Origin of coffee 咖啡的传说

话说咖啡这植物的起源可追朔至百万年以前，事实上它被发现的真正年代已不可考，仅相传咖啡是埃塞俄比亚高地一位名叫柯迪（Kaldi）的牧羊人，当他发觉他的羊儿在无意中吃了一种植物的果实后，变得神采非常活泼充满活力，从此发现了咖啡。所有的历史学家似乎都同意咖啡的诞生地为埃塞俄比亚的咖发（Kaffa）地区。

但最早有计划栽培及食用咖啡的民族则是阿拉伯人，且咖啡这个名称被认为源自于阿拉伯语 "Qahwah" - 意即植物饮料。最早期阿拉伯人食用咖啡的方式，是将整棵果实(Coffee Cherry)咀嚼，以吸取其汁液。其后他们将磨碎的咖啡豆与动物的脂肪混合，来当成长途旅行的体力 补充剂，一直到约公元 1,000 年，绿色的咖啡豆，才被拿来在滚水中煮沸成为芳香的饮料。又过了三个世纪，阿拉伯人开始烘培及研磨咖啡豆，由于可兰经中严禁喝酒，使得阿拉伯人消费大量的咖啡，因而宗教其实也是促使咖啡在阿拉伯 世界广泛流行的的一个很大的因素。16世纪，咖啡以"阿拉伯酒"的名义，经由威尼斯及马赛港逐渐的传入欧洲。欧洲人喝咖啡的风气，是17世纪由义大利的威尼斯商人在各地经商中渐次传开，在威尼斯出现了欧洲第一家的咖啡店─波的葛 (Bottega del Caffe)。 四百年来，咖啡的饮用习惯不仅由西方传至东方，甚至俨然成为锐不可当的流行风潮。

The origin of the coffee could be traced back millions of years ago. While actually the real year of the discovery of t he coffee can not be verified , only said that one sheepherder in Ethiopia found that his sheep became very vivacious and full of energy after they ate fruit of one kind of plant. Then the coffee was found. All historians seem to agree that the birthplace of the coffee is the Kaffa Area of Ethiopia.
But Arab is the first nation to plant and have coffee, and the name” coffee” was thought to be derived from Arabic” Qahwah”, which means plant beverage. In the first period, the Arab had coffee by chewing the whole fruit to assimilate its juice. Then they mixed the molar coffee bean and creatural fat and used it as supplement for their strength on the long trip. Until 1000 .A.D., the green coffee bean was used to seethe to be balmy beverage. 3 centuries later, the Arab started to dry and grind coffee beans. Because of No Drinking in the Alkoran, the Arab consumes a lot of coffee. Thus the religion also is one important factor that make the coffee became very popular in the world.
In the 1600s, Coffee was introduced from Venice and Marseilles port to Europe in the name of Arab Wine. The culture of drinking coffee in Europe was gotten round by the Venice businessman of Italy on their business trip in the 1700s. And the first European coffee shop –Bottega del Caffe was founded in Venice. Recently 4 hundred years, the coffee drinking culture is passed from Westward to Eastward and Northward.

Different Coffee culture 不同的咖啡文化

美国：百无禁忌美式风

　　美国人喝咖啡，像进行一场不需要规则的游戏，随性放任，百无禁忌。欧洲人冲调咖啡时的种种讲究，美国人是不屑一顾的。美国人喝咖啡喝得自由，咖啡也同时深入他们的生活中难以分离，影响之深甚至到达没有咖啡不算生活的地步。据说第一次载人类上月球的阿波罗十三号宇宙飞船，在归航途中曾经发生生死关头的故障，当时地面人员安慰三位航天员的一句话就是：加油！香喷喷的热咖啡正等着你们归来。不论在家里、办公室、公共场合还是路边自动贩卖机，美国人几乎一天二十四小时都离不开咖啡。如此喝掉了世界咖啡生产量的三分之一，是全球咖啡消耗量最大的国家。

