Brazilians Got Their Coffee Because of an Affair

 Coffee is originally from Ethiopia, with its use documented only in the 15th century. It is said that Sufi monks in Yemen were the first to drink coffee, which helped them stay awake during their night prayers. 

In the early 15th century, coffee spread to Mecca and subsequently throughout the Middle East. Travelers later brought coffee to Europe. In the early 17th century, some Catholics suspected coffee was the devil's drink and urged Pope Clement VIII to ban it. However, the Pope tasted the drink himself and, to their surprise, gave it his blessing. Coffee then gradually became popular in Europe.

 

In his book, *The Travels of Four Englishmen and a Preacher into Africa, Asia, Troy, Bythinia, Thracia, and to the Blacke Sea* (1612), William Biddulph described his first impression of tasting coffee in Turkey:

"The most common drink is one called Coffa, a black drink made from a paste called Coaua, which resembles peas. The preparation involves grinding the beans and boiling them with water, and the locals enjoy it as hot as possible. Their lives are simple and crude, and they find drinking this beverage enjoyable, believing it aids the digestion of the herbs and raw meat they eat." 

Italian explorer Pietro Della Valle elaborated on Turkish coffee in his work, *Travels in Persia* (published in English in 1658):

"The Turks have a black drink, which is refreshing in the summer and warming in the winter... I remember this drink is made from the grains or fruit of a certain tree that grows in the Arab region near Mecca. The fruit is called Cahue, which is also the name of the drink. The fruit used to make Cahue is oval-shaped and about the size of a medium olive. When preparing the drink, the locals sometimes use the soft peel of the fruit, and sometimes they use only the kernel, which is like a bean. They believe the two drinks, one made from the peel and the other from the kernel, have different properties—one being warm and the other cool. But I forget whether the refreshing drink is made from the peel or the kernel." 

By the end of the 17th century, major European cities had thousands of coffee houses, and public demand for coffee was increasing daily. The Arabs attempted to monopolize coffee, but the Dutch stole seedlings, took them to Jakarta, and established coffee farms. In 1714, the Dutch presented some coffee tree seedlings to King Louis XIV of France, who planted them in the Royal Botanical Garden in Paris. Later, a naval officer named Gabriel de Clieu secretly clipped some coffee tree cuttings from the garden and transported them to the French Caribbean island of Martinique, where coffee flourished. Fifty years later, the number of trees had grown to 18 million. These trees were later taken to other parts of the Caribbean and the New World. 

As for how coffee reached Brazil, there is an anecdote. It is said that in 1727, Francisco de Mello Palheta, a Portuguese official from Brazil, was dispatched to French Guiana in an attempt to negotiate for coffee seedlings to take back to Brazil, but he was firmly rejected. However, Palheta's handsome appearance captivated the French Governor's wife, and the two began an affair. As a farewell gift, the Governor's wife gave him a bouquet of flowers, secretly hiding coffee seeds within them. This is how coffee was successfully introduced to Brazil.