San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-08-26
] COFFEE WAS A
DRINK
with ANC|ENTS
Ethiopian Tribes First
Users and Regarded
Plant as Food.
'FAVORITE In AMERICA
Imports Of l,414,22S,l63
Pounds Yearly Is l2.7
:. Pounds a Person.

f.s Inc gigantic extent 10 which tu'
production and consumption of cot
feeahas been carried of late years. thu
vast number of hands employed in it:
icuitivation and preparation for mar
iket.. including the great quantity Of
shaping necessary for its transporta,
ton. and the enormous amount oi
capital invested in its production and
,trsde, naturally invest the commodity
NOT only from a commercial but also
from a moral and social standpoint,
with great importance. creating as II
does an industry of almost fabulous
proportions and capital, rendering II
ieecpnd 10 no other article of food or
Drink in the world.
.x Fhe early history of coffee, however,
HE that of tea, is involved in consid-
cradle, obscurity, the almost total alb
ecence of any historical fact being
only compensated for by an unusual
profusion of legendary and conjectu-al
statements, or by purely mythical sto-
ries. As far as can be ascertained,
it was not known TO the ancients, al
though one writer claims that 1t is
mentioned in the Bible, making the
bold assertion that the potion offered
to King David on a certain occasion,
at the hands of the fair Abigail, 10
calm the temper of the excited mon
arch, must have been coffee. baslng
shisJ argument on the untenable
grounds that the beverage, whatever
it may have been. was prepared from
something roasted.
Yet no mention Of the plant or its
product is to be found among the
Egyptians in the time of the Pharaohs,
although their trade at that period, as
in the present, lay up the valley OF
the Nile toward Berber. its reputed
birthplace. 1t was unknown to the
Greeks and Romans in any form, and
though claimed to have been in use
among the Arabs at a remote time,
a no reference is made to it by Mo-
hamet or his followers up to the sew
enth century. No account Of its use
is to be found during the first Moslem
invasion of southern Europe by Abdul
'rahman in the ninth Gentry, although
large quantities Of the commodity were
captured in their camp before Vienna
daring their second invasion of eastern
!, Europe in the seventeenth century,
and il is not even alluded to by any
of the writers who accompanied the
Crusaders into Syria during the thir-
teenth century.
Coffee Used As Food.
5 To the Philippians its use is said
10 have been known from time i'm
memorial and that the plant and its
virtues were first discovered in that
country is now generally admitted by
all authorities on the subject. The
first human beings who appear to
have used the coffee berry in any
FORM being the semi-savage tribes in
habiting higher Ethiopia, to which
country the coffee plant is indigenous,
and where it is to be found at the
present time. growing abundantly
both in a wild and cultivated state.
Bruce, in his travels to Discover
file Source of the Nile" published in
167S, says that "The Gallae is a wan
iering nation Of Africa, who, in their
excursions into Abyssinia, are obliged
10. traverse immense deserts, and be-
ing desirious of falling on the towns
and villages of that country without
warning, carry nothing to eat with
them but the berries OF the coffee
tree roasted and pulverized, which
they mix with grease to a certain con-
kistency that will permit of its being
rolled into masses about the size Of
billiard balls and then put in leathern
bags until required for use. One of
these balls they claim will support
them for a whole day. when on q
marauding incursion or in active war.
better than a loaf of bread or a meal
of meat, because il cheers their spirits
as well as feeds them"
Find Beams Qualities Accidentally.
From Ethiopia. the coffee plant is
claimed to have been introduced into
Abyssinia as early as A. d. $50, while
according to Lagrenie, coffee has been
known and used in Abyssinia from the
very earliest times, quoting the Able
Raynal, missionary TO that country
in the latter part Of the sixteenth cen
fury, to that effect, stating that "he
procured some of the berries from
cultivated plants, and made a trial
of them, finding them larger, rather
longer and quite as fragrant as those
obtained from Arabia" but at what
period of the worlds history, or I'M
der what circumstances is also lost in
doubt. TraditiOn-never at loss for
some marvellous story-ascribes its
first discovery in the latter country
to dervish, who in the year 1915 was
driven out of Moka pursued and sur
rounded by his enemies in the adjacent
mountains. In the extremity Of hun
ger he is said TO have gathered some
coffee berries and eaten them, then,
sleeping some of the parched berries
IN some water to allay his thirst, he
accidentally discovered their agreeable
flavor and nutritious properties.
Coffee Known In 18th Century.
According TO another Arabian man
uscript, now to be found in the Bib
1iotheque Rationale of Paris, the use
Of coffee was known in Arabia as
early as the thirteenth century. This
coffee-colored document states that "a
certain Multi of Alden, of the fifteenth
century, brought back with him some
roasted beans of coffee" While in an
Old treatise upon coffee. published in
1856 by an Arabian sheik, it is stated
that the first knowledge of coffee and
its, use was brought from Abyssinia
to Arabia about the beginning of the
fifteenth century by a learned and
pious mollah named Djamaleddin
Abou Elfager. According to this docu-
,nent, the use Of coffee as beverage
was prevalent among the Abyssinians
from the most remote times, and that
in Arabia. when first introduced, it
only supplanted a preparation made
from the leaves Of the Celastrus in
that country. The introduction and
--cn Of fha havpragp hv the ATufti gave