　　一般而言，美国生活比较忙碌紧张，不像欧洲、中东一带的人民那样能以悠闲心情享受生活，表现在喝咖啡上头，经常就是一大壶电热过滤式咖啡(Drip Coffee Marker)，从早到晚，由于水加得多，咖啡少(一杯十公克的咖啡量对两百CC的水)，滋味特别淡薄，因此也多有人批评美式咖啡实在难喝。其实，在美国各地，咖啡嗜好者只要多费点心力，还是可以品尝到自己喜爱的咖啡口味。如果单纯美式咖啡分为浓淡两大类，美国东岸比西岸喝得浓，南方又比北方浓。以民族而言，南欧及拉丁裔比英、德、北欧移民较嗜好浓烈咖啡。

　　另外，美国虽然是最大的即溶咖啡外销国家，但美国本身喝即溶咖啡的人却不多。近年来他们日益重视饮食健康的结果，市场尚无咖啡因(Coffeeineless Coffee)的销路渐增，而喝咖啡不加糖的风气也越来越普遍。

土耳其：摄人心魄土耳其

　　咖啡在中东古国，宛如一千零一夜里的传奇神话，是蒙了面纱的千面女郎，既可以帮助亲近神，又是冲洗忧伤的清泉。要说咖啡，不能不提中东(土耳其)咖啡，是因为无论从回教或是基督教立场说咖啡起源，它的故乡都是在遥远神秘的中东山上。经过十三到十五世纪，长达三百年的回教宗教界禁止角色，咖啡在十六世纪正式传入土耳其，开始商业化，并且迅速传至欧洲大陆。这种盛行于希腊、东欧、中东、北非等地的咖啡饮用法，一般人惯称土耳其咖啡或阿拉伯咖啡，至今仍保持着早期宗教仪式话的神秘感。传统土耳其咖啡的做法，是使用烘培热炒浓黑的咖啡豆磨成细粉，连糖和冷水一起放入红铜质料像深勺一样的咖啡煮具里(IBRIK)，以小火慢煮，经反复搅拌和加水过程，大约二十分钟后，一小杯五十cc又香又浓的咖啡才算大功告成。

　　由于当地人喝咖啡是不过滤的，这一杯浓稠似高汤的咖啡倒在杯子里，不但表面上有黏黏的泡沫，杯底还有渣渣。在中东，受邀到别人家里喝咖啡，代表了主人最诚挚的敬意，因此客人除了要称赞咖啡的香醇外，还要切记即使喝得满嘴渣，也不能喝水，因为那暗示了咖啡不好喝。阿拉伯人喝咖啡，喝得慢条斯理，它们甚至还有一套讲究的咖啡道，就如同中国茶道一样，喝咖啡时不但要焚香，还要撒香料、闻香，琳琅满目的咖啡壶具，更充满着天方夜谭式的风情。一杯加了丁香、豆蔻、肉桂的中东咖啡，热饮时满室飘香，难怪阿拉伯人称赞它：麝香一般摄人心魂了。

意大利：热情洋溢意大利

　　到意大利观光要小心两件事：一个是男人；一个是咖啡。在意大利，咖啡和男人其实是异曲同工的两样东西，因此意大利有一句名言：男人要像好咖啡，既强劲又充满热情！英文名称为Espresso的意大利咖啡，近年来在国内已经普遍为爱好咖啡的人所熟知，这种又浓又香，面上浮着一层金黄泡沫的纯黑咖啡，浓稠滚烫好似地狱逃上来的魔鬼，每每叫人一饮便陷入无可言喻的魅力中，难以忘怀。意大利咖啡的特色，表现在它的英文名字上，就是一个快字；作得快不超过十秒钟，喝得也快，因为只有两三口。一般意大利人起床第一件事马上煮一杯咖啡，不分男女几乎从早喝到晚，街上到处可见叫做BAR的咖啡小店，贩卖一杯四百里拉左右，约合台币十多元的咖啡，供人站着一饮而尽。

