About Coffee

The word coffee comes from the Turkish word kahve which in turn comes from the Arabic word qahwah which incidentally also means wine. However the origin of coffee - although thought to have originated from an Ethiopian province called Kaffa - continues to be controversial.

Primarily grown in Java and Arabia these names in fact apply to varieties of coffee and not the region in which they grow. In addition the name Mocha coffee comes from the name of the port where much of the coffee grown in Arabia was exported from.

The coffee crop first became popular in Arabia around the thirteenth century; however coffee trees were not grown in India until sometime after 1600. How coffee came to be grown in India is unclear but it is thought it could be the result of fertile beans being smuggled into the country. Coffee was not imported into England until about 1650; subsequently the first coffeehouses were opened in London and Oxford

Today the main coffee producing countries are Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, India, Indonesia and Vietnam, with Brazil and Colombia producing 40% of the coffee produced worldwide, however, coffee is also grown in many other countries.

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