History Part 5 - Coffee trading in the modern worrld

Belated in history; expansive on charm and mystery; the romantic tale of the humble coffee bean eventually succumbed with the advent of the 19th century Industrial age and the birth of modern commercialization. In the history of world-wide commercial enterprise the United States of America has certainly  played an immense role in making markets and reshaping social attitudes and cultures as products undertake a transformation from the old to a repackaged modern and popular look.

John Arbuckle, an entrepreneur and roaster of coffee beans, from  the USA, that filed for the first coffee brand - 'Ariosa'  in 1865 . Before this time coffee beans were sold over the counter in drug stores as "green" or unroasted beans. The coffee beans had to be gently roasted over a wood stove or

campfire in a skillet before they could even be ground by hand and brewed into a drinkable beverage. The uneven process of roasting over a naked flame was very difficult and often burned the coffee beans beans which consequently ruined the overall flavor of the coffee brew, Arbuckle, being the perfectionist that he was, experimented widely with glazing the coffee beanwith several combinations of water, egg, gelatin and sugar. This was because of the fact that once you grind the coffee the coffee powder will quickly lose it's flavor within 24 hrs. So Arbuckle had to invent a solution to prolong the life of the coffee powder inorder to package it and then sell it nationwide. In fact his production methods became so based upon sugar glazing that Arbuckle himself decided to go into the sugar business also to secure his own supply routes rather than to surrender any profit to sugar traders who would hold his coffee production to ransom.

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries there were 2 distinct types of coffee genus that became standardized as the basis for mass coffee production in the 20th century for large commercial companies like Maxwells, Nestlé and other commercial sellers of packaged instant coffee powder products that changed the entire culture of coffee drinking with the introduction of packaged coffee. Robusta and Arabica coffees became the 2 distinct coffee standards and both are produced by two botanically different trees. The Robusta trees have a higher caffeine content and a much distinctly stronger taste than the Arabica. The Arabica produces a much milder and much more aromatic coffee flavor than the renown caffeine powered Robusta.

Instant commercial coffee really owed its success to the birth of television and the power of advertising through this new medium. In 1938, the Swiss company Nestlé, was asked by the government of Brazil to try find a solution all their coffee surpluses since Brazil was by now the largest producer of

coffee. Nestlé took a long hard look and then ingeniously came up with the solution of freeze-dried coffee. from this discovery Nescafe was developed as a brand and then first introduced to domestic consumers in Switzerland to test the appeal of the new freeze-dried coffee. but it was not until the age of television that coffee sensationally became the world's most actively traded consumable product.  Instant coffee, although invented in 1909, really became an instant hit in 1956 when the commercial television was introduced and went hand in hand with the powerful advertising industry.  Programers knew that commercial breaks were such a short a time in which a cup of tea or coffee can be brewed. But companies like Nestlé in Europe and General Foods in USA suddenly realized that here was a golden opportunity  to market the instant coffee brand where families can take a quick break, grab a coffee and then huddle round the television to watch their favorite shows resume. As a result of the instant coffee development in the late 1950's tea companies also jumped on the advertising band wagon to launch their own response with the ever popular tea bag.

Culturally speaking, coffee has come to play a major role in society in all cultures around the world. Particularly in the Western world coffee has come to redefine social habits of congregation and consumption. For example the very word coffee-break itself originates from 19th century Wisconsin where Norwegian immigrants from the city of Stoughton held an annual coffee break festival. Indeed in 20th century with the rise of modern corporations, hard work ethics have been associated with the popular consumption of coffee as a driving force to stimulate productivity. The Pan-American Coffee Bureau in an advertising campaign in 1952 encouraged American consumers to just -"Give yourself a Coffee-Break — and Get What Coffee Gives to You."

Today the trading of coffee beans has become so sophisticated now that ever popular cafes have sprung up in every city from massive multi-national chains like Starbucks and Seattle Coffee Company to the local cafe book their deliveries in advance as much as even a year ahead or more. The 2 prominent centers of global coffee trading are New York firstly and then London.

