Free Coffee History EBook – Coffee US Department of Agriculture 1912

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Another free coffee ebook download for all you history / coffee buffs out there. This publication, entitled “Coffee. Production, Trade, And Consumption, By Countries” was published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture, in 1912, and written by Graham, Harry C. (1874-1922.) The following is an excerpt from the book, you can download it for free at the end of this post.

Washington, D. C., August 7, 1912.

SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith the manuscript of a statistical study, by countries, of the world production, consumption, and trade in coffee for a period of years. Owing, primarily, to the unusual and world-wide attention attracted to this product in late years by the " coffee valorization scheme instituted in Brazil, the subject matter of the manuscript seems especially timely. More over, a detailed statistical history of the development of the coffeegrowing industry in all producing countries and of the remarkable expansion of the international trade is of especial value to dealers and consumers in this country because the United States is, among nations, by far the heaviest importer; hence is as vitally concerned in the annual supplies, trade, and prices of coffee as in similar data relating to those crops of which she takes a high rank as a producer. The manuscript has been prepared by Mr. Harry C. Graham, of the Division of Research and Reference. It is respectfully recom mended that it be published as Bulletin 79 of this bureau.

Botanists generally classify the trees which produce the numerous kinds of coffee into two species: (1) Coffea arabica, (2) Coffea liberica, the former being subdivided into a large number of varieties. Goffea arabica is believed to be a native of Abyssinia and perhaps also of Arabia, but diversity of opinion exists as to which country first made use of the berry. Coffee probably derives its name from the Arabic kahweh, although by some it has been traced to Kaffa, a province in Abyssinia, where some authorities maintain it has been in use from time immemorial. The Arabs began using it as a bever age in the early part of the fourteenth century. In early Grecian and Roman writings no mention is made either of the plant or of the beverage made from the berries. Coffea arabica is now grown in nearly all the coffee-producing countries, and this species forms the great bulk of that produced.

The western tropical coast of Africa is the original home of Goffea liberica. This species is distinguished from Coffea arabica by greater robustness, height, and larger leaves and fruit; it also thrives at lower altitudes and is said to withstand the blight and other coffee diseases better than the Arabian species; the ripened berries also remain longer on the trees, thus enabling the crop to be gathered by fewer hands. This species has been introduced to a limited extent into India, Brazil, Java, and the West Indies. Experiments have been and are being made of grafting Coffea arabica upon Coffea liberica in the hope of producing a variety that can be grown under a wider range of natural conditions.

The names given in various countries to the leaves, beans, and the beverages prepared from the coffee are mostly derived from either of two words: “kahweh,” an Arabic term that originally denoted wine; and “bun,” the Abyssinian name for the coffee plant or its beans; to the Persians the beans were known as “kahwa” or “karweh;& quot; the Turks designated the beans as “chaube,” and the liquid as “qahwe;” the natives of the Malay Archipelago called the beverage “kopi;” the Germans, “kaffee;” the Danes and Swedes, “kaffe;” Russians, “kofe;” French, Spanish, and Portuguese, “cafe…”

Coffee Production And Trade PDF

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