to southern India by a Moslem pilgrim, Baba Budan
1616:
Coffee is brought from Mocha to Holland
1645:
The first coffeehouse opens in Venice
1650:
The first coffeehouse opens in England, at Oxford
 London Coffeehouse circa 1660 |
1658:
The Dutch begin coffee cultivation in Ceylon
1668:
Coffee introduced into North America
1669:
Coffee catches on in Paris as a Turkish ambassador spends a year at the court of Louis XIV
1670:
Coffee is introduced to Germany
1675:
King Charles II orders the closing of all London coffeehouses calling them places of sedition
1679:
The physicians of Marseilles claim coffee is harmful to health
1679:
The first coffeehouse opens in Germany, Hamburg
1689:
The first Parisian cafe opens; Cafe Procope is still in operation today.
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1696:
New York’s first coffeehouse opens; the King’'s Arm
1706:
The first samples of coffee grown in Java are brought back to the Amsterdam botanical gardens
1714:
The Dutch present Louis XIV with a coffee plant raised from a seed of the Java samples
1723:
Gabriel de Clieu brings a coffee seedling from France to Martinique
1727:
Francisco de Mello Palheta brings seeds and plants from French Guiana to Brazil
1730:
The English bring coffee cultivation to Jamaica
1732:
Johann Sebastian Bach composes the Coffee Cantata, parodying the German paranoia over the growing popularity of the drink
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1777:
King Frederick the Great of Prussia denounces coffee in favor of the national drink, beer
1809:
The first coffee imported from Brazil arrives in Salem, Massachusetts
1869:
"Coffee Leaf Rust" is first noticed in Ceylon, within ten years this disease wipes out the majority of coffee plantations in Ceylon, India and other parts of Asia
1873:
The first successful national brand of packaged, roasted ground coffee, Ariosa is introduced to the US market
1882:
The New York Coffee Exchange commences business
1904:
Fernando Illy invents the first modern espresso machine
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1910:
German decaffeinated coffee is introduced to the U.S. market under the name Dekafa
1911:
U.S. coffee roasters organize into a national association, the precursor to the National Coffee Association
1928:
The Colombian Coffee Federation is established
1938:
Nestle technicians in Brazil invent the first commercially successful instant coffee, Nescafe, still the worlds leading brand
1962:
Peak in the United States per capita consumption; more than three cups per person per day
1971:
The first Starbucks opens in Seattle
1973:
The first Fair Trade coffee is imported to Europe from Guatemala
1975:
Brazil suffers a severe frost that sends coffee prices skyrocketing to historic heights
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1989:
International Coffee agreement collapses; world prices plummet to historic lows
Early 1990's:
Specialty Coffee takes off in the United States
Mid 1990's:
Organic coffee becomes the fastest growing segment of the specialty coffee industry
1997:
Green Beans Coffee Company opens its first location on the Eskan Village army base in Saudi Arabia.
January 1, 2007:
Green Beans Coffee Company opens its first location in the United States in Vacaville, California.
March 5, 2007:
Green Beans Coffee Company opens its second location in the United States in Fairfield, California.