History of Coffee

Coffee was first discovered in Eastern Africa in an area we know today as Ethiopia. A popular legend refers to a goat herder by the name of Kaldi, who observed his goats acting unusually frisky after eating berries from a bush. Curious about this phenomena, Kaldi tried eating the berries himself. He found that these berries gave him a renewed energy. The news of this energy laden fruit quickly spread throughout the region.

Monks hearing about this amazing fruit, dried the berries so that they could be transported to distant monasteries. They reconstituted these berries in water, ate the fruit, and drank the liquid to provide stimulation for a more awakened time for prayer.

Coffee berries were transported from Ethiopia to the Arabian Peninsula, and were first cultivated in what today is the country of Yemen.

From there, coffee traveled to Turkey where coffee beans were roasted for the first time over open fires. The roasted beans were crushed, and then boiled in water, creating a crude version of the beverage we enjoy today.

Coffee first arrived on the European continent by means of Venetian trade merchants. Once in Europe this new beverage fell under harsh criticism from the Catholic Church. Many felt the pope should ban coffee, calling it the drink of the devil. To their surprise, the pope, already a coffee drinker, blessed coffee declaring it a truly Christian beverage.

Coffee houses spread quickly across Europe becoming centers for intellectual exchange. Many great minds of Europe used this beverage, and forum, as a springboard to heightened thought and creativity.

Baba Budan, a muslim pilgrim, smuggled a few coffee beans in the early 17th century. Commercially, plantations were started as a British investment. As the number of British growers increased, cultivation was steadily extended through out Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu. Most of the coffee planted in the early years were Arabica and Robusta.

During the late 1800’s, the Salem Collector, Mr. Cockburn, liked the climatic conditions of Yercaud and decided it will be an ideal place for a British settlement. He introduced coffee in the Shevroys along with spices and fruits as intercrops. Mr. M. Senthilkumar was one of the first Indian planters to purchase and do business with the British in the Shevroys and Kerala. Mr. M.S.P. Rajes, introduced some rare species of coffee like the Hawaiian Red Catura, rare spices and fruit trees like mangosteen, macadamia nuts, jojoba, kiwi fruits and blue berries.

Today, coffee is a giant global industry employing more than 20 million people. This commodity ranks second only to petroleum in terms of dollars traded worldwide. With over 400 billion cups consumed every year, coffee is the world's most popular beverage. If you can imagine, in Brazil alone, over 5 million people are employed in the cultivation and harvesting of over 3 billion coffee plants.

Pitchavaram: second largest Mangrove forest in the world

Pichavaram is located near Chidambaram in Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, in South India.

Pichavaram is one of the unique eco-tourism spots in South India.The backwaters, interconnected by the Vellar and Coleroon river systems, offer abundant scope for water sports such as rowing, kayaking and canoeing. The Pichavaram forest not only offers waterscape and backwater cruises, but also another very rare sight – the mangrove forest trees are permanently rooted in a few feet of water.

Pichavaram mangroves are considered among the healthiest mangrove occurrence in the world. It consists of a number of islands interspersing a vast expanse of water covered with green trees.

The area is about 2,800 acres and is separated from the sea by a sand bar which is a patch of extraordinary loveliness.

The Pichavaram mangrove biotope, consisting of rare species like Avicennia and Rhizophara; presents a special attraction, with its peculiar topography and environmental condition. It supports the existence of many rare varieties of economically important shell and finfishes.

The Pichavaram mangroves attract an appreciable bird population of residents, local migrants and true migrants. Amongst others, one can view birds like Watersnips, Cormorants, Egrets, Storks, Herons, Spoonbills and Pelicans.

At the mangroves, so far, 177 species of birds belonging to 15 orders and 41 families have been recorded. The season for birds is from September to April every year.

Peak population of birds could be seen from November to January. This is due to high productive nature (in terms of prey organisms) of the ecosystem and coincidence of the time of arrival of true migrants from foreign countries and local migrants from their breeding grounds across India. The availability of different habitat types such as channels, creeks, gullies, mud flats and sand flats and adjacent sea shore offers ideal habitat for difference species of birds.