As Chicago became the home for the trading of futures contracts for grains because of the Midwest and the 'Grain Belt' it was New York that became the center of trading futures contracts for coffee quite simply because coffee was

largely an imported product compared to home grown grains. Coffee futures have traded in New York since 1882. First of all they were traded on the New

York Coffee Exchange which then merged with the Sugar Exchange in 1917 and the Cocoa Exchange in 1970 to become known as the Coffee, Cocoa and Sugar Exchange, and then renamed the New York Board of Trade which today is now part of ICE Futures. U.S. Coffee futures contracts are traded via the ICE under ticker symbol KC and quoted in dollars per pound.  One Coffee futures contract is 37,500 pounds. The Exchange uses a basket of coffees to establish the “basis.” Coffees are judged better at a premium; those that are judged inferior are sold at a discount. Basis: Mexico, Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Kenya, New Guinea, Panama, Tanzania, Uganda, Honduras and Peru; Plus 200 pts: Colombia; Minus 100 pts: Venezuela, Burundi and India; Minus 300 pts: Rwanda; Minus 400 pts. trading hours are - Intercontinental Exchange (ICE): Monday-Friday 1:30am-3:15pm EST. In London, futures trading for Coffee grew relatively late. It was not until the 1970's when the first British futures contract for coffee began to be traded on the London commodity exchange (LCE), which then was later reorganized
as the London international financial futures exchange.

The leading producers of coffee in the world today are - Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia and Colombia.

Reflections upon the modern world of coffee consumption - Pieter Bergli, cafe enthusiast

Cafe Corner - Beethoven 7th 2nd mov and a sombre reflection upon the Euro

It is indeed sombre times for the Euro as the currency of Europe plummets down in despair. A once majestic value of 1.40 to the mighty Dollar, down and deeper down She sinks after 16 years of monetary scheming, down towards a Dollar parity in step with Beethoven's tune of the Death March, haunting each step of the slope, and perhaps even further down into the unknown. The specter of economic stagnation grips the Euro land with no consensus and clarity of mind and steady hand of leadership. Something died in the Euro today and the feeling is so strongly pervasive amongst it's traders. Currency weakness stems from political indecisiveness. 

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the sombre 7th Symphony between 1811 and 1812 with a dark, in a  despairing mood as he sought to improve his health in the quiet Bohemian spa town of Teplice. Surveying the political landscape of Europe, Beethoven felt at a loss. These were dark times for European liberty as the French Emperor Napoleon rolled up the political map of Europe and contemplated the defeat of a single remaining bastion of liberty, the Great Britain. The empire of Napoleon was vast; his legions countless, his victories legendary, his dominions many. Nearly all of Europe had fallen. France had engulfed Belgium and Holland, much of Beethoven's modern Germany, and even along the Italian coast to threaten the foundations of Holy Rome itself. Ever since Austerlitz and the battle of 3 emperors, Europe had sunk to it's knees with resignation. Napoleon also made pacts with Austria, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia in his ruthless determination to isolate the British island nation and pluck it's pride from it's swollen breast as the last nation in Europe to stand in defiance against the mighty Napoleon. Ever since Napoleon consecrated himself as Emperor of France on May 18, 1804 Beethoven despised the new French imperialism and the loss of European liberties. In fact he detested the Emperor so much that when he heard of the coming consecration, he immediately erased Napoleon's name from his famous third symphony and added an extra piece called "Marche funèbre" literally translated as - the dead march, to show the world how much he despised the upstart Napoleon. 

Sit back and ponder of your darkest brew and wonder into it's nethermost depths at the very soul of the roasted bean and take reflection that what rises must fall; and what falls must rise. Europe in disarray; but where there is an end there is always a new beginning. After all Ludwig van Beethoven did live to see the end of European despair and the triumph of liberty. The final Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday, 18 June 1815 thus ending the empire of Napoleon. Defiant to the end, Beethoven would brood over large pitchers of coffee at his breakfast table in melancholy solitude, counting 60 beans of coffee per cup to consume and find some glimmer of hope to create in these darkest hours. In equal defiance the time has come for a stronger spirit to dig down deeper and harder to rebuild the value that is for the moment lost.

