Ethiopia appears to be a land of firsts. The first Homo sapiens are deemed to have been born in this African land about 400,000 years ago. Another first is a drink that many of the descendants of the first man love to drink until today --coffee. Most historians agree that it was in Ethiopia that coffee beans were discovered.
Coffee plants, which can either be shrubs or trees, were first found in the Kaffa region of Ethiopia. Owing to the similarity of the name "Kaffa" to "coffee", some experts are convinced that the name of the region is the etymology of the latter word. However, there are others who are skeptical. Those who deny that the word "coffee" comes from the name of the Kaffa region reason that it was unnecessary to come up with a name for the plant as it already had one --bunn or bunna*. As an alternative to "Kaffa", the Turkish word "kahve" is often presented as the root of "coffee", passing though the Italian language as "caffe" before it became "coffee" in English. "Kahve" itself comes from the Arabic word "qaha". It means "to have no appetite", which is believed to be caused by drinking coffee.
There are stories, circulating as early as the 1st century, about who and how coffee was discovered. There are at least two legends from Ethiopia, one of which points to the goatherd Kaldi as the first man to taste coffee, while the other mentions the Yemenite Sufi mystic Ghothul Akbar Nooruddin Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili, and a third comes from Yemen.
Kaldi's story likely started as an oral tradition related by the tribal leaders and elders to their sons and daughters. It was only in 1671 CE that it appeared in writing. He is said to have lived in 9th Century Ethiopia. He was an Oromo goatherd who observed that his goats invariably turned hyperactive, dancing and frolicking, after eating the berries of the bunn plant. Curious, he tried the berries himself and found that he too became bouncy and spirited.
Kaldi was a devout Muslim. Wanting to know what the imams thought about the berries, he gathered more and took them to the holy men. One of them, however, believing the berries to be from the devil, threw them into the fire. A rich and fragrant smell soon permeated the air, attracting the attention of the other holy men. They gathered the roasted seeds and ground them. Water was poured over the grounds, perhaps to see if the devil would float out of it. Kaldi and the imams, thus, created to world's first cup of coffee.
There is another Ethiopian story claiming that instead of Kaldi, it was a Yemeni Sufi mystic who first tasted coffee. He noticed that after eating the bunn plant berries, the birds turned very much alive, flying over the treetops tirelessly. Perhaps feeling tired from his travels and needing energy, he tried the berries himself and immediately felt revitalized.
Another story claims Yemen as the place where coffee was first discovered. Narrated in the Abd-Al-Kadir manuscript is the story of Omar. He was a follower of the Sheik Abou'l Hassan Schadheli from Mocha who was exiled to a cave in the Ousab desert. To ward off hunger, he foraged for food in the desert. Eventually, he discovered the red berries of the coffee plant. However, because they were too bitter, he could not eat them outright. Perhaps desperate for food, he roasted the berries, but this simply made them extra hard. Since it became even harder for him to bite the berries, he boiled them, hoping to make them soft. When the water was boiling and the aromatic smell of the coffee filled his cave, he drank the brown liquid, and became the first man to experience the invigorating and stimulating effect of coffee. News of this quickly reached Mocha and soon, Omar was recalled. He returned to Mocha bringing with him a lot of the coffee plant red berries, which he shared with the people. They loved its taste and, more important perhaps, it rejuvenating effect. Soon, they started thinking of it as a miracle drug. Owing to the many illnesses Omar's berries cured, he was soon believed to be a saint.
The stories are very interesting. Kaldi, Ghothul Akbar Noorudin al-Hassan al Shadhili, and Omar may or may not be real persons, but the stories reflect what is generally accepted by scholars and historians --that coffee came from Ethiopia and that the Sufi mystics of Yemen drank the beverage. At best, they only prove that coffee was an important drink even in those early times because people only have legends about men and women, events, or things that matter to them.
What is certain is that by the 13th century, coffee was being drunk in Arabia. A number of researchers even propose the earlier date of the 10th century. What is equally certain is that in the 15th century, Yemeni traders were not only trading in coffee berries or beans from Ethiopia, but also the plant. Yemeni farmers thus began cultivating them.
The Sufi mystics are known to conduct lengthy prayers in the early mornings and late nights. It was coffee that kept them awake at such hours. The drink also helped the Whirling Dervishes keep spinning during their rituals. Being associated with prayers and rituals, coffee soon became a religious drink, consumed by Sufis and Whirling Dervishes everywhere. From the Sufi monasteries in Yemen, the use of coffee spread to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, and as far away as Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, and Istanbul.
The trade in coffee was dominated in the 15th to 17th centuries by the port city of Mocha. Lying on the Red Sea coast in Yemen, it was strategically located in between Ethiopia and the modern-day countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. Its importance in the coffee industry is highlighted by the fact that it lent its name to a favorite coffee and chocolate drink --cafe mocha.
The Sufis and Whirling Dervishes were not the only Yemenis who enjoyed drinking coffee. Coffeehouses, or kahve kanes, were popular not only in Yemen but in most major Muslim Arab cities. Indeed, the Yemenis actually encouraged drinking coffee. Drinking coffee was only one of the things patrons enjoyed in the kahve kanes. Like our coffeehouses and bars today, they were centers for socialization and entertainment, complete with music, singing, and dancing. Free discussions were common among friends as they sipped their coffee. Inevitably, their arguments entered politics. Because the authorities were sensitive to criticism from the people, they banned not only the political discussions but the kahve kanes themselves.
Religion also played a role in the repression of coffee drinking. In 1511, a group of conservative orthodox Muslim imams from Mecca pronounced coffee as coming from the devil. The imam's ban was only lifted when the Grand Mufti Mehmet Ebussuud el-Imadi issued a fatwa to that effect, on orders of the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Selim I in 1524. The members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church were also banned from drinking coffee, but this was revoked in the mid-1800s.
In the 17th century, Venetian merchants were actively trading with the Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East. These traders thus brought home to Italy the Europeans' first taste of coffee.
You can read more interesting articles about coffee at the site
http://coffeemachinesandthings.com, and if you are interested in coffee machines, such as the
Cuisinart DCC-1200 Brew Central Coffeemaker, just click the link.
*The Bunn Corporation, a manufacturer of coffee and tea machines, was not named after the bunn or bunna, the Kaffa word for coffee. It was named after is founder, George Bunn.