Coffee is incredibly popular in Australia, with 75% of Aussies enjoying a cup every day. But how did knowledge of this beverage spread from the Middle East to the European continent? The German botanist and physician Leonhard Rauwolf encountered it in 1573, during a trip looking for new medicinal plants in the Levant and Mesopotamia. He tried a cup of “Chaube” (coffee) in Aleppo, describing it as “a very good drink” but “almost as black as ink.” He also said it was “very good in illness, chiefly that of the stomach.” Little did he know that modern science would later show that polyphenols from coffee promote the growth of good gut bacteria! Rauwolf reported that the locals drank it early in the morning out of china cups “as hot as they can”, taking small but rapid sips. Apparently some coffee drinking traditions never change!
Read Leonhard Rauwolf’s account: https://archive.org/details/acollectioncuri00goog/page/68/mode/1up
