So how and where did the story of coffee begin? Who discovered it, and how did it come to be the coffee as we know it today? Well, we’ll have to go back many many years in history, to trace the beginnings of this world’s favourite and most consumed brew!

More than 1000 years ago in the land of Ethiopia lived a goat herder named Kaldi. One day he noticed that his goats were behaving in a very excitable and frisky manner, unlike their usual calm placid selves! He did some research and found that the goats had eaten of the berries of a particular shrub/tree, and it was these berries which made them behave in this animated way!

Kaldi brought his surprising tale to the abbot of a monastery nearby, who decided to taste of the fruit for himself. He poured boiling water onto some berries and made a drink of it, and found that the drink helped him keep awake! And this was how he and the other monks and abbots would drink of this concoction each night, and could stay awake for their long hours of prayer and meditation.

The legend then goes on to tell of how this discovery spread far and wide through the lands, creating a demand for the drink. There are many stories and tales about coffee and monks, but we do know that coffee trees were cultivated in the gardens of the monasteries in Yemen, and evidence suggest that coffee was cultivated 1000 years ago.

Today, coffee is one of the most consumed beverages and is also the world’s second most-traded commodity.