Where does coffee come from?

Although it has been ubiquitous in France for several decades, its history remains rather fuzzy in the collective consciousness, and the image we have of it is primarily the one conveyed by major brands through advertising heavily laden with superlatives. Here is some information to recall a few points worth noting.

Origin of coffee - n.f

Official history has its gaps; legend has its charms. Around the 9th century, a young Ethiopian shepherd named Kaldi supposedly noticed that his goats, after grazing on the red berries of an unknown shrub on the high plateaus of Kaffa, refused to sleep at night and bounded with unusual energy. Intrigued, Kaldi tasted the berries himself and felt the same lively, almost joyful effect. He reported his discovery to a monk at the nearby monastery. Skeptical, the latter threw the berries into the fire, and that is how, it is said, the first aroma of roasted coffee was born by accident. Fascinated by the scent escaping from the embers, the monks retrieved the beans, dissolved them in hot water, and discovered a beverage that kept them awake during long nocturnal prayers. The legend of Kaldi is probably apocryphal, but it remains the mythological foundation of a drink that would, a few centuries later, conquer the entire world.

There are many other legends throughout the ages surrounding the discovery of coffee; today it is known from reliable sources that the wild coffee plant, called Coffea arabica, is an indigenous plant discovered around the year 850 in Ethiopia in the Kaffa region.

The Oromo tribes of Ethiopia chewed the fresh berries mixed with animal fat for their stimulating effects during long marches. The fruit pulp was also fermented to obtain a mildly alcoholic beverage, qishr, which is still consumed in Yemen today. It is, moreover, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen, between the 13th and 15th centuries, that the infusion made from roasted beans is said to have truly taken shape. The monks saw it as a precious aid to stay awake. The sacred drink was born.

Etymology of coffee - n.f

The word is worth pausing over. It descends from the Arabic qahwah, a term that originally designated... wine. As Islam forbids alcohol, the stimulating drink derived from the coffee plant naturally inherited the term reserved for that which gently alters the state of mind. From the Arabic qahwah came the Turkish kahve, then the Italian caffè, the English coffee, and finally the French café, which came to designate both the beverage and the place where it is consumed. One word for two uses: an economy of vocabulary, just like the coffee roaster.

Starting in 1450, Mokha became the global monopoly for coffee. The Ottoman Empire seized it as a tool for sociability and power: the first qahvehane, or coffee houses, opened in Constantinople around 1554. These places of conversation, games, and political debate worried the authorities. Coffee was banned several times by sultans and imams, before being systematically re-authorized, as they were unable to contain a craze that crossed all borders.

This transit monopoly made the city's fortune and forged its culture. Egyptian cafes were not mere places for consumption; they were spaces for debate, music, games, and politics, in the tradition of the Ottoman qahvehane from which they drew inspiration. Certain intellectuals at Al-Azhar debated the lawfulness of coffee in Islam seriously before the drink finally established itself in customs.

This Cairene monopoly held until the 18th century. It only yielded to the massive arrival of coffee from Saint-Domingue, which was cheaper, produced in colonies, and had a human cost that history has ultimately remembered. Cairo lost its position as the world coffee capital as quickly as it had gained it.

Coffee therefore arrived in Europe by sea, in the holds of Dutch VOC ships, around 1616. The Netherlands, already masters of the spice trade, were the first to understand what this black drink from Yemen represented. Venice followed, then Marseille (1659), then Paris—timidly at first, with the Armenian Pascal's coffee house in 1672, and more openly with the opening of the Café de Procope in 1686, on Rue des Fossés-Saint-Germain, an establishment still in operation today.

The Ottoman ambassador Suleiman Aga presented the drink to the Sun King himself around 1670 and subsequently conquered the court of Versailles.

The reception was not unanimous everywhere. In England, women petitioned against coffee in 1674, reproaching the drink for making their husbands "as barren as the deserts whence this cursed berry came". Some clerics described it as "the bitter invention of Satan". In Rome, Pope Clement VIII settled the matter with pragmatism: after tasting it, he blessed it, declaring that it would be a pity to leave the infidels with the monopoly on such a pleasant drink. The Church aligned. Europe followed.

What happened next was quieter but more radical. In a few decades, coffee dethroned beer as the morning drink throughout Northern Europe—a sanitary revolution as much as a cultural one, at a time when unboiled water regularly killed people.

The English coffee houses, nicknamed "penny universities" because the price of a penny was enough to sit and converse with educated people, became the incubators of the Enlightenment. Lloyd's of London was born in a coffee house in 1688. Voltaire, it is said, drank forty cups a day. The French Revolution was prepared, among other places, in Parisian cafes. Coffee had not only crossed the Mediterranean; it had changed the way Europe thought.

This period also marks the entry point of coffee culture into European colonies. The Dutch exported it to Indonesia, the French to the West Indies and Réunion, the Spanish to Colombia and Guatemala. The democratization of coffee became widespread in the 18th century. The plant is now cultivated in the majority of the world's subtropical zones. We commonly speak of the "coffee belt" to define the area around the equator where coffee cultivation is possible.

The waves of coffee - n.f

From the 20th century onwards, Brazil quickly became the largest producer of coffee in the world, accounting for 75% of global production in the 1910s. Production is more fragmented today, but Brazil still holds 1/3 of the volume, or nearly 2.7 million tons per year, followed by Vietnam (1.5 million tons) and Colombia (750,000 tons).

The world of coffee would continue to develop throughout history: coffee species and varieties, cultivation methods, modes of consumption, etc.

In France, 3 waves of consumption have succeeded one another:

• In 1960-1970, coffee became democratized in all households, with brands like Grand’ Mère, Carte Noire, or Nescafé, focused on the stimulating effect rather than the taste, for filter consumption or soluble coffee.
• The 1990-2000s marked a turning point, with the theatricalization of consumption and the pursuit of upmarket positioning. On one hand, the arrival of the American giant Starbucks launched the coffee shop movement; on the other, the revolution in home coffee consumption with the entry of Nespresso and its single-serve capsules. The brand offered a more premium product and gradually opened the door to different coffee flavors. Capsules now account for 60% of sales in France.
• The 3^rd wave, driven by a handful of players in the 2010-2020s, is that of specialty coffee. Much like the wine or craft beer market, consumers now want to know everything about coffee and are looking for better quality and a responsible product. This has led to the growth of specialty coffee roasters, who readily highlight the origins, varieties, or even the type of roast.

Celsius is part of this underlying trend, which is evolving rapidly and never ceases to develop the potential of coffee and improve its taste in the cup. We also regularly hear about a 4th wave, which would be one of responsibility and precision. At Celsius, and this is just our take, we consider that the 3rd wave is still expanding and maturing. We see an audience eager for precision, wanting to master every parameter down to the mineralization or even the dynamization of water, and an industry revolving around it. We also note a commitment from some industry players, and a desire to integrate sustainability into the criteria of specialty coffee. Nevertheless, these behaviors are currently quite marginal and do not carry enough weight for us to speak of a new wave—once again, from our point of view.