慧慧-
咖啡树是生长于热带高地的小灌木，其果实呈红色或黄色，内部的果籽即我们所称的咖啡豆。目前全球约有66个国家种植咖啡豆，而其中又可分类为Arabica、Robusta、Liberica三种，Arabica即为目前最大宗的主要咖啡豆品种，产量约占80%其香味、品质均较为优秀。而Robusta因品质较差，所以多用来制成速溶咖啡。Liberica因为品质，产量少，很少被提及。咖啡特有香味，令人难以抗拒；独特的风味更是人人爱喝；现在就将主要的咖啡豆作一简略的介绍:
【蓝山咖啡(BLUEMOUNTAIN)】
是生产于牙买加蓝山海拔2500尺以上的咖啡豆，是一种微酸、柔顺、带甘、风味细腻的咖啡；纯蓝山咖啡口感、香味较淡，但喝起来却非常香醇精致；具有贵族的品味，乃咖啡中之极品。
【摩卡咖啡(MOCHA)】
目前以也门所生产的咖啡为最佳，其次为依索比亚的摩卡；摩卡咖啡带润滑中之中酸至强酸、甘性特佳、风味独特，含有巧克力的味道；具有贵妇人的气质，是极具特色的一种纯品咖啡。
【哥伦比亚咖啡(COLOMBIA)】
哥伦比亚咖啡中以SUPREMO最具特色，其咖啡柔软香醇；带微酸至中酸，其品质及香味稳定，属中度咖啡，是用以调配综合咖啡的上品。
【曼特宁咖啡(MANDELING)】
是生产于印度尼西亚，苏门答腊中最具代表性的咖啡；风味香、浓、苦，口味相当强，但柔顺不带酸，是印度尼西亚生产的咖啡中品质最好的一种咖啡。
【碳烧咖啡(CHARCALFIRE)】
是一种重度烘焙的咖啡，味道焦、苦不带酸，咖啡豆有出油的现象，极适合用于蒸气加压咖啡。
【巴西咖啡(SANTOS)】
巴西乃世界第一的咖啡生产国，所产之咖啡，香味温和、微酸、微苦，为中性咖啡之代表，是调配温和咖啡不可或缺的品种。
【肯亚咖啡(KENYAAA)】
是非洲高地栽培的代表性咖啡。AA代表其级数也就是最高级品，其咖啡豆肉质厚呈圆形，味浓质佳，通常采用浅焙。清晨起来喝一杯肯亚，具有醒脑的效用。
【夏威夷咖啡(KONAFANCY)】
属于夏威夷西部火山所栽培的咖啡，也是美国唯一生产的咖啡品种，口感较强，香味浓，带强酸，风味特殊。品质相当稳定，是前往夏威夷的观光客必购土产之一。
The history of coffee is as rich as the brew itself, dating back more than a thousand years. The first coffee plants are said to have come from the Horn of Africa on the shores of the Red Sea. Originally, coffee beans were taken as a food and not as a beverage. East African tribes would grind the coffee cherries together, mixing the results into a paste with animal fat. Rolled into little balls, the mixture was said to give warriors much-needed energy for battle. Later, around the year 1000 AD, Ethiopians concocted a type of wine from coffee berries, fermenting the dried beans in water. Coffee also grew naturally on the Arabian Peninsula, and it was there, during the 11th century that coffee was first developed into a hot drink.
The so-called stimulating properties of coffee were thought by many during these ancient times to give a sort of religious ecstasy, and the drink earned a very mystical sort of reputation, shrouded in secrecy and associated with priests and doctors. So, it is not surprising that two prominent legends emerged to explain the discovery of this magic bean.
According to one story, a goat-herder noticed that his herd became friskier than usual after consuming the red cherries of a wild coffee shrub. Curious, he tasted the fruit himself. He was delighted by its invigorating effects, and was even spotted by a group of nearby monks dancing with his goats. Soon the monks began to boil the bean themselves and use the liquid to stay awake during all-night ceremonies. The other story is about a Muslim dervish who was
condemned by his enemies to wander in the desert and eventually die of starvation. In his delirium, the young man heard a voice instructing him to eat the fruit from a nearby coffee tree. Confused, the dervish tried to soften the beans in water, and when this failed, he simply drank the liquid. Interpreting his survival and energy as a sign of God, he returned to his people, spreading the faith and the recipe.
The cultivation of coffee began sometime in the fifteenth century, and for many centuries to follow, the Yemen province of Arabia was the world"s primary source of coffee. The demand for coffee in the Near East was very high. The beans leaving the Yemeni port of Mocha for trade with Alexandria and Constantinople were highly guarded. In fact, no fertile plants were allowed to leave the country. Despite the restrictions, Muslim pilgrims from across the globe during their pilgrimages to Mecca managed to smuggle coffee plants back to their homelands, and coffee crops soon took root in India.
Coffee also made its way into Europe around this time through the city of Venice, where fleets traded perfumes, teas, dyes and fabrics with Arabic merchants along the Spice Route. The beverage eventually gained popularity with the masses when street lemonade vendors began selling it in addition to cold beverages. Many European merchants grew accustomed to drinking coffee overseas and brought it back with them.
By the middle of the 17th century the Dutch dominated the world"s merchant shipping industry, and they introduced large-scale coffee cultivation to their colonies in Indonesia on the islands of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Bali. Coffee arrived in Latin America several decades later, when the French brought a cutting of a coffee plant to Martinique. But when a rare plant disease spread through the coffee fields of Southeast Asia in the mid 19th century, Brazil emerged as the world"s foremost coffee producer, an honor the country still holds today.
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