The nation’s new coffee habit means that the coffee shop is as popular as the pub as a place for socialising. Oundle has followed the trend, with at least five establishments offering good quality cups of coffee. For the past decade an average of thirty-one billion cups of coffee has been drunk in the UK every year. Drinking coffee now is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. It is not unusual for people to drink more than three cups of coffee a day. With coffee shops in every town, the coffee habit may supplant the very British tradition of a cup of tea.

It is somewhat of a surprise, therefore to find that coffee is not originally from Europe. The history of coffee can be traced back to the ninth century in the highlands of Ethiopia, from where it spread to Egypt and Yemen. By the fifteenth century it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa.

Coffee used to be consumed for spiritual reasons. At least a thousand years ago, traders brought coffee across the Red Sea into Arabia, where Muslim monks began cultivating the shrub in their gardens. In the beginning, the Arabs made wine from the pulp of the fermented coffee berries. This beverage was known as Qishr and was used during religious ceremonies. Coffee became the substitute beverage in spiritual practice where wine was forbidden.

From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Italy. The thriving trade between Venice and the Muslims of North Africa, Egypt, and the Middle East brought many African goods, including coffee. Coffee became more widely accepted after it was deemed an acceptable Christian beverage by Pope Clement VIII in 1600, despite appeals to ban the “Muslim drink”. Through the efforts of the British East India Company, coffee was introduced to England as well.

Many scientific studies have examined the relationship between coffee consumption and a wide array of medical conditions. Studies have suggested that the consumption of coffee is beneficial to health in some ways. The mainstream view of medical experts is that drinking three cups of coffee per day does not have significant health risks for adults. In fact, coffee drinkers may have less risk of developing Alzheimer’s, heart disease, gout and cirrhosis.

Did you know:
It takes 42 coffee beans to make an espresso.
Cappuccino is so named because of the drink’s peak of foam, which resembles the cowl of a Capuchin friar’s habit.
Black coffee (without sugar or milk) contains less than 1 calorie.
Instant coffee contains more caffeine compared to espresso and cappuccino.
October 1st is the official Coffee Day in Japan.
“Coffee Smellers” were discharged wounded soldiers employed as spies to “smell out” unlicensed coffee roasting during the coffee monopoly in Germany.
According to legend, Shepherds were the first to observe the effect of caffeine in coffee beans when, after their goats consumed some wild coffee berries in the pasture, they appeared to “dance” and have an increased level of energy.
To reduce wrinkles and improve skin tone, the Japanese have been known to bathe in coffee grounds fermented with pineapple pulp.