History of Coffee in India:

A man called Baba Budan snuck some coffee seeds out of Arabia. Legend has it he bound seven coffee seeds to his belly. When he reached his home, he found a cave in the hills near Chikmagalgur in south India in which he started the coffee seedlings off. Later he planted coffee in the jungles near Chikmagalgur. Today, offspring of these original coffee trees are officially known as "Old Chick." Old Chick, as they say, still supplies about one third of India's coffee.

Chemistry of Coffee:

The ingredients in coffee are water and the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, Coffea arabica. The chemical constituents of coffee would be those compounds in the roasted coffee seeds that are soluble in boiling water. According to Dr. Duke's Phytochemical Database, unroasted, green coffee seeds contain the following soluble compounds:

2,3,5-TRIMETHYLPHENOL
2-ETHYLPHENOL
2-METHOXY-4-ETHYLPHENOL
2,4-METHYLENEPHENOL
DICAFFEOYL-QUINIC ACID
4-ETHYLPHENOL
4-METHOXY-4-VINYLPHENOL
ACETALDEHYDE
CAFFEINE
CAFFEOL
CAFFEOYL-3-QUINIC ACID
CAFFETANNIC ACID
CHLOROGENIC ACID
CITRIC ACID
DATURIC ACID
GUAIACOL
HYPOXANTHINE
ISOCHLOROGENIC ACID
PUTRESCINE
SCOPOLETIN
SPERMIDINE
SPERMINE
SUGARS
TANNIC ACID
TANNIN
THEOBROMINE
THEOPHYLLINE
THIAMIN
TRIGONELLINE
XANTHINE

Many of these compounds, like chlorogenic acids, will be destroyed by the roasting process, and many, will be oxidized to form new compounds not listed above. Most of these, like the phenolics at the top, are responsible for the aroma of the coffee, while others, like the xanthine derivatives give coffee its stimulant qualities.