What Connection does the Silk Road Trade have to Coffee?
As we have begun our journey of selling specialty coffee along with the story of the Silk Road, one of the most common questions we have had is why. Why the Silk Road? And why coffee?
The Silk Road trade expands from the East to the West and on its journey many commodities were sold between nations, one of them being coffee!
Essentially, the Silk Road is home to a vast expanse of stories that we feel should be told far and wide so that they can be carried further into the future. Of course, the method we intend to travel on and lead others through the Silk Road is with our very own speciality coffee.
As an attempt to share a great cup of coffee whilst sharing the culture and tradition of the Silk Road.
Why Coffee?
One of the later additions to the various commodities that were traded along the Silk roads was of course coffee. Being discovered quite by accident by a farmer in modern day Ethiopia, whose animals had consumed strange beans from the earth and then exhibited highly energetic behaviour. Coffee as a traditional beverage is known to have been consumed in Yemen by the mystical Sufi orders within their rituals in the early 16th century.
From here, it would spread like wildfire across Arabia, the Levant and begin it's own voyages across the Silk Road, reaching Venice in the late 16th centuries after it was discovered on the bodies of Ottoman Turks who had been at war with Venice at the time.
As soon as it had arrived within Arabia and the Levant, it quickly become a social and cultural trend as various coffee houses began to spring up across the land which served as the main hotspots for socialising and occasional political intrigue.
Coffee continued to spread from the Silk Road, the first English coffee house would be established in London by the end of the 16th century. From here, coffee within the UK has grown to become a widely popular beverage favoured by the vast majority as a stimulating drink good for early mornings and at the time, it's healing properties.
So what made us choose the story of this special bean?
Well, it is due to the highly delicate and versatile roasting process of coffee beans, not to mention our own shared love and passion for coffee, that made us see how we could use coffee to take ourselves and others onto a journey that would revive the stories of the Silk Road. The very foundation of this drink is artisanal, just like the stories it holds. Being able to enrich our coffee beans with subtle tasting nodes inspired by each region, and after lots of work we were able to create roast profiles that call out to the distinct flavours of each region of the Silk Road. Now, our coffee beans serve as our voice of legends and stories long forgotten which we bring to you as we travel through the echoes of once mighty civilisations.
