Other Countries of Europe. Denmark, Norway, and Sweden are all heavy coffee drinkers. In 1921 Sweden had the highest per capita consumption in the world, 15.25 pounds. Before the war, these three countries each consumed about as much per capita as the United States does today, 12 to 13 pounds. The 1921 imports for consumption[317] were as follows: Denmark, 43,122,417 pounds; Norway, 29,665,623 pounds; Sweden, 89,660,766 pounds. Austria-Hungary was formerly an important buyer of coffee, large quantities coming into the country yearly through Trieste. Imports in 1913 totaled 130,951,000 pounds; and in 1912, 124,527,000 pounds. In 1917 the war cut down the total to 17,910,000 pounds net consumption. Finland shares with her neighbors of the Baltic a strong taste for coffee, importing, in 1921, 27,968,000 pounds, about 8.25 pounds per capita. In the same year, Belgium had a net importation of 83,824,000 pounds.
Spain, in 1920, consumed 48,513,821 pounds. Portugal, in 1919, imported 6,926,575 pounds; and exported 1,258,271 pounds, leaving 5,668,304 pounds for home consumption. Coffee is not especially popular in the Balkan States and Italy; importations into the last-named country in 1920 amounting to 66,494,925 pounds net. Switzerland is a steady coffee drinker, consuming 31,535,260 pounds in 1921. Russia was never fond of coffee; and her total imports in 1917, according to a compilation made under Soviet auspices, were only 4,464,000 pounds.
A Meeting of the Coffee Brokers of Amsterdam, 1820
Reproduced from an old print
Other Countries. The Union of South Africa, in 1920, imported 27,798,000 pounds net, or about 3.8 pounds per capita. Cuba purchased 39,981,696 pounds in the fiscal year 1920; Argentina, 37,541,000 pounds in 1919; Chile, 12,358,000 pounds in 1920; Australia, 2,239,000 pounds in 1920; and New Zealand, 283,633 pounds in that year.
Three Centuries of Coffee Trading
The story of the development of the world's coffee trade is a story of about three centuries. When Columbus sailed for the new world, the coffee plant was unknown even as near its original home as his native Italy. In its probable birthplace in southern Abyssinia, the natives had enjoyed its use for a long time, and it had spread to southwestern Arabia; but the Mediterranean knew nothing of it until after the beginning of the sixteenth century. It then crept slowly along the coast of Asia Minor, through Syria, Damascus, and Aleppo, until it reached Constantinople about 1554. It became very popular; coffee houses were opened, and the first of many controversies arose. But coffee made its way against all opposition, and soon was firmly established in Turkish territory.
In those deliberate times, the next step westward, from Asia to Europe, was not taken for more than fifty years. In general, its introduction and establishment in Europe occupied the whole of the seventeenth century.
The greatest pioneering work in coffee trading was done by the Netherlands East India Company, which began operations in 1602. The enterprise not only promoted the spread of coffee growing in two hemispheres; but it was active also in introducing the sale of the product in many European countries.