Coffee

From wild Ethiopian berries to Yemeni qahveh khanehs to the espresso machine — six centuries of the drink that wired the modern world.

11 posts· 1454 – 1901

• Bezzera's portafilter and the machine that gave espresso its name 1901
• The espresso machine Moriondo kept to himself 1884
• Tea at the bottom of Boston Harbour 1773
• The sergeant major and the five coffee plants 1727
• Gabriel de Clieu's water ration 1720
• Dead on arrival: how the VOC broke Yemen's coffee monopoly 1696
• Seven beans and a long walk from Mocha 1670
• Pasqua Rosée and London's first coffeehouse 1652
• A large shop in Tahtakale: Istanbul's first coffeehouse 1555
• Hakem, Shems, and the first coffeehouse 1554
• Qahwa and the Sufi monks of Aden 1454