An old coffee label from the USA Around this time coffee was first grown in Brazil as well. A certain Portugese gentleman, Francisco de Melo Palheto, beguiled the wife of the governor of Guyana to smuggle coffee plants out of the colony. She sent him coffee plants, skillfully disguised in a gift of flowers when he visited a neigbouring country. The soil and climate of Brazil was ideal for coffee production and Brazil eventually became the world's leading coffee producer. In the following years coffee-growing spread to other countries in Central and South America: to Mexico in 1740, to Venezuela in 1784 and to Colmbia at the end of the century. There are now more than seventy countries growing coffee, all situated between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, where the climate is suitable for growing. Some of the better known places are Martinique, Brazil, Mexico, Jamaica, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Cameroon and Zaire. Instead of the slow sailing ships of the past we now have the powerful container ships of today that can transport shipments from America to Europe in just two weeks instead of many months. In the 18th century more than half the cost of coffee was to pay for the transportation of beans and the vegetable fibre sacks. Berry-picking in old Africa. South American workers showing off their muscles. The campfire out West and the conical coffee-pot. Coffee had in fact reached America as a consumer item even before de Clieu's young plants. Coffee was being drunk in 1660 at a place called New Amsterdam that would be conquered by the British four years later and renamed New York. The English found the custom of drinking coffee well established by the wealthier classes. The less prosperous classes were drinking tea. In 1773 King George imposed a heavy tax on tea. The people rebelled and the citizens of Boston even attacked the English ships and dumped the cargo of tea overboard. This episode of history is the famous "Boston Tea Party" and it marked a change in the fortunes of coffee in North America. Within a few years coffee became the national beverage and it still is today. Above: A delightful Norman Rockwell illustration. Hollywood stars with the national beverage. We hope you've enjoyed the stories on these pages.We'll be adding to these pages with more information and lots more photos and drawings. So come back soon.