Friday 28 September 2012

International Coffee Day 29th September 2012


Making days brighter

 

September 29th is celebrated as International Coffee Day.                             

International Coffee Day  is an annual event celebrated to promote the poplar beverage and to raise awareness of the plight of coffee growers. Different countries used to have  different dates to celebrate in their own unique ways their National coffee day , but today it is agreed upon as September 29th as the International Coffee day. Coffee is one of the most consumed beverage in different forms and finds its flavour in different preparations.

Coffee has a distinct aroma, astringency and acidity. It has a a unique flavour and is a brewed beverage, and is prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffea plant . the beans are found in coffee ‘cherries’ which grow on trees that are cultivated in over 80 countries, primarily in Africa, Equatorial  Latin America. South East Asia, and Asia, and green unroasted coffee is one of the most traded commodities in the world.

With a pH of 5- 5.1 coffee is slightly acidic and can cause abdominal ‘burning’. However its stimulant effect is because of its caffeine content. Habitual users of coffee experience headache if  the user is deprived of its use at its regular timings.

I had the occasion to taste the best coffee the world produces which is believed to be in Ethiopia . Guests are honoured by maids grounding roasted coffee beans , seated on the floor and serving coffee across billowing smoke of Frankincense. The energizing effects of coffee was first described  in Ethiopia , whereas coffee cultivation started in southern Arabia and the earliest evidence of regular coffee drinking appears in the middle of the fifteenth century in the Sufi Shrines of Yemen

Historically coffee became used in native religious  ceremonies in East Africa and Yemen that competed with the Ethiopian Church , where its secular consumption was banned till the reign of Emperor Menelik II. It was also banned in Ottoman Turkey in the 17th century and in certain parts of  Europe for political reasons

 Angelo Mirondo of Turin Italy patented the machine to make ‘Espresso coffee’ in 1884 .  Water heated to high temperatures is passed under high pressures through finely ground coffee beans and the flavours and caffeine is more concentrated with a fizz and foam.

Decaffeination is the process wherein caffeine is removed  and this is being used in the pharmaceutical industry.

Today Coffee is common currency and ‘many things happen over coffee’  from discussions to debate and dating. Coffee breaks barriers of caste, creed, colour, costumes, and helps us arrive at a consensus !

Dr Cherian Koshy

Additional Professor and HOD

Palliative Medicine, Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum