by Gabriela Braña

The coffee shrub originated in Abyssinia and the Sudan. It is a large, evergreen bush with dark, shiny leaves. The cherry-like fruit is soaked, de-pulped and dried. The seed is then polished to remove the parchment-like husk and outer filament.

I can still remember when I was growing up in Veracruz, one of Mexico´s most important coffee-growing regions, the sweetness of the fruit. We used to play around the bushes at my godfather´s plantation and collect the deep red fruits to enjoy the wonderfully sweet pulp of the fruit.

Coffee contains alkaloids, volatile aromatic products and various substances belonging to the phenolic series. It stimulates the central nervous system and the cardiac muscles.

History, or perhaps legend, tells us that the first man to drink coffee was the Mufti of Aden, who lived in the beginning of the ninth century. According to another tradition, we owe the discovery of coffee to a certain Mullah, or Moslem priest, called Chadely or Scyadly, whose name, it is said is still venerated in the Middle East. This holy man, upon finding himself often overcome by sleep in the middle of his prayers, attributed his drowsiness to the half-heartedness of his devotions, and his conscience tormented him. The Prophet, touched by his sorrow, led him to encounter a herdsman, who told him that each time his goats ate the berries of a certain shrub, they would remain awake, jumping all night.

The Mullah wished to see this extraordinary plant, and the herdsman showed him a pretty shrub with a grayish bark and brilliant foliage, the slender branches of which, at the bases of their leaves, had bunches of small berries. Some were green, some were a clear yellow color and others, which had reached full maturity, were the size, shape and color of a cherry. It was the coffee shrub. The Mullah, testing these unusual berries, made himself a potent brew, and spent the night in a state of delicious intoxication which, however, in no way affected his intellectual capacities.

He told his Dervishes about his discovery and soon coffee became much in demand among devout Moslems, who looked upon it as a divine gift brought by an angel from heaven to the faithful. The use of coffee spread from Aden to Medina, Mecca and throughout the whole of the Middle East. Coffee was taken during prayers, in the mosques, even in the Holy Temple at Mecca and before the Tomb of the Prophet.

Coffee, in the Middle East, is one of the first necessities of life. It was hardly known in Europe before the seventeenth century. Travelers who had acquired the habit of drinking coffee in the East imported it at first for their personal use. Suleiman Aga, the ambassador of the Sublime Porte to the Court of Louis XIV in 1669 popularized coffee in France. As is usual in Turkish society he offered it to all who came to see him. The vogue for coffee spread through high society; it was soon in demand and the price was high.

The Dutch founded the East India coffee trade when they introduced coffee into Java about 1690, but it was a Frenchman, Desclieux, who introduced it into the western hemisphere in the reign of Louis XIV. He brought one small seedling to Martinique. The plant flourished, and seedlings were taken to French Guiana. From there it spread to Central America and the rest of America, where Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are now the most important producers.

Coffee was first introduced into Mexico in 1790, according to a Royal Order of the Spanish government, which in 1792 granted tax exemption to the “utensils for sugar cane factories and coffee mills” which were brought from Spain. Although it is not known when the first seedlings were planted, it is known that Acayucan and Aualulco were the first plantations. By 1803 Mexico started exporting coffee. The main regions where it was grown are in the state of Veracruz. From then onwards, it was grown in Tabasco, Oaxaca and Chiapas, and later in Michoacan and Guerrero.

Coffee however is not a food, it is a stimulant. To consider it as food it has to be mixed with milk. This occurred in Mexico at the end of the XVIII century, when a Cafe was opened in Mexico City and the waiters stood at the door of the establishment to invite the customers to “enjoy coffee in the French style”, that is, with milk and sweetened with sugar.

It was then that in Mexico City a new fashion would rival the established custom of drinking hot chocolate, which until then had been confined to the privacy of homes, convents and the tables of priests. Coffee is what clearly established cafes as gathering places, not solely as places of nourishment. Coffee became so popular that it finally substituted hot chocolate as a breakfast and dinner beverage. The possibility of “dunking” bread in coffee was, with the addition of milk and sugar, a wonderful alternative to chocolate. (A practice that was soon to be eradicated and considered to be in bad taste.)

Salvador Novo, Mexican writer, historian and renowned gourmand said: “Coffee can be drunk on its own – the “demitasse” which is the perfect ending, in search of a good digestion, to any banquet or meal, preferably sipping it little by little, it is clearly established it is best when you can smoke a cigar, if possible. Nobody could think of smoking a cigar while drinking hot chocolate!”

And, for a sweet finale, try coconut ice cream in a stemmed glass, topped with Kahlua liqueur, truly a gift from the Aztec gods.

Gabriela Braña is the chef and owner with her husband of Al Cilantro restaurant in Ixtapa. An expert in Oriental Cooking with a life long love of Mexican cuisine. She can be reached at 553-0610 or 3puertasixtapa@cdnet.com.mx

March 2002

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