The discovery of coffee has enlarged the realm of illusion and given more promise to hope.
  ~Isidore Bourdon

A Very Brief History of Coffee

Few can dispute the impact the coffee bean has had upon our world. One can only look at all of the coffee franchises within a drivable distance to realize that coffee is as important as gasoline. Here we attempt to explore the question: Where do coffee beans come from?

The Legend of the Dancing Goat

According to a 1200 year old legend, we owe the discovery of coffee to goats. A delinquent group of goats that snuck away to a far off bush where they would eat coffee berries. The berries caused them to dance with delight and when Kaldi, who tended the flock, found them - he decided to eat the berries too.

Later, Kaldi shared the secret of the wonderous berries with a religious man who saw it as a good way to keep his own flock awake and involved during ceremonies. Then there it spread, from monk to monk, monastery to monastery, and soon the first cafes sprung up.

Coffee Spreads West

From that first taste of the coffee berry, the coffee bean began to travel through Egypt and Yemen. Now this was a slow journey that lasted until the 15th century, and probably due to the fact that they weren't shipping the coffee beans direct at the time.

When the Arabs finally got hold of it, they decided to roast the beans and make a nice drink out of it. This apparently was a hit, for in the next 100 years they dominated the coffee service industry spreading the bean through Europe and around the world at a very fast pace.

The New World Gets Hooked on Coffee

Coffee had been in the New World since the beginning. Yet it wasn't until after the Boston Tea Party that coffee really became the popular drink it is today. Since the tea had been thrown away, our forefathers switched to drinking coffee as the national standard. This may very well be the reason the U.S. won the revolutionary war. The English drank tea and the Americans drank coffee which by far was the superior drink for battle.

Well that last statement could be disputed but few will disupute what good fresh coffee can do for you in the morning.

Disclaimer: No part of this brief history of coffee should be considered research material, those wishing for more solid research should check out wikipedia or read a good book on the topic. We would also like to apologize to British tea drinkers, as they are our allies now and occasionally send us some entertaining pop bands. Also we advise that readers stop reading this tiny disclaimer, as it may cause them to squint uncomfortably and we apologize for that as well.