The story of coffee begins not in a cafe, but on the high plateaus of Ethiopia with a goat herder named Kaldi. One day, he noticed his goats were full of energy, dancing and bleating excitedly into the night. They refused to sleep.

Kaldi traced their strange behavior to a small shrub with bright red berries. Curious, he tried a few himself and soon felt a surge of energy. He brought the berries to a local monastery, hoping to share his discovery.

The head monk was unimpressed. He declared the berries the “devil’s work” and threw them into a fire. But as the beans inside the berries roasted, they released a rich, enticing aroma. The monks raked the roasted beans from the embers, ground them up, and dissolved them in hot water. They had just brewed the world’s first cup of coffee.

That night, the monks found the drink kept them awake and alert through their long hours of evening prayer. The legend of Kaldi and his dancing goats, while likely just a story, points to the true origin of coffee: the ancient coffee forests of Ethiopia.

From Ethiopia, coffee made its way across the Red Sea to the Arabian Peninsula, specifically to Yemen. The port of Mocha became the center of the world's coffee trade. Sometime in the 15th century, Yemenis began to cultivate coffee systematically, transforming it from a wild plant into a valuable crop.

Sufi monks in Yemen were among the first to embrace coffee. They brewed a drink from the berries to help them stay awake and focused during long nights of religious ceremonies and prayer. The drink was known as qahwa, a term that originally meant wine.

As word of coffee's stimulating effects spread, its popularity grew beyond the monasteries. Coffee houses, known as qahveh khaneh, began to appear in cities across the Arabian Peninsula. These became hubs of social activity, where people gathered to talk, listen to music, and drink coffee.

For a long time, Yemenis guarded their coffee plants carefully, boiling the beans before export to prevent them from being germinated elsewhere. This monopoly ensured that for centuries, the world's coffee came almost exclusively from this small corner of the world.

Ready to test your knowledge on the origins of coffee?

From these humble beginnings in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, coffee began a journey that would eventually take it across the entire globe.