EUCOFFEA HOOK. F. 35 



(Prov. Menado), Sumatra, Java, Queensland, Philippines, West 

 Indies, and throughout tropical India and South America. 



History: — Coffea arabica L. has always been the source of the 

 great bulk of the coffee utilized in world consumption. It is indige- 

 nous to Abyssinia, Soudan, Guinea, and Mozambique. A survey of 

 Arabic literature reveals the fact that coffee was not mentioned in 

 the Koran; nor do the Hebrew Scriptures contain any allusion to 

 it. It would seem that the plant and its use was known only to the 

 African natives until it was carried into Arabia, probably during 

 the fourteenth century, A.D. ; for travellers of the thirteenth cen- 

 tury make no mention of it. 



The pericarp of the coffee-fruit contains sugar. The preparation 

 obtained from the succulent pulp of the coffee fruit or so-called cherry 

 was called Kahw^h which was the common term for wine. If the 

 preparation is allowed to stand, it becomes alcoholic. The theory 

 is held by some authors that the original Arabian coffee-beverage 

 was distinctly an intoxicating drink. The art of roasting the beans 

 and preparing a decoction from them was discovered soon after 

 their introduction into the countries bordering on Arabia. This 

 discovery was possibly made in Persia. Although non-alcoholic, 

 this bitter beverage was called Kahwah. 



The use of coffee-seeds was known, although not generally prac- 

 tised, in Europe some time previous to 1554; for in that year 

 Ramusio, in his ''Raccolta delle Navigationi e Viaggi," speaks of coffee 

 as if it were well known at that period. Clusius ^ was the first 

 botanist to describe coffee-berries. Prosper Alpino ^ mentions a drink 

 made from a fruit which was called Buna and sold in the taverns 

 of Cairo and throughout the Turkish Dominions in the place of 

 wine, and was called Caova. Alpino saw living coffee-shrubs in 

 Egypt. Rauwolff ^ saw the seeds and the beverage in Syria, where 

 it was referred to as Chaube. It was a decoction from the seeds of 

 an Arabian tree. 



The use of the coffee-beverage was well established throughout 

 the Eastern Mediterranean countries for two centuries prior to its 

 general use in Europe about the middle of the seventeenth century. 



* Clusius Arom. Hist. Garcia de Orta (1574) 214-215. 



* Alpino De Plant. Aegypti ed. i (1592) 2^. 

 ^Rauwolff Reise in die Morgenlander (1582) 102. 



