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Happy National Gourmet Coffee Day

Here are today’s five things to know about Gourmet Coffee:

Until the invention of vacuum packed coffee tins in 1900 by Hill Bros. Coffee, almost every city or large town in America had their own local coffee roasters.

In East Africa and Yemen, coffee was used in native religious ceremonies that were in competition with the Christian Church. As a result, the Ethiopian Church banned its secular consumption until the reign of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia.

Coffee berries, which contain the coffee seeds, are produced by several species of small evergreen bush of the genus Coffea. The two most commonly grown are also the most highly regarded Coffea arabica, and the “robusta” form of the hardier Coffea canephora.

An important export commodity, coffee was the top agricultural export for twelve countries in 2004.

Preparing coffee in a French press leaves more oils in the drink compared with coffee prepared with a paper coffee filter.

Today’s Food History

• 1778 Captain Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands. He named them the Sandwich Islands, after Lord Sandwich, who was then first Lord of the Admiralty.
• 1799 Joseph Dixon was born. An American inventor and manufacturer. Among his many accomplishments, he produced the first pencil made in the U.S.
• 1813 Joseph Farwell Glidden was born. Glidden, an Illinois farmer, received a patent for the first commercial barbed wire on November 24, 1874. The beginning of the end to open range and the cowboy. Glidden formed the Barb Fence Company with his partner Isaac L. Ellwood, and became one of the wealthiest men in the country.
• 1818 George Palmer was born. Palmer, of Huntley and Palmer biscuit manufacturers, introduced the first biscuit tins.
• 1882 Alan Alexander Milne was born. Creator of Winnie the Pooh, the honey loving bear.
• 1943 Pre-sliced bread was banned in the U.S. for the duration of World War II, to conserve metal from spare parts that might be needed.
• 1990 The first McDonald’s in Moscow opened.

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