Troubled and reflective thoughts over a rich gourmet coffee - Pieter Bergli - collector of fine coffees, narrator and bon vivant

History Part 4 - Coffee trading in the 17th and 18th centuries

The 17th and 18th centuries are known for the rise of the global merchant trading empires that spread across the globe. Trade being the seizure of lands, crops, resources and assets therefore became the inevitable cause for conflicts on a much wider scale across the globe.

The opening of the 17th cent saw the beginnings of large scale trading of commodities on a global scale. In 1602 in the Netherlands, the United East India Company - Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC, also known as the Dutch East India Company, was founded by Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck, who later founded the colony of Cape Town. The company was chartered with the permission of the States General of the Netherlands, to secure a 21 year monopoly of commodity trading

in Asia. It's powers granted included the rights to open trading stations, strike it's own coin, assume administrative duties over the colonies it establishes and even imprison natives and conduct war by all means in order to formally secure the trading routes for the Netherlands. The VOC thereafter quickly secured the Indonesian archipelago as it's major trading hub to fan across Asia, along the Indian subcontinent coastal regions and Ceylon and Malaya and eclipse all other European trading efforts in the region. Coffee indeed became one of the most sought after commodities in the world in the 17th century after spice trading. The VOC planted several experimental gardens in Java Indonesia where the humid climate was most conducive for excellent coffee production. In the 17th and 18th centuries the VOC had employed nearly one million Europeans either directly or indirectly 
to work in all the various Asian trade colonies and ports established and man some 4,785 shipping vessels of all nature in order to secure such precious commodities from Asia. By about 1720 the VOC were importing annually into Europe approximately 1.5 million lbs of coffee. the coffee houses of London and Paris offered such a roaring trade that simply enough coffee could not be delivered. Several smuggling ventures appeared at this time in the early 18th century, however smuggled coffee was only for the desperate as the quality of coffee packaging was shoddy and the worst thing that could ever happen to a London and Paris coffee house was to risk offering its customers stale coffee. VOC historical archives show that at the time of 1720 about 30% of its supply went to Paris coffee houses and the bulk majority to London establishments. However, in time, as smuggling increased and money and power corrupt, eventually the VOC went bankrupt with pilfering, siphoning and all sorts of administrative difficulties rampant. The VOC was formally dissolved in 1800, with all of its assets and debts taken over by the government of the Dutch Batavian Republic and all territories established around modern Indonesia, it's prized source of the coffee plant, eventually became the Dutch government owned Dutch East Indies. 

Across the Channel the introduction of coffee gave rise to mercantile interest and eyes cast upon the lucrative eastern trading routes earlier being plied by the Venetians, Spanish and Portuguese. The East India Company in England, properly known as the Honorable East India Company, was an English joint-stock company, founded December 31, 1600 by a shipping merchant John Watts. With the accession of James I, John Watts was knighted on 26 July 1603 and subsequently become Lord Mayor of London in 1606–1607, at which time he was depicted to the king of Spain as England's "greatest pirate that has ever been in this kingdom." The company was chartered to secure Asian trading routes and establish trading posts, particularly in the East Indies in competition with the rising Dutch power, for the procurement of spices, silks, cottons, tea and coffee. However, very soon the English merchants found their trading activities restricted to the Indian subcontinent as their major hub of investment. Competition in Asia for trade in the 18th century by the European powers was sooner or later going to have to be settled by gun boat diplomacy. At this time the Dutch and the English

