Coffee

The rich history of coffee

In addition to giving you energy in the first hours of the day and having an irresistible rich taste, coffee also has a rich history that stretches across several thousand years, the world's diverse cultural customs and many geographical developments. The story is said to begin with a goat herder in Ethiopia around the year 500.

Coffee is said to have been discovered by a goatherd named Kaldi, who lived in Ethiopia around the year 500. One day, Kaldi noticed that his goats had extra energy after eating some red berries from a particular bush. Kaldi became curious to know why these berries made his goats so energetic, so he decided to pick some of the mysterious berries.

Kaldi brought the berries to a monk and told about his goats, which suddenly jumped around like kids. The monk thought they should try the berries themselves. They poured boiling water over the berries and tasted the drink. To their great surprise, the drink was so invigorating that the monks could stay awake for their prayers for hours. Word soon spread about the drink throughout the country, and the monastery became known as "the awake monastery".

Everyone who heard about the invigorating effects of the drink had to try it. The berries went from monastery to monastery and beyond Ethiopia's borders. Via trade routes, coffee reached Arabia, where it became known as 'qahwa'. It was only a matter of time before coffee's popularity grew and spread to the rest of the world.

The journey of the coffee beans

Today, coffee is naturally grown and prepared differently than in the monastery in the year 500 in Ethiopia. The beans are grown in many countries over a stretch called the coffee belt. The coffee belt stretches all the way from the highlands of Mexico to Sumatra in Indonesia. However, most coffee beans sold today originate from South and Central America. Coffee beans are grown so widely today that there is not just one method of growing coffee - but the most widespread method is called dry cultivation.

The journey of the coffee beans starts on the coffee bushes under the sunny skies of the south. The sun's baking heat ripens the coffee berries until they are round, red and ready for the big harvest. When the berries are harvested, they are left to dry in large drying areas.

The coffee farmers turn the berries with large scrapers several times a day to ensure that the berries dry evenly. Here the berries lie to dry in the heat of the sun for weeks, until they crack in the heath, and the berry itself eventually dries up completely and disappears. Now only the beans are left – and the coffee is ready for fermentation. Now the coffee farmers' work is complete, and the beans are ready to be transported to coffee roasters around the world.

Some of the very best beans land in Strandvejsristeriet , which is Mille and Peter's coffee oasis in Helsingør. Mille and Peter have a passion for high-quality organic coffee, and they carefully roast the coffee in the café in Helsingør.

If you are only looking for organic coffee, we can highly recommend the range of coffee from another Zealand company; Just Coffee from Roskilde . Just Coffee imports green coffee, which is bought according to sustainable principles and is also always organically certified.

Buy coffee online at Nordic Tea

By buying organic coffee online at Nordic Tea, you ensure a good coffee experience every time. See the selection of coffee at Nordic Tea - as always, you get free shipping on purchases over DKK 350.