In the 15th Jahrhundert (century) Kaffee (coffee) was already being drunk by people in Arabia. Because the coffee was grown in Arabien (Arabia) they had a monopoly position for a long time. The main trade center was the city Mocha in Jemen (Yemen) which is called “al-Mukha” nowadays. The first coffee houses appeared in Europe in Venedig (Venice), Oxford and London in the 17th century.
Coffee was really expensive back in those days and only high class people could afford to drink it. For the poor population, coffee was something really special.
Nowadays coffee is produced in more than 50 countries worldwide and Brasilien (Brasil) is the biggest coffee supplier in the world with 2.2 Million tons of green Kaffeebohnen (coffee beans) per year. This is 28.1% of the world harvest. However, a third of that coffee is consumed by the Brazilian people themselves.
In the last few years, Vietnam and Indien (India) have increased their production of coffee which makes Vietnam the second biggest coffee producer in the world. In 2001 the coffee price dropped dramatically, leaving coffee producers with big problems. The income from coffee dropped from 14 billion US Dollars in 1986 to only 4,9 billion US Dollars in 2001. It wasn’t until 2004 when the Kaffeepreis (coffee price) went up again and stabilized.
The largest coffee buyers are the USA, Germany, France, Japan and Italy.
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