Early Coffee 

I enjoy a good cup of coffee. Coffee is believed to have originated in Africa, however it spread to the Middle East early-on and was in Europe by about 1600. It landed in New Amsterdam (later to become New York) in the mid-1600's but never really caught on at first. Most people still

preferred tea, until King George became obstinate about taxing the colonists to pay for the French and Indian War. His tax on tea was so unpopular, many of the colonists switched to drinking coffee instead.


The first coffee consumers in America bought the roasted beans and ground them. They then placed some of these grounds in a pot

with water and heated it. When brewed, they would set it aside to let the grounds settle to the bottom and tried to pour without stirring up the grounds. Soon special pots were designed to aid in keeping the grounds from pouring out. To help matters some people began tying the grounds loosely in cloth. Eventually, coffee makers with a special compartment for the grounds evolved.

It wasn't until around 1865 that a ground coffee was introduced. American John Arbuckle marketed the first packages of ground, roasted coffee, but others followed. By World War I, the number of coffee companies included Maxwell House, Folgers, Hill Brothers, and others.

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