　　意大利人平均一天要喝上二十杯咖啡，调至意大利咖啡的咖啡豆是世界上炒得最深的一种豆子，这是为了配合意大利式咖啡壶瞬间萃取咖啡的特殊功能。由于一杯意大利咖啡的份量只有五十cc，咖啡豆用量只要六至八公克便够了，因此这种看起来很浓的咖啡，其实一点不伤肠胃，甚至还有帮助消化呢！意大利咖啡还有一种加了牛奶的喝法，叫做Cappuccino，利用意大利咖啡壶摄氏一百三十度以上的蒸汽，先将牛奶打成泡沫，再漂浮在浓黑的咖啡上。甜美的新鲜牛奶，纯白可爱；迷人的Espresso魔鬼在它的点缀之下，顿时就换化成美妙的天使了

中北欧：温和理智中欧式

　　不像意大利人那么热情如火，也不像法国人那么浪漫似水，中北欧一带的人喝咖啡，喝得理智又温和，正像他们一板一眼的民族性一样。欧洲人的生活与咖啡，几乎已经结成密不可分的环节，除了意大利和法国一带与众不同的咖啡喝法，从奥地利、瑞士、德国，以致于北欧几个国家，品尝咖啡的习惯与口味可以说是大同小异，他们深深了解中庸之道，完全属于中浓度口味。

　　中、北欧人民在家煮咖啡，最常使用的大多式简便的手冲式滤纸咖啡壶，以及台湾常见的家庭用电热咖啡壶(Drip Coffee Maker)。其中，滤纸冲泡咖啡法(Paper Drip)就起源于中欧，是德国人MERITA夫人在本世纪初发明，并在欧陆各国广为流传。但是营业场所的咖啡，由于需要大量快速供应，还是Espresso咖啡机的天下，只不过使用的咖啡豆口味不同。在这些国家的咖啡馆喝咖啡，与台湾最大的差别，可能是他们把咖啡、糖、奶三项分得很清楚，许多咖啡馆的价目表上都名列黑咖啡与加奶咖啡的不同价格，有些甚至连份量也列入价格差别差异的因素。中欧一些国家，像奥地利、瑞士，点心做得有名，花样繁出的各式糕点，理所当然也跃为咖啡桌上另一项出色的演出。

　　近几年来，北欧四国人民平均的咖啡饮用量一直名列全世界前四名榜上(每人每年一千杯以上)，他们对咖啡的钟爱，用巴哈一出歌剧中的一段唱词形容最为恰当：这么美妙的咖啡，比一千次香吻更甜美，比陈年佳酿更醉人！

USA: Free style
For American, drinking coffee is like doing one game without rules, just do as they like. American thinks it scorn to the various daintily of making coffee of European. They drink coffee freely .At the same time coffee also get involved in their life and have so much influence that it can not be thought to be life if there is no coffee. It was said that the No. 13 Apollo that the first space shape taking the people to the moon happened do-or-die problem on the way back to earth, and at that time, the ground staff comfort that 3 cosmonaut by one sentence” come on, goluptious hot coffee is waiting for you.” No matter home, office, public place or coin machine, American almost stays with coffee at 24 hours one day. Thus they drink three first coffee of the world output, and USA is the country who consumed most coffee in the world.
Generally, American live a busy life, they are not like the people in Europe or Middle East who can enjoy life in easy way. They usually just have one bottle of Drip coffee from morning till night. Because of too much water and less coffee, it taste very light, many people criticize that American style coffee taste too bad. Actually, coffee liker still can taste the coffee flavor they like around America if they make a little more efforts. If we divide the Pure American style coffee into strong and weak style, American east shore like stronger than west shore and south like stronger than north.
For nation, South Europe and Latin people enjoy strong coffee than England, Germany and north Europe emigration.
Besides, although USA sells most instant coffee to other countries, there aren’t so many people drink instant coffee. Recently years, they pay more and more attention to the food health, and the market of the de-café become bigger and bigger, and the culture of drinking coffee without sugar also become more and more popular.

