Coffee is the most popular beverage worldwide with over 400 billion cups consumed each year. Coffee Arabica traces its roots to Abyssinia and was introduced into Arabia more than one thousand years ago. The tradition of coffee consumption is certainly one of the most established ones with ties to many cultures as merchants and people kept promoting coffee as a beverage of choice across the world.
In India, tradition gives credit to BaBa Budan, a Moslem pilgrim to Mecca, with the introduction of coffee into Southern India about 1600. The region where Baba Budan settled is still known as the Baba Budan Hills and continues to be an important coffee producing area in this part of the world. In 1699 coffee was introduced into Java. The coffee plants went from Java to Amsterdam in 1706 and a few years later they ended up as seedlings in the Paris Botanical Gardens. This explains how, in 1723, three of these plants went from Paris to Martinique. The French naval officer, Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu, was the person transporting the seedlings. Only one of the plants survived and from it Arabica coffee was established in Martinique. From Martinique, coffee went to Jamaica and to other coffee producing areas of the Western Hemisphere.
Coffee remains a popular and sought after beverage worldwide with many people devoted to finding new flavors, trying out new ways of cooking with coffee, painting with coffee, using coffee as additive for natural pesticides, natural soil conditioners and fertilizers, as ingredient in natural organic cosmetics and many other uses!
Following is some interesting trivia about coffee, Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee, food and the island of Jamaica.
First, some general trivia:
- A cup of coffee contains around 100 to 150 milligrams of caffeine as compared to 30 milligrams of caffeine in the average chocolate bar
- 75% of all caffeine consumed in the United States is from coffee
- The steam rising from a cup of coffee contains the same amounts of antioxidants as three oranges, according to a scientific report from the University of California. Antioxidants are good for you, they are heterocyclic compounds that can prevent risk of some illnesses
- The famous Lloyd's of London started under the name Edward Lloyd's Coffeehouse
- "To Insure Promptness" was an inscription placed on brass boxes in old London coffeehouses. Customers were encouraged to place money in these boxes to promote good and efficient service from the coffeehouse workers. In time, the acronym, TIP, became a byword and it is what we use everywhere......next time you add the 'tip" to your bill, remember that the tradition originated around coffee
Now, some Jamaican trivia:
- "Ackee" is both the national fruit and the national dish of Jamaica
- Most Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is exported to Japan
- The pimento plant is native to Jamaica and is one of the island's main agricultural export crops to Russia, Germany and the US. The Spaniards called it "Pimienta de Jamaica." Nowadays, it is known as "Allspice, a combination of many spices." Allspice is made from ripe berries dried and pounded to a fine powder. It is used in meat curing, confectionery and food processing. The oil distilled from the leaves is used in men's fragrances.
- Jamaican "Jerk" is a unique way of preserving and cooking meat such as pork, chicken, fish or beef. The origin of the word "Jerk" is unknown. It may be from the Arawak Indian language or simply the physical reaction to "pull" or "jerk" meat off the fire. Jamaican "Jerk" is a culinary delight of the island.
What about a Jamaican quick linguistic lesson?
- Common greetings: "Yah Mon" (or Man). "Yeah Yeah, Whaapen" (what's happening?). "Y'allright? Whattagwan" (what's going on?).
- Responses to greetings: "Mi deh ya" (I am there). "Look pon you de bettah one" (not as good as you). "Cool, everyting criss, kopustetic" (give thanks, bless and many others).
- Favorite eating phrase: "Goo to eat". A favorite Jamaican meat is chicken, cooked as brown stew, fried or jerked.
- Restaurant phrase: "Havin' it" (means "are you eating here or taking it to go?)
- "Pepper" usually means "the bottled hot pepper sauce." If what you want is black ground pepper, ask for "black pepper" instead.
