Gabriel DeClieu

Infobox musical artist
Name = Gabriel DeClieu


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Gabriel DeClieu (also referenced as Mathieu Gabriel De Clieu and Chevalier Gabriel Mathiew de Clieu) was a French naval officer whom is attributed to bringing coffee to the Americas in 1723. It is said that the Dutch unwittingly provided Louis XIV of France with a coffee bush that Gabriel DeClieu in turn made due with a seedling which he transported to Martinique whilst supposedly sacrificing his water ration to the seedling after a storm ravaged his vessel. Within 50 years of an official survey a recorded 19 million coffee trees are said to have sprouted within that time. It is said that 90% of the world's coffee spread from this single plant.

Gabriel is succeeded by his family in Dieppe, France who are currently working on finishing a museum to commemorate DeClieu's legend. Food/Travel writer Stewart Lee Allen who followed the original coffee trade routes visited the DeClieu successors in Dieppe in his book "The Devil's Cup", published in 2004 by Ballantine Books.

External links

* [http://www.mairie-dieppe.fr Dieppe] Official site for the city of Dieppe, France
* [http://www.rombouts.com/html/body_engravings.html Coffee History Art] Engravings of Coffee History