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Coffee, the story goes, was discovered by ancient Ethiopian farmers who noticed their goats eating the berries of a strange tree. The farmers noticed the goats acting differently every time they ate the berries, so they became curious. In no time, the odd berry became a favorite of the local farmers and shepherds. They mixed it with goat fat and the world's first energy bar was born! The rest of the history of coffee however mimics the most gripping murder mysteries of our time...
Around the end of the 16th century, reports from botanists and explorers spread of a strange new plant in the Middle East and Africa. As word spread, European travelers and merchants became curious, and became aware of the commercial potential of the new commodity. Since they were already doing business in the Middle East and Africa anyway, distribution was a simple proposition. By the early 17th century, the first shipments of coffee arrived in Venice. Providing coffee for the Venetians was the start of a very profitable export business, one that continues to this day. Seeing its potential, the Arabs guarded it very jealously for nearly a century. They went to great lengths to guarantee that no bean capable of germination left their lands. To achieve this, they boiled or parched beans and kept foreigners far away from coffee fields. For 100 years, Yemen remained the sole source of coffee for the entire European coffee trade.
Quick to adopt the trend, Dutch merchants got involved in the rapidly growing coffee business as well. Being quite industrious, they saw no reason that they couldn't cultivate and trade the lucrative bean themselves. Not only did they have considerable trade expertise, they had highly trained scientists and botanists. The coffee plant was the missing ingredient to their plan. They already had the best merchant ships in the world and just needed to secure the plant so they could quickly bring it to Europe. To now surprise, the Dutch managed to sneak into a coffee plantation and steal a live plant and bring it unharmed back to Europe.
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http://www.TheCoffeeMakerStore.com is on a mission to be the coolest coffee makers store on the planet. We write about coffee, coffee makers, and coffee culture. Check out our free coffee fat calculator and see how fat coffee makes you!
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