[Sca-cooks] Questions on coffee

[Stefan li Rous]

More from the Lochac list on coffee. I don't think the second  
paragraph conflicts with anything I've heard before, but I'm leaving  
it in case it is new or of interest to those here.

The first paragraph though does seem to conflict. Anyone heard of this  
before?

Stefan

<<< Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:52:21 +1100
From: Raymond Wickham <insidious565 at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Lochac] coffee
To: <lochac at lochac.sca.org>

Coffee as a drink is first mentioned by Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya  
al Razi (850 922 CE) in his treatise on medicine where he called it  
Bunchum. A contemporary of Raki also mentions coffee in his writings.

Sheikh Jamaluddin Abu Muhammad bin Said became acquainted with coffee  
while in abyssinia in 1454 and after exploring its medicinal qualities  
sanctioned it for devout muslims so they could spend their nights in  
prayer with more attention. He was also is supported at about this  
time by Muhammad al-Hadhrami A reputable physician from Yemen where  
the moslems chewed the cherries to stay awake during night prayers.By  
the close of the sixteenth century residents of Makkah had become so  
fond of coffee that they turned it into a secular drink and sipped it  
publicly in Qahwa Khanes whilke discussing news and business. Khair  
Bey in 1510 saw this found out about this practice and some  
misunderstanding investigated this practice and was alarmed by its  
widespread practice in the city of Makkah. He decided that it was a  
substance that would drive men and women to etravagance which was  
against the law. This was discussed in a public meeting of the leaders  
of Makkah some spoke in favour of the drink while a large group spoke  
on banning the substance. So a decree was signed and drawn up and sent  
to the Sultan at Cairo for ratification. The Sultan disagreed and  
raised the edict against the coffee houses basicly as it was apporved  
of by Physicians in Cairo. Selim 1 is said to have introduced Coffee  
to Constantinople and by 1530 it was popular in Syria and Aleppo.  
Before 1536 the Yemeni dominated the supply of coffee but after the  
Ottomon turks captured Yemen in 1532 they took up the coffee trade  
where they were an important export revenue in the port of Mocha. The  
turks created a monopoly until well into the 1600's making sure no  
viable seeds left their control. >>>

--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****