International Coffee Day takes place on October 1 every year. Making the daily journey from tropical Africa to the breakfast mugs of households all over the world, coffee beans have been scattered all over the world for more than 600 years, and their preparation for consuming is a great example of metamorphosis. Humanity has been preparing coffee for many presentations: drinks, candies, medicine, and some ancient civilizations even used it as currency! No matter how you take it, coffee can energize you, warm you up, refresh you, keep you awake, and even catch you up with your loved ones.
HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL COFFEE DAY
According to historical records, Coffee is originally from Ethiopia, and its discovery in Africa comes with an interesting story. Around the 700s AD, a herd of goats started acting strangely, almost as if they were dancing. Their owner, Kaldi, discovered that they were eating a sort of red bean and concluded that was the cause of their behavior. Kaldi decided to share his findings with a monk who required something that could help him to stay awake all night as he prayed; but another story claims that the monk refused and threw the beans into the fire and the pleasing aroma that came from it was just wonderful.Suddenly, coffee made its way through the north into Yemen in the 15 Century where the beans arrived by the name “Mocha.” Shortly after, they became well known in Egypt, Persia, and Turkey as “wine of Araby” and coffee houses started to open by the name of “Schools of the Wise.”
Next, Arabia became the gatekeeper for coffee, and these beans began a large-scale coffee farming in Southern India. In 1560 coffee made its way through Europe and quickly became popular, until Pope Clement VIII decided that the drink must be satanic. Under inspection, he gave into the glory of the beverage by baptism and declared it a Christian drink. As the 1600s rolled on and coffee houses sprung up all over Europe, the beans followed the wave of colonization and found themselves in America.
Finally, after a long time among humanity in 2014, The “International Coffee Organization” declared October 1, as International Coffee Day, an occasion to celebrate coffee as a beverage and raise awareness for the plight of the coffee growers.
INTERNATIONAL COFFEE DAY ACTIVITIES
Let's get culturized
Coffee has been part of Human Civilizations since ancient times, so it’s the perfect day to get to know more about coffee culture! Read some facts and watch some documentaries — you might be surprised to get to know how important coffee has become to humanity.
Rescue traditions
Did you know there are tons of traditions and rituals that ancient civilizations used to do with coffee? You can use it as a beauty treatment, as an insect repeller, as compost or fertilize, to spice your steaks and flavor your food, and much more.
Be Your Own Barista
The coffee industry is huge and thanks to our love for coffee, there are many different ways to prepare the drink. Turn yourself into a barista and learn how to make that complicated drink that you usually go out to order.
5 FACTS ABOUT COFFEE THAT WE ALL NEED TO KNOW
Long live coffee
According to a "Harvard's Health Publishing" study, coffee drinkers tend to live longer, plus they have a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
A precious treasure
Coffee is the second largest traded commodity right after crude oil, and the most consumed beverage, after water.
The drink for creative and artistic people
Even Beethoven was a coffee lover! It is well known that he used to count his beans before making the brew, mostly 60 per cup.
Not a bean, a berry!
Coffee beans are called "beans" just because of the resemblance, but they’re actually berries.
Coffee resembles a neurotransmitter
For medicine and psychology, caffeine is a central-nervous-system stimulant, and that is because it has a similar molecular structure to the "adenosine", which allows it to bind to "adenosine receptors" on the brain.
WHY WE LOVE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE DAY
>Every society has its coffee tradition
Coffee has been with humanity since ancient times, and every society has a culture that goes from cultivating it to preparing it, so look out for yours and celebrate.
>Creates awareness about the coffee process
One of the main objects of this holiday is to create awareness about the process that implicates coffee's production and to promote healthy and safe methods and procedures, not only for humans but also for the planet.
>Better than the alarm!
Caffeine is a stimulant that increases activity in the central nervous system. It can increase energy levels and alertness, plus it improves mental performance.