were increasingly coming into direct competition for the procurement of cotton, spice,s tea and coffee. Moreover the French were now starting to rise in the 18th century as a naval power and sought to establish their own global commodity trading activities to secure the precious commodities. In an era of fierce competition in the 18th century it soon became inevitable that ships would have to arm themselves in a display of force. Furthermore acts of sea piracy and forced plunder were on the rise as smuggling became a lucrative venture to supply the ever growing needs for coffee in the London and French markets.  The armed merchant ships of the East India Company's fleet soon became armed with naval guns taken from naval ships for the sole purpose of conflict and defence.  In March 1757, the 'Godolphin', 'Houghton' and 'Suffolk' fought one such skirmish near the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, against a French naval ship of the line, of a typical 74 guns capability with a 26-gun frigate companion. Miraculously the East India Company vessel fought off  the French in one of the first skirmishes of the 18th century. East India Company vessels were mounted with 60 guns where English and French warships - ship of the line - were now typically 74 guns with Admiral command ships as large as 2 to 4 decks of 98 to 140 guns. ships of the East Indiamen were now so lavishly produced that they came to be known as the 'Lords of the ocean'.

London in the 18th century was now booming. It's mercantile aspirations were spread across the far corners of the globe from China to India to the Middle east to the West Indies. The first formal exchange for the trading of commodities grew out of the congregation of men within the confines of London's coffee houses.  In the 17th century London coffee houses became the perfect venue for coffee, spice and metals traders to meet; to gossip on trade news, discuss arriving vessels and cargoes and ultimately to deliberate upon prices using a ring drawn in chalk on the floor as a trading area for serious buyers and sellers to step in and haggle a business deal with any body who cares to step inside the ring to buy or sell his commodity. By the time of  the 18th century,in the era of European revolution, men's ideas of Liberalism were born amidst he discussions and debates that arose within the confines of the London coffee houses. Political ideas were mooted, economic issues were discussed and new ideas for business ventures were considered.  It is interesting to note that the world's biggest insurer Lloyds of London actually  started out as a coffeehouse on Tower Street in 1688 where trading of coffee cargoes eventually led to the need to insure cargoes.

The first man to bring coffee to America was Captain John Smith, who founded the Colony of Virginia at Jamestown in 1607. Although the Dutch were already trading coffee extensively by this time they did not commercially introduce coffee drinking to America when the Dutch West India Company bought Manhattan Island in 1624 and made a settlement there. This settlement in modern New York was originally named New Amsterdam, and under Dutch occupancy from 1624–64 it is said that the first social gatherings of coffee drinking were in private. By 1670 the trade and supply of coffee is first mentioned in official records with William Penn recording the purchase of coffee beans at the rate of eighteen shillings and nine pence per pound. The first coffee houses thus appeared in new England at the latter part of the 17tth century but often were just regular taverns and inns where liqueurs were also sold. The first coffee houses of note were founded in the latter 17th century in Boston; London Coffee House and the Gutteridge Coffee House being the two most prominent and Royal Exchange mentioned in official records in 1711.

If anything The Dutch were very eager to spread their trading networks to secure wider sales across the world. From the first green houses organized in Amsterdam in 1706 plants and cuttings were given away to visiting dignitaries from around the world. it is said that the the Burgomaster of Amsterdam gave one such plant as a gift to King Louis XIV of France in 1714. This plant was quickly housed in in le Jardin des Plantes in Paris. There then followed quite a

story and adventure involving a young French naval officer. In 1723 a young French naval officer by the name of Gabriel de Clieu returned home to Paris on leave from his post at Martinique and upon hearing of the coffee plants requested a cutting from the King. Having been refused the young officer broke into le Jardin des Plantes at night, stole a plant cutting and took it to the the Caribbean. The return to Martinique became quite an adventure as pirates and storms could not thwart him, though the glass cabinet was shattered and the plant was fed on the young officer's own water rations. Two years later, after successful planting and cultivation, coffee plantations were spreading all over Martinique and the neighboring islands of St. Dominique and Guadeloupe. Indeed, the spread of coffee plantations became so successful in the french colonies in the Caribbean that the French King eventually forgave the young officer and even made him Governor of Antilles. In 1727 the Brazilian government became so jealous that they sent agents to try to steal coffee cuttings. Brazil sent their own Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Mello Palheta on a mission to steal such a coffee plant from the French. Palheta then became friends of the wife of the  governor of French Guiana, who then presented Palheta with a farewell gift, being a coffee cutting hidden in a bouquet of flowers. Thus from a single cutting did the world's largest coffee grower grow.

