According to legend, the earliest accounts of coffee drinking can be traced to Ethiopia in the 9th century, when a goatherd named Kaldi noticed his goats became energetic after eating coffee berries. However, the earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking dates to 15th century Yemen. From Yemen, coffee spread to the Arabian Peninsula and was used by Sufi Muslims to stay awake for prayers. It then spread to North Africa, Turkey, and Persia in the 16th century. Coffee was introduced to Europe in the 17th century after Baba Budan smuggled coffee seeds out of Yemen to India. Coffee then spread worldwide and became one of the most valuable global commodities.

2. Legendary accounts:
According to legend, ancestors of today's Oromo people in a region of Kaffa in Ethiopia were believed to have
been the first to recognize the energizing effect of the coffee plant. However, there is no direct evidence that
has been found earlier than the 15th century indicating where in Africa coffee first grew or who among the
native populations might have used it as a stimulant. The story of Kaldi, the 9th-century Ethiopian goatherd
who discovered coffee when he noticed how excited his goats became after eating the beans from a coffee
plant, did not appear in writing until 1671 and is probably apocryphal.
Other accounts attribute the discovery of coffee to Sheikh Omar. According to an ancient chronicle (preserved
in the Abd-Al-Kadir manuscript), Omar, who was known for his ability to cure the sick through prayer, was once
exiled from Mocha in Yemen to a desert cave near Ousab (modern-day Wusab, about 90 km east
of Zabid).Starving, Omar chewed berries from nearby shrubbery but found them to be bitter. He tried roasting
the seeds to improve the flavor, but they became hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the seed, which
resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. Upon drinking the liquid Omar was revitalized and sustained for days. As
stories of this "miracle drug" reached Mocha, Omar was asked to return and was made a saint.
View of Mocha, Yemen during
the second
half of the 17th century.

3. Historical transmission
View of Mocha, Yemen during the second half of the 17th century.
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the 15th
century in the accounts of Ahmed al-Ghaffar in Yemen.[It was here in Arabia that coffee seeds were first roasted and
brewed, in a similar way to how it is prepared now. Coffee was used by Sufi circles to stay awake for their religious
rituals. Accounts differ on the origin of the coffee plant prior to its appearance in Yemen. From Ethiopia, coffee could
have been introduced to Yemen via trade across the Red Sea. One account credits Muhammad Ibn Sa'd for bringing
the beverage to Aden from the African coast.
Other early accounts say Ali ben Omar of the Shadili Sufi order was the first to introduce coffee to Arabia.
According to al Shardi, Ali ben Omar may have encountered coffee during his stay with
the Adal king Saladincompanions in 1401. Famous 16th-century Islamic scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami notes in his
writings of a beverage called qahwa developed from a tree in the Zeila region.
Over the door of a Leipzigcoffeeshop is a sculptural representation of a man in Turkish dress, receiving a cup of coffee
from a boy.
By the 16th century, coffee had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa. The first coffee
smuggled out of the Middle East was by Sufi Baba Budan from Yemen to Indian subcontinentin 1670. Before then, all
exported coffee was boiled or otherwise sterilised. Portraits of Baba Budan depict him as having smuggled seven coffee
seeds by strapping them to his chest. The first plants grown from these smuggled seeds were planted in Mysore. Coffee
then spread to Italy, and to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americas.
Over the door of a Leipzigcoffeeshop is a
sculptural representation of a man in Turkis dress,
receiving a cup of coffee from a boy.

4. Second only to oil, coffee is the most valuable legally traded commodity in the world. We
love it, we rely on it, and we drink it in massive quantities. It is estimated that 2.25 billion
cups of coffee are consumed each day worldwide. New Yorkers are said to drink 7 times the
amount of any other U.S. city, which is why it may seem like there is a Starbucks on every
corner of Manhattan. Famed French writer and philosopher Voltaire was rumored to have
drunk 40 – 50 cups per day. Coffee is a daily ritual in the lives of millions of humans around
the globe. Where exactly did this caffeinated phenomenon begin?[17:50, 24.1.2019] Razvan
Dragonu: efore coffee became our morning beverage of choice, it appeared in a variety of
different preparations. In its most basic, unprocessed form, coffee is a cherry-like fruit,
which becomes red when ripe; the coffee bean is found at the center of the red coffee fruit.
Early on, the fruit were mixed with animal fat to create a protein rich snack bar. At one
point, the fermented pulp was used to make a wine-like concoction; incidentally, a similar
beverage was made from the cacao fruit, before the advent of chocolate, which goes to
show that humans are especially adept at finding new ways to imbibe. Another drink that
appeared around 1000 A.D. was made from the whole coffee fruit, including the beans and
the hull. It wasn’t until the 13th century that people began to roast coffee beans, the first
step in the process of making coffee as we know it today.

5. The modern version of roasted coffee originated in Arabia. During the 13th century, coffee was
extremely popular with the Muslim community for its stimulant powers, which proved useful
during long prayer sessions. By parching and boiling the coffee beans, rendering them infertile,
the Arabs were able to corner the market on coffee crops. In fact, tradition says that not a single
coffee plant existed outside of Arabia or Africa until the 1600s, when Baba Budan, an Indian
pilgrim, left Mecca with fertile beans fastened to a strap across his abdomen. Baba’s beans
resulted in a new and competitive European coffee trade.[17:50, 24.1.2019] Razvan Dragonu:
Coffee plants reached the New World during the early 18th century, though the drink wasn’t
really popular in America until the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when making the switch from tea to
coffee became something of a patriotic duty. The Civil War and other conflicts that followed also
helped to increase coffee consumption, as soldiers relied on the caffeine for a boost of energy. It
may have started a bit later here, but Americans love coffee just as much as the rest of the
world.[17:51, 24.1.2019] Razvan Dragonu: In the 1960s, a certain awareness for specialty coffee
started to grow, inspiring the opening of the first Starbucks in Seattle in 1971. Today, the grass-
roots coffee movement continues to grow with the increase of small independently-owned cafes
boasting sustainable, locally roasted, fair trade beans. Coffee has become an artistic trade that is
valued for its complexity of flavors and terroir, much like wine.From a simple cup of black coffee
to a complex, multi-adjective Starbucks order, each coffee drinker has their own favorite way of
indulging in this caffeinated wonder-drink.

6. Sources:
“Coffee.” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 28 Feb.
2013.Davidson, Alan (2006). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford
University Press, UK.The History of Coffee Culture in America. Dir. Devin Hahn.
Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Media, n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013.“Maxwell
House Coffee – “Good to the Last Drop!” Myths, Legend or True Trivia on
Theodore Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt Association, n.d. Web. 08 Mar.
2013.Ponte, Stefano (2002). “The ‘Latte Revolution’? Regulation, Markets and
Consumption in the Global Coffee Chain.” World Development (Elsevier
Science Ltd.), n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2013.Smith, Andrew F. (2007). The Oxford
Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford University Press, NY.