We all know that coffee is one of the most popular drinks in the world and that it has been consumed regularly for hundreds of years. Moreover, it is a valuable traded commodity around the world and that makes it really valuable.
What most of us don’t actually know is how it was discovered and who decided that coffee is this “holy” beverage that will manage to change out morning every day. Nowadays, there are certain people who aren’t able to function properly without getting their daily intake of caffeine. That’s why it’s important to know how coffee was discovered and why is it such a popular product.
The Discovery
According to Wikipedia, coffee was discovered around the 15th century or even earlier, as there aren’t any sure reports on the exact time that it was invented or discovered and there are a lot of theories.
Coffee first appeared in Ethiopia, in its raw, undomesticated form and that’s what is considered to be the first encounter that coffee originally had with humans. It is actually a single Ethiopian legend that “proves” the coffee’s origins. It is said that it was discovered by a goat herder who was named Kaldi. He noticed that his goats were full of joy and very active after eating this fruit – the red fruit. After he tried it, he had the same experience and found it quite odd.
Furthermore, it was tested by more people and they had the same effect, as the natural dose of caffeine in the fruits is quite high and they experience an unnatural behavior – they couldn’t sleep at night and they had a lot of energy and productivity.
The Beginning
After discovering the fruit, people tried a lot of different things with it, but they didn’t think about roasting the coffee beans and making a beverage out of it. In the 13th century, they started roasting the beans and coffee’s journey, as we know it and drink it today, has begun.
Arabia is the one that gets the credits for coffee as we know it today. It is said that Muslims loved coffee very much and it was extremely popular because it had stimulant powers that helped them with the day to day activities and long sessions of prayers.
The Journey
After being really popular in Arabia and Africa, it started developing more and more as the years passed by. After that, Europeans started to either open coffee shops or manage to buy and sell it at a higher price. For instance, the Dutch founded the first European-owned coffee. Later on, the Spanish started growing coffee beans in Central America and then the French in the Caribbean Islands.
It wasn’t much until coffee drinking became a regular activity, as we know it today. People made a social activity out of it. In the 19th century, they used to consume it on a daily basis for energy purposes and for developing social skills.
As time passed by, people understood that coffee will be present in everyone’s life for a long time and they started to think about new ways of making money out of it. Okay, people were drinking coffee, but were there any ways that businessmen could make things even more interesting? Of course! And that is how coffee grinders were invented and all sorts of machines that would make the coffee even tastier and overall – greater!
Overview
It’s interesting when you think about it that way. People have the tendency to think that coffee existed since ancient times, like tea, for example.
So, since this product is so important in people’s life, it’s recommended to know a little bit about its history. Hopefully, this article taught you something new and interesting about coffee.