Coffee enjoys a rich and mysterious history. There’s debate over coffee’s origin, but experts believe the first cup was brewed in Yemen in the 15th century.

The coffee tree originated in Ethiopia, and it was a Yemeni leader who imported coffee trees to his country, learned to age and roast their beans, and began serving coffee to his guests. By the mid-1400s, coffee was a staple of Yemeni culture.

From the gates of Yemen, coffee began to spread throughout the world. Coffee beans were precious, a carefully-guarded luxury, and were often smuggled over borders, hidden away in the cargo of merchants.

Coffee trickled into Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and eventually to India, Italy, France, and the Netherlands. Coffee beans sailed to the Americas with the Dutch East India Company, packaged alongside fine silks and peppercorns. The brew enticed culture after culture with its decadent aroma and bitter taste.

Coffee has also fueled some of humanity’s greatest masterpieces. Johann Sebastian Bach, the famous composer, claimed, “Without my morning coffee, I’m just like a dried up piece of roast goat.”

Poet T.S. Eliot said, “I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, the first Prime Minister of France, may have put it best. When asked to describe his perfect cup of coffee, he replied, “Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.”

Today, coffee is the most popular drug in the world. The caffeine it contains is a miracle of Nature -- a molecule that fits into the human brain like a key into a lock, providing energy, wit, focus, and pleasure.

Throughout history and across the world, cultures seem to agree on one thing: there are few luxuries in life that match a well-made cup of coffee.

Part of the luxury is that coffee isn’t just coffee. It carries a great deal with it. Coffee is sitting at a cafe on a brisk Autumn morning, reading the paper. It’s chocolate, caramel, tart cherry, and fresh citrus. It’s the start of a new day and the possibility that comes with it.

There’s weekday coffee: drinking from a well-worn mug to find your energy for the day. There’s Saturday morning coffee: laughing with friends around a sidewalk cafe table, your happily forgotten espresso cups nestled in their saucers. There’s Sunday morning coffee: adding extra cream and drinking alongside a good book, unsure of whether it’s 9 AM or noon.

Coffee can also be an important ritual. It reminds us to slow down and enjoy ourselves. The warm aroma, the lazily drifting steam, the bitter first sip -- coffee ensnares our senses, pulling us from the hectic current of life and into the present moment.

If you’re a coffee drinker, we have an invitation for you: take extra care the next time you make coffee. Use freshly roasted, single origin beans. Buy them whole and grind them just for your cup. Brew them with patience, using the method you prefer: French press, pourover, espresso, or simple drip coffee.

We invite you to pay attention with each of your senses as you make your coffee. Notice the sound of the grinder, the steam rising off your cup, the rich aroma it brings with it. Close your eyes when you take your first sip and pick out the individual flavors. Do you taste vanilla? Fresh orange? Dark chocolate? Burnt sugar?

Finally, take your coffee somewhere pleasant, sit back, and enjoy it. It’s a ritual worth indulging in.

This is how we make and drink our coffee. We see it as an opportunity to slow down and appreciate something beautiful, if only for a few minutes.

And if you don’t drink coffee, perhaps you’ll find another daily ritual -- something with depth hidden behind its simplicity. Maybe it’s meditation, a daily glass of wine, a carefully prepared meal, or an hour set aside for conversation with loved ones. Whatever you choose, we feel that when we take the time to fall in love with everyday pleasures, we infuse our lives with much-needed romance.

Luxury is a Great Cup of Coffee