Room for cream and sugar?
Or for some of you, do you want coffee to your milk 😉
So when did we start adding milk to our coffee?
It hasn’t always been this way.
Time for a super brief history lesson.
If you are familiar with coffee origins, you know that coffee primarily began in Ethiopia and Arabian peninsula. This area isn’t particularly known for it ‘drinking of milk’. So then where did this trend come from?
If you are not familiar with the origins and science behind coffee, we suggest this quick read. It’s *extremely* informative.
Cultural Origins
Let’s now fast forward to center of where most western culture trends begin. The city of lights, ah Paris. Cafés like the modern day coffee shops didn’t arrive until the 17th century. And with most of Parisian culinary creations, the answer to everything was ‘add some dairy fat’.
There isn’t an exact date, or place that we can trace to the grand entrance of milk in our coffee, but this is absolutely a safe bet.
Other anecdotal evidence would suggest that the majority of caffeine injected into the veins of Parisians (and other Europeans) at the time, were derived from central and northern French African Colonies. This would suggest that the primary bean type is Robusta.
Robusta Beans
Robusta beans are harsher, earthy, can even have a rubbery aftertaste. This is even more cause to have an additive to subdue the harsh bit of espresso. (We’ve got an intriguing post on robusta beans coming up in a few weeks. So get excited for that.)
The process by which the espresso was made was also less refined. Therefore the science we rely on today, allows us to draw out the fatty or sweeter side of well-roasted beans. The brew method of coffee was actually more similar to Turkish preparation. (Here is the wiki link to read up more on that.)
