“Once upon a time in the Ethiopian highlands…” – this is how the legend of the origin of coffee begins. Here you can find out why we can be grateful to curious goats and their bright shepherds for allowing us to enjoy our delicious Italian coffee today.
The discovery of coffee
The Kaffa region in south-west Ethiopia is considered to be the region of origin of coffee. This is also where the legend about the origin of coffee is set. It has been passed down orally in various forms for centuries, the most well-known version goes like this:
More than 1,300 years ago, the boy Kaldi tended his goats and observed a very strange behavior in them. Whenever they ate from certain bushes with red and green round fruits, they then romped around wildly and were almost impossible to tame. This behavior lasted until late at night, so that Kaldi could hardly get any rest. Finally he tasted the fruits himself and felt their invigorating effect.
To share his discovery, he brought some fruits from the bush to the monks at a nearby monastery. Out of curiosity, they made a broth out of it. But the drink tasted so bad to them that they threw the rest of the fruit into the fire. However, when these burned down, an extremely pleasant aroma filled the air – the first coffee was roasted.
The monks then repeated their experiment and now prepared the drink with the roasted seeds of the plant. The clergy loved the taste and were able to pray all night long without getting tired.
From Ethiopia to Yemen
Since this myth was passed down orally, no one can say with certainty where and when people first drank coffee. What is certain, however, is that coffee arrived in Yemen from Ethiopia in the 14th century. The slave trade probably contributed to its spread. The first coffee plantations were created in Yemen. The most important transhipment point was the port city of Mokka – which gave the drink its name. From there, coffee spread further in the Arab world and finally worldwide.
Already knew?
Incidentally, initially people poured hot water over the leaves and dried cherries of the coffee plant, similar to tea. It was only when coffee from mocha spread further in the Arab world that the preparation changed: the beans were roasted, finely ground and repeatedly boiled in water.
Coffee cultivation initially top secret
Yemen and some other Arab countries have long held the coffee trade monopoly. Accordingly, those involved kept the cultivation of the coffee top secret. To prevent trading partners from growing beans themselves, they were scalded with hot water, for example. That should germinate them. But in the 17th century, Indians managed to illegally bring germinable beans back home. A little later, the Dutch also stole plants and began to grow coffee in their colonies. This broke the monopoly.
Although the Coffea Arabica plant was not cultivated in Italy, it was already known at the end of the 16th century thanks to the doctor and botanist Prospero Alpini. He was personal physician to the Venetian consul in Cairo and described the coffee plant in detail in his work “De medicina Aegyptiorum”. The consul himself obviously valued coffee, which was used as a medicine at the time. The first beans quickly made their way from Egypt to Venice, where the history of Italian coffee began.