In a world of international trade and financial intrigue it is perhaps most surprising that the English could not gain a serious foothold in the coffee market and compete in the global coffee trade until 1796 when they finally took control of the kingdom of Ceylon, or modern Sri Lanka, from the Dutch. The Dutch coffee plantations were usurped and more land was cleared to expand their new footing in the coffee cultivation business. For a brief moment in time the British colony Ceylon became the largest grower of coffee. But in 1869, a lethal fungus known as coffee rust had arrived on the island, thus effectively reducing the output of the tiny island nation. The British did try to spread coffee cultivation in the Caribbean in Jamaica and in Africa, Uganda and Kenya, but by the end of the 19th Century coffee was becoming a market where no one nation could control the trade flow. The United States was now developing commercial coffee for shops and drug stores and also coffee was coming under fierce competion by tea and hot chocolate as the most popular social beverage in England. Eventually the domination of the coffee planting world came to rest with Latin America with the dawn of the 20th century and with the United States in close proximity it would only be a matter of time before coffee truly become a product sold by many market participants.

Read all about coffee consumption in the industrial and modern age next ...   http://thegenteelworldofcoffee.blogspot.com/2015/03/history-part-5-coffee-trading-in-modern.html

 
Reflections upon the coffee story - Pieter Bergli- cafe enthusiast

Cafe Corner - Reflections upon a Turner

Coffee, art and literature can be a divine combination for a muse bereft of inspiration.

By the age of 16 my ventures into canvas were already being driven by the humble coffee brew. With the hum of the peculator in the background I could always find a source of inspiration, particularly peering through the window at the Autumn rain. But, indeed my tutor had already described my blossoming works as a "ponderous affair!"

No matter how much i tried experimenting with colors I would always end up with shades of purple. Needless to say my vast youthful works were considered no more than extraordinary blobs of colorful concrete mix. And then and there I decided to lay down my brush, my oils and costly affair! Though always driven to fascination by masterful brush stroke my hapless early affair did not end there.

I once knew a a beautiful girl, 16, tall, dark and striking. She took me home one day to see her mother and allow me to gaze upon the exciting possession that at once set off my youthful mind and began my entire fascination with JMW Turner. With endless excitement and adoring gaze I would feast my eyes upon the wonderful streams of color and whirling stroke. Her mother would call for tea; aghast, I would sincerely cry for coffee please!" 

It vexes me considerably that to this day I do not own a Turner. Nevertheless, I am content. I do love to indulge my time over my fondest passion for art and it's genius. A quiet reflective moment, a cup of coffee in the hand and one could wonder what defines our humanity at it's very noble best. One moment in time as a teenager I traveled through the Yorkshire Moors beneath the dark and deep overcast skies across the desolate and windswept landscape. With the wind in my hair and clouds gathering above I could almost feel a sense of foreboding as I quickly became lost within myself with a despairing sense of utter desolation. Then as the sun set over the howling Moors, a shimmering of blues, greys and yellows came to remind me of the eerie lighting effects of a Turner watercolor I recently viewed at the Tate. Then I realized how close Turner had come to evoking my emotions of isolation as his combination of colors electrified my spirit into a fixated paralysis of fear and bewilderment.

Let us have a coffee now dear readers and brood in silence; let us then lose ourselves in our thoughts and reflect upon the mastery of incandescent hues, solitary figures and lose ourselves in the swirling madness of nature at it's most violent temper.

Let's peruse and enjoy them moment - dark, brooding, solitary portrayals like the deepest brew at hand - 

Take a look at my interesting collection I am building on Pininterest. 

https://www.pinterest.com/myartmusings/the-world-of-art/ 

I must say that one of my all time favorites is the Slave Ship c. 1840. It is an utterly frightening piece of work portraying the complete helplessness of a stricken vessel attempting to hold its sway amidst a turbid maelstrom of swirling anger. Solitary insignificance in the face of a violent nature. The entire specter occurs as a maddening blur in the mind's eye as the absence of defined brush stroke paralyses the viewer into grief and despair for a stricken humanity engulfed by the wrath of nature. Fast, frenzied, almost uncontrollably violent brush strokes delineate the full fury of the stormy sea. JMW Turner, being a fervent Abolitionist, introduced this masterful work at an anti-slavery conference where he knew Prince Albert would certainly view the work and receive Turner's allegorical protest.

