History Of Coffee - The Origin of The Coffee Plant

History of coffee record origin coffee plants from Abyssinia, a region in Africa that currently covers the territory of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Coffee became a commercial commodity after being taken by Arab traders to Yemen. In the Arabian peninsula Coffee popular as as refreshment.

In the early days of the Arab nation to monopolize trade coffee beans. They control trade through Mocha, a port city located in Yemen. At that time Mocha being the only gate traffic trade coffee beans. Because of the importance of the port, Europeans sometimes call coffee with the name Mocha.

Entering the 17th century Europeans began developing its own coffee plantation. They cultivate coffee plants in the colonies scattered in different corners of the earth. One of them in Java that was developed by the Dutch. For a certain period of coffee from Java had dominated the world coffee market. At that time, a cup of coffee is more popularly known as "cup of java".

The Etymology of The Term Coffee

Prior to further explore the history of coffee it is better we start with the etymology of the word "coffee" itself. According to William H. Ukers in his book All About Coffee (1922) the word "coffee" began to enter into the European languages around the 1600s. The word was adapted from the Arabic "Qahwa". Or maybe not directly from an Arabic word but through the Turkish term "kahveh".

In Arabic the term "Qahwa" not intended for the plant's name but refers to the name of the drink. In fact there are some records that mention the term originally referred to one type of drink of wine. There is no clear explanation since when began to be used to refer to drink coffee. But the experts believe the word "Qahwa" is used to describe a drink made from beans brewed with hot wate.

Still according Ukers, the origin of the word "coffee" scientifically began to be discussed in the Symposium on The Etymology of the Word Coffee in 1909. In this symposium is generally the word "coffee" is believed to refer to the term in Arabic "Qahwa", which means "strong"

There are also those who deny the term of coffee derived from Arabic. According to them term of coffee comes from a coffee plant originated namely Abyssinia. Adapted from the word “kaffa” name of a town in the Shoa, in South Southwest in Abyssinia. But this assumption is indisputable because it is not supported by strong evidence. Other evidence shows in the city coffee fruit is called by another name that is "bun". In the records of the Arab "bun"or " bunn" is used to refer to coffee beans not drink

See Also : Legends And Myths About The Origin of Coffee

From the Arabic term "Qahwa" adapted into other languages such as Turkish "kahve", Dutch "koffie", French "café", the Italian "caffè", English "coffee", Chinese "kia-fey", Japanese "kehi", and the Malay language "kawa". In fact almost all of the terms for of coffee in various languages have a sound similarity to an Arabic term.

picture by : anotherbestday(dot)com

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