Best brewing results are obtained by using one standard coffee measure, or two level tablespoons, to each cup. The water should be freshly drawn from the cold-water tap. Most coffee is made in percolators, drip pots, or vacuum coffeemakers, which strain boiling water through the coffee. According to legend, coffee was discovered in Ethiopia when goatherds noticed that their flocks stayed awake all night after feeding on coffee leaves and berries. Coffee reached Arabia in the 1200's.
Coffee comes from the Arabic word qahwah.
Before its use as a beverage 700 years ago, coffee was used as a food, then a wine, and then a medicine. Coffee moved from Arabia to Turkey during the 1500's, and to Italy in the early 1600's. Coffee houses sprang up throughout Europe in the 1600's, and people met there for serious discussions. Coffee probably came to America in the 1660's. Coffee growing was introduced in Brazil in the 1700's.