Turkey：Attractive style
In ancient middle east, Coffee is like the legend in One Thousand and One Night that it is the veiled lady with many kinds of faces who is also helpful to close to the god and is the spring cleaning the sadness. Speak of coffee, we must mention the Middle east(Turkey )coffee，because its original place was said to be in the far and mysterious Middle east land no matter under the theory of Christianism or Islam. Coffee was introduced to Turkey formally in the 1600s and began to be commercialization and spread to Europe quickly. People usually name this drinking way asTurkey coffee or Arab coffee which is popular in Greece, East Europe, Middle East and North Africa and so on. The method of making Turkey coffee is that coffee beans were roasted for the first time over open fires, and the roasted beans were crushed, and then boiled in water, creating a crude version of the beverage we enjoy today.
The local people drink coffee non-filtrated, so when pouring the dense coffee like thick soup in the cup, there is some sticky bubble on the surface and also the residue in the cup bottom. In Middle east, the host shows their most sincere respect by inviting someone to have coffee at their house, so the guest should praise the coffee , and also need to remember that can not drink water even when have residue in their mouth after drunk coffee, because it means that the coffee taste bad . Arab drink coffee leisurely and they also have some daintily way, just like the Chinese people have teas, they also light cense and also put some flavor when they drinking coffee. And the myriads of coffee tools are full of expression of Arabian nights. The sweet smelling is spread the full house when we drink one hot Middle east coffee with clove, legumina and cinnamon. That’s why the Arab praise it have something can attract people’s souls like muskiness.

Italy: Ebullience
We should be careful about 2 things when we visit Italy, one is man, and the other is coffee. In Italy, coffee and man are the 2 things different in approach but equally satisfactory in result, so there is an old saying in Italy that”Man is like good coffee, strong and full of passion. Italy coffee whose English name is Espresso is very family with our people who like coffee recently years. This dense and fragrant black coffee with golden bubble floated on the surface is so dense and hot like the devil run away from the hell. It always make people get in its charming that we can not expresses in word, and can not forget it when we drink once. The feature of the Italy coffee is showed in its English name, only one word- quick. Making it quickly just need 10 seconds and also drinking it is quick because it is only about 2 or 3 mouths. Usually the first thing for Italy people after they got up is making one cup of coffee and they drink coffee all day, no matter girls or boys. There are many coffee shops named BAR here and there in the street, one cup need 4 hundred Lira which is about 10 RMB, providing people to drink it by standing.
Italian need drink about 20 cups of coffee one day on average. The bean used to make Italy coffee is the bean fried most in the world, and this is to go match with the special function----extracting the coffee immediately of Italy coffee maker. Because one cup Italy coffee only have 50cc and only need 6-8 grams, this kind of coffee do not hurt stomach and it even is helpful for assimilation although it looks like very dense. Italy coffee also has one kind of drinking way named Cappuccino which is added some milk. It use the Italy coffee maker’s steam over130℃ to make the milk became bubble and float it above the black coffee. Fresh milk is so pure and lovely that the Espresso devil became the sweet angel under its sprinkle.

Middle and North Europe: Gentle and intellect
Not like hot Italian people, nor like romantic French, the north and middle European drink coffee gently and sane just like their scrupulous nationality. European life and coffee connected with each other closely. Except the unique drinking way of Italy and French place, there is not so much difference in custom and flavor of coffee from Austria, Switzerland, Germany and some North European countries. They know golden mean so deeply and they like the middle dense flavor.

When making coffee at home, Middle and North European usually use the coffee maker with simple filter paper by hand washing and the Drip coffee maker which is normal in Taiwan. Actually, Paper Drip started from Middle Europe and was found by Miss Merita from Germany and spread around European country. But the Espresso is the main maker in Coffee house, because in these place there is a great demand about the coffee. The big difference between these countries’ coffee house and Taiwan ones is that they make the coffee, sugar and milk very clearly, and they make the different price for the black coffee and coffee with milk in their price list, even the quantity is the factor that they make the difference price. Some Middle European countries like Austria, Switzerland are famous for making nice dim sum. Of course, these different kinds of dim sum became an important part on the coffee table.

Recently years, people of 4 North European countries is always in the first 4 position in the world for their average coffee consume( over 1000cups one year/ person. It is very suitable to describe how much they love the coffee by one libretto in one of J.C.Bach’s Opera----- So wonderful coffee, more sweet than one thousand sweet kiss, more intoxicate than vintage wine.