From Discovery . . .

A curious child? A wise guru? A mother gathering? As interesting as the story must be, it is impossible to find out who picked the first coffee cherry, ate it, and felt its magical effects. And when questions about such wonders arise, myths emerge. The most widespread myth about coffee comes from Yemen, where the discovery of coffee is attributed to - not mysterious healers or the Gods - but to goats.

Once upon a time, a goatherd named Kaldi awoke to discover that his goats, who were usually calm and responsible, had not returned home. So he went off to find them. He soon found them dancing, frolicking, and singing in a most intense state of arousal. At first perplexed, Kaldi soon noticed that his goats had been eating some bright red berries from a nearby shrub. Told of the event, monks at a nearby monastery concocted a drink using these berries. And Allelujah! Fuelled by the drink, the monks soon found they could pray and pay homage for hours on end. A particularly curious monk, seeing a coffee branch in flames and smelling its sweet aroma, got an idea. He pulled the berries from the fire, ground them down, and prepared a new black beverage. As myth has it, this brew was the first coffee.

Myths aside, we can trace the origins of coffee as we know it back to 2000 BC to 850 AD in Ethiopia, where people created a thick mush consisting of animal fat and coffee. From this concoction, the Ethiopians later discovered coffee roasting. Since the coffee tree grew wild only in Ethiopia, a coffee culture wouldn't emerge until the tree found its way to Yemen in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. And emerge it did. Thanks to the numerous caravans, the whole Muslim world would soon fall in love with the black brew. European travellers, upon being introduced to the drink, called it chaubé or chaova; the drink which granted "courage and vigour." It wouldn't be long before they would bring the exquisite beverage back home.

En Route to Europe

Coffee could be found in Venice as early as 1570, but only as medecine. The first beans were introduced in Marseilles in 1644. However, the actual mass selling of coffee was started by European coastal companies such as the East India Company and the Dutch Company of the West Indies.

In 1658, the Dutch started to grow coffee in Ceylon from plants picked fourty years earlier in Mocha and cultivated it at the Amsterdam Botanical Gardens. It wouldn't be long before Yemen lost its monopoly on coffee and found itself second in terms of production. The popularity of coffee then percolated throughout the world. The French planted coffee trees in Guyana and the West Indies in 1723. And in 1727, Brazil would smuggle a couple of royal French beans to seed the world's largest coffee plantations. The British proceeded to plant coffee trees in Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Colombia, etc.

Coffee Under Louis XIV

Coffee appeared in Paris in 1669 under the reign of Louis XIV. The king himself barely enjoyed his first contact with this "breuvage d'Orient" which was presented to him by a Turk. Whatever the case, coffee was publicly sold in Paris as of 1672 in a shop in the St-Germain fair. Even if the drink had its detractors and was sold at the price of gold, Parisians had already acquired a taste for it. It was only from 1750 that coffee carved a place of choice among the common people.

Meanwhile, Louis XIV acquired two coffee trees. The first tree died, but legend says that the second was at the root of the French plantations in the West Indies.

Prohibition of Coffee

Coffee has not always had it easy. Throughout history, entire religions and empires have prevented its sale. In fifteenth century Rome, coffee was considered Satanic and Christians were forbidden from drinking it. However, when the pope, Clement VIII, learned to appreciate the charms of the drink, the ban was lifted. In Islam during the sixteenth century, Emir Khair Bey would cite the Koran to ban this "euphoric" drink, and in Constantinople, coffee merchants were shut down. In the seventeenth century, coffee was more popular in England than it was in the rest of Europe . . . except among the nation's women. Believing that their men were forsaking their families for coffee shops, England's women rallied to create the famous "Women's Petition Against Coffee," which persuaded Charles II to order the close of all cafés in 1676. Facing strong reaction from the male public, he soon reversed his decision.

Coffee Lands in South America

In 1723, Gabriel-Mathieu de Clieu, an infantry captain based in Martinique, convinced the king's gardener to give him a coffee tree so that he could cultivate coffee in the West Indies. On the journey overseas, the captain guarded his tree day and night and even shared his water rations with it. Weathering storms and pirate attacks, de Clieu reached his destination and planted this tree. Within a year and a half, the first fruits were gathered and quickly spread to all fertile lands. At the end of the third year, Martinique had millions of coffee trees, with small crops in Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue.

Coffee Goes to Brazil: a history of theft?

A Portuguese lieutenant is responsible for bringing coffee to Brazil. On mission to Cayenne, he tried to acquire some coffee beans from the French governor. He was flatly denied; the governor would never give something so precious. Later, the lieutenant accompanied the governor's wife to the garden, where it is believed that she slipped some beans into his pockets. In 1727, Brazil began its career as a coffee-producing nation.

Coffee in Colombia: a punishment

In Colombia, missionaries not only spread the word of God, they spread millions of coffee beans throughout the country. Whenever a missionary admitted sins in confession, the priest told the missionary to repent by planting coffee beans. It was a more productive activity than reciting Ave Marias and Pater Noster. They say that the country was populated with coffee trees at a miraculous speed.

...To modern times