this one is purely flicked... although i am a true blue tea maniac but for my new found love of coffee... where did it come from.... and how did it stay!!!
Sheep. The original providers of wool & coffee.
Legend has it that it all began by a bloke called Kaldi. A wandering shepherd by profession, he noticed his sheep suddenly going hyperactive after eating the red cherries of a certain tree. (A coffee tree obviously, but he didn't know that yet.) Not wanting to be left out, he ate some too. Thanks to herd mentality, coffee was discovered. Everyone soon enjoyed the magical boost of this berry until the Christians came in and called it The Devil's Drink.
What's Christmas without Santa, mistletoe and coffee beans?
1600 AD or so, enter Pope Vincent III. Enjoys the drink so much he baptizes it making it an acceptable Christian beverage. Instantly, coffee wins the battle of good over evil and moves over from the dark side. Years later George Lucas makes a film based on this very theme. Moving along, the next few years
sees coffee houses spring up in Venice, England and North America. By around 1668, coffee's so popular the Americans start having it for breakfast instead of their ever so nutritional bottle of morning beer.
Women's Rights. Also women's wrongs.
Then in 1674, the Women's Petition against Coffee was set up in London. Women complained that men were never to be found at home during times of domestic crises, since they were always enjoying themselves in the coffee houses. Interestingly, things
haven't changed till date.
Ladies and gentlemen…His Royal Flopness.
A year later, King Charles II tried to suppress the coffee houses because they were regarded as hotbeds of revolution but his proclamation was revoked after a deafening public outcry and the ban lasted just 11 days. His hearing, however, lasted longer.
Nothing inspires music much like the beauty of…er…a coffee bean.
Let's skip to 1732. Nothing really happened in between except for coffee houses opening in Paris. Anyway, Johann Sebastian Bach composes his "Kafee-Kantate" or Coffee Cantata. Partly an ode to coffee and partly a stab at the movement in Germany to prevent women from drinking coffee. Sadly it doesn't
get nominated for a Grammy or rank on Hitler's top 10 favourites.
Coffee, tea or the death penalty ?
Not too sure about when this happened, but let's just stick it in here. Disagreements arose as to whether coffee was an elixir or a poison. To settle the controversy, identical Swedish twin brothers, sentenced to life imprisonment, were forced by the King to consume large quantities of either coffee or tea.
When the twin forced to drink tea died first, aged 83, the question was answered and today Swedish people are amongst the world leaders in coffee consumption. Age 83. So young. So tragic.
Chemist spends years to make instant coffee.
Fast forward to 1901. The first soluble instant coffee is invented by Japanese American chemist Satori Kato of Chicago. No one is sure of what or who to refer to as the real blend.
Americans lose sleep over coffee.
In 1906, the first mass-produced instant coffee called Red E Coffee is launched. And advertising will never be the same again. Coffee sales boom. By 1940, the US imports 70% of the world's coffee crop. Americans finally are able to stay awake in the office.
When it comes to coffee in the workplace, show them who's boss.
Around the 80's in Italy, a man went to court
to fight for an official Espresso break after being suspended for
habitually disappearing every day between 10.00am to 10.15am. The
court ruled that the Italian office worker's right to a coffee break
is sacred. So the next time you skip for a break, have no fear,
God's on your side.
