Must-Read for Coffee Lovers! 15 Fascinating Coffee Facts That Tell the Story of Its History and Development

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Approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide start their day with a cup of coffee. However, in ancient times, people had limited understanding and research about coffee, believing it had hallucinogenic properties similar to narcotics, which led to its prohibition. During certain periods, drinking coffee in public could even result in the death penalty...

Let's explore some of the most outrageous yet serious incidents that occurred during coffee's spread throughout history!

1. Coffee Was Originally Chewed

While most people prefer to sip their coffee, it wasn't always a liquid beverage. Many historians assert that the earliest African tribes to consume coffee would grind the berries together, add some animal fat, and create small edible energy balls from this caffeinated food.

2. Medicinal Use in the 9th-10th Centuries

During the 9th-10th centuries, people would brew coffee fruits into a juice called "bunchum," which had therapeutic effects for headaches. However, excessive consumption caused sleeplessness and mental confusion, so coffee was primarily used as medicinal treatment rather than for regular, large-scale consumption.

3. The Discovery of Roasting

After 1450, people on the Arabian Peninsula discovered that roasting the coffee bean kernels for a longer time and brewing them with the pulp produced unexpected stimulating effects. They named this beverage "Gahwa." Since excessive Gahwa consumption also caused mental confusion, many religious followers in Arabia who couldn't drink alcohol began using Gahwa as a substitute to experience similar numbing effects.

4. Religious Resistance in Europe

When coffee was first widely introduced to Europe, many Christians were reluctant to drink it, believing this dark elixir was a Muslim beverage. It wasn't until 1600, when Pope Clement VIII declared coffee a Christian beverage, that it gained widespread acceptance in Europe.

5. Ottoman Empire Prohibition

In the 17th century Ottoman Empire, coffee was believed to have hallucinatory effects. The ruler of this period considered it a narcotic and prohibited its use in public places. Violators could face the death penalty...

6. Introduction of Porcelain

In 17th century Europe, spoons, cups, and plates were rare items. It wasn't until Zheng He's voyages brought Chinese porcelain to Europe that people began imitating Chinese teapots, teacups, and tea bowls, creating elegant coffee sets. However, since drinking directly from cups was too hot for the mouth, nobles would pour coffee into saucers to drink while maintaining elegance.

7. Women's Protest

In the 17th century, women believed coffee turned their men into "useless corpses." In 1674, the Women's Petition Against Coffee suggested prohibiting anyone under 60 from drinking coffee, claiming the beverage was transforming British men into "useless corpses."

3. Government Prohibitions

By the 18th century, various governments attempted to ban coffee. Reasons included its hallucinatory properties, which could cause extreme excitement and radical behavior. In 1746, Sweden not only prohibited coffee but also banned the sale and use of coffee accessories (namely cups and saucers).

9. The Swedish King's Experiment

In the mid-18th century, Swedish King Gustav III studied coffee's health effects on humans. This experiment was conducted on identical twins sentenced to death by royal decree. The condition was that one twin would drink only coffee for the rest of their life while the other drank only tea, in exchange for their sentences being commuted to life imprisonment. Two doctors were ordered to examine them and report results directly to the king. However, these doctors mysteriously died, likely of natural causes. The king also died before completing his studies.

10. Early Instant Coffee

Although coffee was banned for a time, nothing could stop people's "obsession" with it. In 1771, Britain introduced "instant coffee" (different from the powdered instant coffee later invented in Japan - at that time, coffee was concentrated into blocks that could be dissolved in hot water to make a cup of coffee).

11. Modern Instant Coffee

Another 139 years passed before the first instant coffee was mass-produced and released (and patented) in the United States in 1910, which also brought instant coffee production methods to China. Between 1917-1937, coffee houses flourished in Shanghai, selling not only coffee but also concentrated coffee candies, coffee paste, coffee juice, and coffee syrup, which could be mixed according to personal preference when consumed.

12. Brazil's Olympic Solution

As the world's largest coffee bean producer, Brazil once couldn't afford to send athletes to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Therefore, they filled their ships with coffee and sold it along the way. Ultimately, these coffee beans enabled Brazilian athletes to compete in the Olympic Games...

13. Coffee and Children

In the United States, cider or beer were preferred breakfast beverages before coffee became widely popular, even among children. Later, as research on coffee became more extensive and in-depth, it was discovered that caffeine in coffee, tea, and cola could affect children's growth and psychological emotional states. It wasn't until around 2010 that recommendations for children's caffeine intake emerged, and coffee consumption was not recommended for children under 12.

14. Lethal Dose

Anything in excess can be harmful, and coffee is no exception. According to an AsapSCIENCE video, a person weighing approximately 150 pounds would need to drink 70 cups of coffee to reach a lethal dose. In response, many netizens who watched the video commented: Who dies from drinking 70 cups of coffee?

15. Bulletproof Coffee Myth

The claim that bulletproof coffee aids weight loss remains unproven. The bulletproof coffee diet was created by Dave Asprey. This coffee diet is based on Tibetan yak butter tea.

Bulletproof coffee, made with brewed low-mold coffee beans, one to two tablespoons of medium-chain triglyceride oil, and two tablespoons of unsalted butter, contains approximately 450 calories per cup. Asprey claims that coffee can help people feel full longer and think more clearly. His claims are not supported by any research.

Image source: Internet

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