The first cup

Good Morning---I was up early this morning. I started with my usual cup of coffee, Ahhh that first cup,it's the best cup-I love my coffee time, I read the paper and then go check my E-Mail, sometimes I post a blog, this morning I ask myself "I wonder how many folks know about that first cup of coffee---not my first cup--but THE FIRST CUP--so I thought I'd blog this for coffee loves.

Origins of coffee-Have you ever wondered?

The coffee tree & its remarkable berries were first discovered growing wild in the region now known as Ethiopia. Coffee was first prepared not as a beverage but as a food. African tribes would use stone mortars to crush the ripe cherries from wild coffee trees, mix them with animal fat & then fashion this exotic blend into round balls, which they consumed on their war parties.

Around 1000 A.D. the neighboring Arabs began to boil the dried, crushed seeds to make a hot drink. Due to religious, medical, & commercial considerations, the spread of the bean through Arabia & subsequently Europe/the Americas was impeded by prohibitions & powerful restrictions on the export of trees & Cultivatable seeds. The result - intrigue.



In the early 1700's, a coffee tree reached Paris, France & was kept in the Jar din des Plantes, bringing great celebrity to the royal botanist, Antoine de Jussieu. A young naval officer serving in the New World, in Martinique, thought that by taking seedlings back to the Indies he might introduce a profitable new crop to the French colony. His name was De Clieu.

De Clieu approached de Jussieu with his plan, but seeing his fame at stake, he refused. De Clieu then sought out Monsieur de Chirac, the royal physician. Finally persuaded by the intervention of a beautiful lady of high rank, Chirac enabled De Clieu & his companions to steal over the walls of the Jar din des Plantes & make off with cuttings from the coffee tree. A single plant survived in De Clieu's garden, producing a great many viable seeds. It's said that the huge coffee industries of the New World- from Mexico to Brazil- grew from this one tree.

Coffee plant & coffee beans--------pictures I found on the web-cool--Coffee bloom---wow how pretty