National Coffee Day
National Coffee Day
Put on a pot of the good stuff and take the time to savor your morning cup of Joe this September 29th for National Coffee Day.
Coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world with a history that goes back to the 15th century in Yemen. Monks at the Sufi monasteries brought the coffee beans back to Yemen from Ethiopia where they cultivated, roasted, and brewed coffee. From there, coffee spread throughout the Middle East and, eventually, into Italy and the rest of Europe.
However, the climate of Europe at the time wasn’t exactly open to the new stimulating substance. Many called the drink a “bitter invention of Satan” and condemned it as evil. Coffee’s arrival in the Christian world caused such a fuss that Pope Clement VIII had to intervene. After giving the drink his official papal approval, coffee continued to circulate, but tea was still far and away the go-to beverage for most Europeans and European colonialists in America.
That changed in 1773 when a group of men in Boston decided they were fed up with King George III’s new tea tax and infamously threw all of the tea into the harbor during the Boston Tea Party. Many in the colonies showed their support for the rebellion by switching from tea to coffee. But the American coffee industry didn’t really take off until the 1800s when the drink became a favorite of the cowboys and gold miners in the West.
Today, we enjoy beans from a number of distinct growing regions such as Brazil, the largest coffee producer in the world, and Colombia, a close second made all the more impressive when you consider the respective sizes of each country. Altogether, there are over 50 countries where coffee is grown around the world.
So whether you like a dark roast from Ethiopia or a blonde roast from Nicaragua, whether you take it black or with flavored creamers and extra sugar, be sure to take a moment to really enjoy your morning brew for National Coffe Day on September 29th.
