Coffee Arabica – The Beginning

Legend has it that humans started to cultivate coffee after they observed that their goats became more energetic after having eaten the fruits and leaves of coffee trees.

However, coffee consumption pre dates the time when people even started herding animals. Arab scholars made the first record ever written of people drinking coffee from roasted beans, a practice which spread throughout Egypt, Turkey, and the world.

Coffee Arabica is a type of coffee bean that originates from Ethiopia and Yemen. Also known as mountain coffee, coffee historians believe that it is the first of its kind to be cultivated in Arabia where it has been grown for the last 1,000 years.

Arabica coffee is known to have a much lower caffeine content compared to other species of coffee.

The Arabica coffee bean comes from a coffee plant that is generally called a coffee tree because of its height and width.

It is an evergreen that thrives in tropical and semi-tropical regions of the world, and comes in many different varieties.

Of all kinds of coffee trees, only Arabica and Robusta coffee beans are recognized on a global scale, and have become part of international commerce.

Production of the Arabica coffee bean began in Indonesia in 1699. Because Arabica coffee has higher acidity levels, it made a good coffee blend when combined with Java or Sumatran coffee, which have low acidity levels and are full-bodied.

Coffee Arabica is prepared in two ways. One is by blending it with spices like cardamom or saffron to imbue it with a golden tinge. This type of preparation is done mostly in countries in the Arabian Gulf.

Another way is to prepare it plainly in a method known as gahwa saada. This results in coffee that is more natural and bitter tasting, as people in eastern Mediterranean countries prefer.

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