Some history and facts of coffee

Ever wonder about how coffee came to existence? Well to begin, the coffee plant was first discovered in Ethiopia in the tenth century and has a white blossom that smells like jasmine and a red, cherry-like fruit. Back then, the leaves of the so-called "magical fruit" were boiled in water and the resulting concoction was thought to have medicinal properties. As the fame of the coffee plant spread to other lands, and would soon become one of the most popular drinks worldwide from pure enjoyment or needing a boost of energy. The coffee plant was discovered in the tenth century; however, it did not reach North America until 1668. The first coffeehouse to open in New York, my home state, opened in 1696. In 1714, the Dutch presented Louis XIV with a coffee sapling from their plantations on Java. The sapling was planted in the royal Jardin des Plantes in Paris. In 1723, a French mariner named Gabriel du Clieu took a sapling from the Jardin des Plantes to the island of Martinique. From here, the coffee plant spread to other Caribbean islands, as well as to Central and South America. In 1727, a Portuguese sailor named de Mello Palheta carried coffee saplings to Brazil from French Guyana. Today, Brazil is the number one producer of coffee in the world, accounting for 35% of global coffee production. In 1730, the British began cultivating coffee in Jamaica. By the mid 19th century, coffee had become one of the most important commodities in world trade.