…no clear boundaries and a point of departure. But there are many theories and legends that shed light on this wonderful drink’s history in one way or another. All rays begin with Ethiopia, a country of extraordinary landscapes and hot climate. Active volcanoes, cool underground caverns, huge waterfalls and even higher mountains – this is the area widely considered the birthplace of coffee Arabica.
According to one story, there was an Ethiopian goatherder named Kaldi. One day he noticed one of his goats being extremely active after eating the berries from a tree. The goat didn’t even want to sleep at night. So, then he decided try the berries himself. The effect was not long in coming. Then Kaldi decided to share his discovery with others. He gave some berries lo the local monk from the monastery nearby. The monk noticed that after consuming the berries he was active and energetic for long hours. So, he shared this finding with other monks and so the coffee popularity began.
Ethiopian coffee is rich with original flavour and aroma because of the geographical (altitude, soil, temperature, rainfall, topography, ecology), genotypic and cultural variety within the country. Coffee has been growing in Ethiopia for thousands of years, in the forests of southwestern highlands. The word coffee drives from Kaffa, name of a place in the South Western Ethiopian highlands where coffee was first discovered.
On the other worlds part, in South America there was discovered another type of coffee. Actually, it is used to believe that the Robusta coffee started in Brazil due to the Portuguese Lt. As the story goes, he seduced the Guianese’s governor’s wife to acquire her help smuggling the seeds across the border—apparently it worked. Robusta beans grown in the grasslands tend to be fairly unremarkable with mild earthy notes and the earthy, spicy, nutty, sweet, and low-acidity bean that makes for a great blend foundation.
Some people used to crush the coffee berries and eat like the mousse. In other populations coffee was eaten as a porridge. There are facts showing the coffee being crushed and added to the wine in some cultures. Roasted, ground, boiled or raw – coffee became so popular in modern world. There are so many different coffee types nowadays – Turkish coffee, Greek Coffee, Ethiopian coffee and so on.
Read about the coffee types in our next article.
