2. Coffee’s definition
The first reference to "coffee" in the English language is in the
form chaoua and dated 1598. In English, coffee derives from
the Ottoman Turkish kahve, via the Italian caffè. The Turkish
word in turn was borrowed from the Arabic: ,قهوة qahwah. In
Arab lexicographers maintain that qahwah originally referred
to a type of wine, and gave its etymology, in turn, to the verb
قها qaha, signifying "to have no appetite", since this beverage
was thought to dull one's hunger.
3. The history of coffee
Coffee plants are originally from Ethiopia although it was
always thought they originated from the Republic of Yemen.
It is easy to get confused about the origin since many of the
old legends that talk about the farming of coffee plants and
drinking of coffee take place in the Arab countries.
4. How coffee arrived in Europe
From Ethiopia, coffee was said to have spread to
Egypt and Yemen. The earliest credible evidence of
either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee
tree appears in the middle of the fifteenth century,
in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen.By the 16th
century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East,
Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa. Coffee then
spread to Balkans, Italy, and to the rest of Europe, to
Indonesia, and to the Americas.
5. How coffee arrived in Italy
Coffee appeared in Venice around 1570. The merit
for having introduced it in Italy have to be assigned
to the paduan Prospero Alpino, well-known botanist
and doctor, that brought some bags from the Egypt.
6. Prospero Alpini
Born at Marostica in his youth he served for a time in the
Milanese army, but in 1574 he went to study medicine at
Padua. He had his doctor's degree in 1578. His tastes
were botanical, and to extend his knowledge of exotic
plants he travelled to Egypt in 1580 as physician to
George Emo or Hemi, the Venetian consul in Cairo. He
spend in Egypt three years. On his return, he resided for
some time at Genoa and in 1593 he was
appointed professor of botany at Padua,
where he died on 6 February 1617.
7. Coffee diffusion
At the beginning the cost of the drink was very
expensive and only the rich people could afford to
buy it, because it was sold in the chemistries.
After the first Coffee Shop, that opened around
1683, so many other shops opened in Venice.
In 1763 Venice counted 218 shops. In a short time
coffee becomes a highly appreciated product, Soon
became synonymous with comfortable
atmosphere, conversation, and good food, this
adding romance and sophistication to the coffee
experience.
8. Intellectual drink
Coffee was appreciated by the culture men of
eighteenth century who called it "intellectual
drink". Coffee was interesting not only for its
characteristic of being a "refreshment
infusion", but also for its curative properties
9. Coffee as symol of love
Often it was a sign of friendship and love: in
Venice, at the beginning of the eighteenth
century, wooers and lovers took the habit to
send their favourites some trays full of
chocolate and coffee as expression of love.