I could gaze at this work in fixation for hours; it is time for another cup of coffee. Thank you JMW Turner for the inspiration.

Sincerely all,

Pieter Bergli - collector of fine coffee, lover of art

 

History Part 3 - Coffee and Renaisance Europe

In the history of Europe 'The Renaissance' is described as the period from the 14th to the 17th century. This is the era in European history that is considered the interim age between the early Medieval Middle Ages and the true age of Modern history. It is during this period that commodities trading really expanded to a global scale. The Spanish conquistadors arrived in Latin America and were the first European traders to bring home the first cocoa in 1528. Soon following the sensation of the hot chocolate drink came the introduction of tea to Europe by the Dutch. The Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602 for the sole purpose of establish trading bases in the Orient.  Dutch merchants were the first to offer the flavored drink in Europe in 1610.Thereafter, the Dutch brought the  first coffee plants to Europe in 1616 and successfully cultivated the plants in Greenhouses in Holland.

Coffee, although having immense popularity throughout the Ottoman Empire. at the height of its powers in the 16th century, was relatively unknown in Europe at the time. But the first European traders to establish favor and trading status with the Ottomans were the Venetians and soon after the Dutch introduction of coffee to Europe in 1612, the Venetians also started to bring back Coffee to Europe to spread the popularity of the beverage in 1615. 

In 1555, during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent of the ottoman Empire, the popular beverage kahve, coffee, was brought to Istanbul by Özdemir Pasha, the Ottoman Governor of Yemen,

The Venetians were quick to court the Ottomans and started to expand their trading ventures into the new coffee beans as they sought to capitalize on their dominant power and trade routes through the Ottoman trading ports of modern Turkey. It was through the diplomacy of one of the oldest venetian families - the house of Zen- that European trading in the Middle East started to thrive as East meets West largely though the diplomatic efforts of Daragon Zen who traded throughout the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century.

As the demand for the coffee bean grew in Europe so too did seafaring traders come to negotiate the first contracts of delivery for coffee merchants. Trade in spices had always been a profitable venture but now new commodities like tea and Coffee brought new opportunities for merchants to expand their business. 

By the mid 1650, the coffee drink was finding growing popularity in England as the fist coffee samples were samples were brought back by travelers from Holland. By 1663, there were 82 coffeehouses in the city of London with the Turks Head being one of the very first. The drink was an instant sensation for its invigorating spirit that by 1675, there were well over 1,000 coffee houses established in England within the next 30 years!

Politically, coffee houses in England became centers of ideas and discussion. in the Middle ages, Inns and taverns were the points of social gatherings. Now, all kinds of people from all walks of life, merchants and scholars alike were drawn to the heated atmosphere to read their news papers and journals and share their views on the discussions of the day at a favorite coffee house. One such popular coffee house in London was Whites which became more of an exclusive gentleman's club for the upper classes who would prefer a taste of the coffee beverage without the noise of the popular coffee houses. But as with the concerns in Arabia with the religious clerics, so too did the reigning monarch Charles II become annoyed and concerned at the amount of gossip that would pour out of these coffee houses. Indeed Charles II then tried to close the London coffee houses which were described as "places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His Majesty and his Ministers." In 1674 The Women’s Petition Against Coffee attempted to cull the 'heathen' spirit of coffee drinking and that 'devil's brew'. But so popular had the drink become amongst the urban middle classes that his protests were of no avail. The Coffee beverage was now part of the social fabric of the English middle classes. 

Coffee as a global commodity in the 17th and 18th centuries -

http://thegenteelworldofcoffee.blogspot.com/2015/03/history-part-4-coffee-trading-in-17th.html 


Pieter Bergli -  Reflections upon the arrival of coffee drinking in Renaissance Europe