A History of Coffee

Please note that the title says “A History of Coffee” Not “The History of Coffee”

I’m not sure that the delightful story of Kaldi tending his goats is true. It’s nice, but…

What is able to be proven is that the arabica coffee bean appears to have originated in the Ethiopian highlands, brought to Yemen during the Ethiopian occupation of the area. Somewhere around the 6th century.

It wasn’t used the way we use it now, it was either eaten like nuts or mixed with animal fats.

We owe much to a Moslem pilgrim named Baba Budan who managed to sneak some beans out of Arabia and back to his home in India. Offspring of his original plants still account for about 30% of the coffee in India.

From there the French and the Dutch get involved. The people in both of these areas, indeed much of Europe, enjoy coffee. A lot.

Since coffee doesn’t grow well in either of these countries, they begin carrying it around with them and planting it in stop over lands.

Coffee house pop up all over Europe, the first known coffee house is in Vienna.

One of the most famous coffee houses? Lloyd’s of London

Questions or comments? Let me know.

References: Coffee A Guide to Buying, Brewing & Enjoying by Kenneth Davids