A BRIEF HISTORY OF COFFEE

 

Although it is 1100 years since coffee was first mentioned in literature by Rhazeq (900 A.D), its discovery has remained hidden in the mists of antiquity. Legend has it that a young Abyssinian goatherd, named Kaldi, noticed to his amazement, that after chewing the bright red berries from a tree , the goats pranced in an unusually frisky manner. He too tried the berries and enjoyed their stimulating effect. A monk from a neighboring monastery, who found Kaldi in this invigorating state, decided to try the berries with his friars. They all felt alert during their night prayers. Soon the news spread and all the monks of the realm where chewing the berries before their night prayer.

 

 

 

So much for the legend, in fact, there is a consensus among historians and botanists that coffee, especially the genus coffee Arabica, is indigenous to Ethiopia where it continues to grow wild in the regions of Kaffa, Illubabor, Bale and Gamo Gofa. The noted botanist P.G. Sylvain, after making a thorough and lengthy research in south western Ethiopia , confirmed this by saying that ‘this county is the mother land of world coffee and it is astonishing why the coffee shrub is called coffee Arabica'. Etymologists interpret ‘coffee' as derivation of the Ethiopian province ‘Kaffa'.

 

It is from Ethiopia that coffee spread to Arabia, India, Ceylon, Java, Martinique, Surinam, Brazil, Colombia, and then back to African countries such as Kenya and Tanzania. The roasting of the coffee bean began in the 13th century in Arabia. Some scholars have found enough facts to prove that the beverage was known in Ethiopia since time immemorial.

 

 

C'mon ,Enjoy Ethiopian Coffee! You would be lov'n it.