Related Sponsors

History

Legend has it that a goat herder in Eastern Africa named Kaldi first discovered coffee beans. The story says he began to notice his goats had an uncommon “friskiness” about them after eating off of a certain berry bush. Kaldi became interested in this unusual behavior and tried some of the berries for himself. After consuming the berries, he too felt a surge of energy. News about this phenomenon spread quickly through the land and soon Monks were using the effects of the coffee bean to help them stay alert in order to have more time for prayer. They dried the berries so they could be shipped to other monasteries. Once received, they would drop the berry into water, eat the fruit and drink the water substance for energy. While we don’t know if this is an accurate description of how the coffee bean was discovered, we do know that it was originally founded in the area of present day Ethiopia and carried to the Arabian Peninsula where it was first cultivated. Coffee beans were first roasted in Turkey and from there coffee traveled throughout the world. It is said that when coffee was introduced to Europe it was condemned by the religious and referred to as the “drink of the devil”. It just so happened that the Pope himself was a coffee drinker and he gave his blessing to the beverage. Finally, coffee reached the Americas in the 1700s where it quickly gained popularity amongst the colonists.

Next Page: The Coffee Bean

Related Coffee Beans Articles