Coffee And Religion Essay

Coffee invades the daily routine of today’s society. Its pungent smell fills city streets and business meetings. Often, coffee-making is one of the first thoughts in the mornings for many adults. Through an online survey in 2013, the National Coffee Association discovered 83% of American adults drink coffee with an average of three cups per day.1 Long before the rise of Starbucks, founding father Thomas Jefferson noticed coffee’s important societal role, calling it “the favorite drink of the civilised world”.2 Nevertheless, coffee was not always a priority in society. Religion played a significant role in increasing awareness and therefore consumption of the bitter drink. Specifically, the practices of Islam and Christianity throughout history
Uzi Baram’s article, “Clay Tobacco Pipes and Coffee Cup Sherds in the Archaeology of the Middle East:Artifacts of Social Tensions from the Ottoman Past” discusses coffee’s role as a cultural symbol. It represented “a sign of hospitality” (Baram, 139) at the time. David Grigg continues to explain the cultural symbolism. In Grigg’s article “The Worlds of Tea and Coffee: Patterns of Consumption” he declares that coffeehouses quickly surfaced throughout Middle Eastern countries, the first appearing in 1470 in the Islamic holy city of Mecca. As the Ottoman Empire spread at the end of the 15th century so did mass coffee consumption. The Ottomans accepted coffee as a beverage, and it quickly became significant to their culture. Grigg claims the drink became associated with Islam. Noticing coffee’s popularity among Muslims, the Roman Catholic Church labeled coffee as the “bitter invention of Satan” (“The History of Coffee”), urging the Pope to ban it. Pope Clement VII tasted the drink and legalized it for Christians.5 Even so, outsiders began to see coffee as a Muslim ritual rather than a drink to benefit
ChristianityToday.com, a website to encourage Christian thought and provide commentary for cultural and theological issues, offers the perspective of Christian believers today. In his online article, “Coffee: The Beverage That Fuels the Church”, Martyn Wendell Jones argues for the significance of coffee in modern Christian churches. A large aspect of the Christian faith involves community. Consistent community allows Christians to grow closer to God.11 Jones describes coffee as “a comfort blanket” for the congregation. It provides a way for the Christian church community to interact with one another instead of creating uncomfortable situations. The author asserts that churches recently increased the amount of coffee sold