History of coffee
Coffee has its history back as far as the 9th century. It was said to originate from Ethiopia and spread to the rest of the world via Egypt and Europe. Over the ages, coffee has met both resistance and acceptance by many. The word Coffee is derived from the Arabic word Qah'wa over Ottoman Turkish Kahve, which originally meant wine or other intoxicating liquors. Partly due to the Islamic prohibition on drinking wine, preparing and drinking coffee became an important social ritual. In 1511 it was condemned at Mecca by a theological court. In Egypt coffeehouses and warehouses containing coffee berries were sacked. In 1524 this decision was reversed by an order of Selim I. From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Europe, where it became the rage in the 17th century. English coffeehouses were centers of intellectual and commercial activity. Lloyds of London, the famous insurance firm, was originally a coffeehouse.

Coffee bean types - Coffee varietals
Coffea arabica—Brazil There are two main species of the coffee plant, Coffea arabica being the older one. Thought to be indigenous to Ethiopia, arabica was first cultivated on the Arabian Peninsula. It is considered by most to taste better than the second species, Coffea canephora (robusta). Robusta, which contains about 40-50% more caffeine, can be cultivated in environments where arabica will not thrive. This has led to its use as an inexpensive substitute for arabica in many commercial coffee blends. Compared to arabica, robusta tends to be bitter and has little flavor, with a telltale "burnt rubber" or "wet cardboard" aroma and flavor. Good quality robustas are used as ingredients in some espresso blends to provide a better "crema" (foamy head), and to lower the ingredient cost. In Italy many espresso blends are based on dark-roasted robusta. The large industrial roasters use a steam treatment process to remove undesirable flavors from robusta beans for use in mass-marketed coffee blends. Arabica coffees were traditionally named by the port they were exported from, the two oldest being Mocha, from Yemen, and Java, from Indonesia. The modern coffee trade is much more specific about origin, labeling coffees by country, region, and sometimes even the producing estate. Coffee beans from two different places, or coffee varietals, usually have distinctive characteristics such as flavor (flavor criteria includes terms such as "citrus-like" or "earthy"), caffeine content, body or mouthfeel, and acidity. These are dependent on the local environment where the coffee plants are grown, their method of process, and the genetic subspecies or varietal. "Caracoli," also known as peaberry, is a coffee bean which develops singly inside the coffee cherry, which normally contains two. The Caracoli beans occur in all regions of the world, on all types of coffee bush. Since flavour is concentrated when only a single bean is grown inside the cherry, Caracoli beans (especially Arabica) are highly prized.