The History Of Coffee

By Damon Waks

The history of coffee begins as most histories do: in myth. In our case, we look to the 10th century legend of Kaldi the goat herder. Accounts of the tale differ in details, and it is most likely allegorical, with first written accounts only appearing in the journals of 14th century European traders. 

But the birthplace of coffee is undisputed - the fertile, mountainous regions of Southern Ethiopia. These luscious lands are the backdrop for our mythological origin story.

Each day, Kaldi tended to his goats in the grassy planes, but one morning he saw they were nowhere to be found. After a little searching, Kaldi came upon his goats nibbling at the strange, cherry-like fruits of a small tree he had never before paid attention to. The goats were behaving extraordinarily; they ran in circles, gnawing erratically at the ground, performing dance-like bodily jerks and contortions. Intrigued, Kaldi tried one of the fruits for himself, and experienced a euphoric rush. Excited by his discovery, Kaldi rushed to the village druids to show them his new finding. The mystical elders, sceptical of this odd specimen, assumed it must possess something of evil spirits and threw it in the fire. What ensued was the richest, most enchanting smell these villagers had experienced, so they fished out the roasted beans, put them in water, and coffee was born.

This would not be the last time the charms of this dark beverage would win over cynical figures of power.

Centralised in Yemen, the Arabs were the next to catch the scent of coffee, growing and trading it around the port of Moka. This was not without controversy however, as Islam forbids the use of intoxicants. In fact, the possible root of the word may come from the old Arabic word for wine ('Kahwah'). The zenith of coffee culture in the Islamic world flourished under the Ottoman empire, where coffeehouses first sprung up. Alcohol outlawed, these were the spots to get together and chat - as the Turkish saying goes: ‘The heart wants neither coffee nor coffeehouses. The heart wants friends. Coffee is just the excuse.’

One topic of conversation that came up in these establishments was the competencies of leadership in the empire, a topic of conversation Sultan Murad IV wasn't best pleased by. So, under the guise of religious prohibition, the consumption, production and distribution of coffee was banned, punishable by beheading. Proceeding sultans, who actually gave the drink a taste, loved it so much that the ban was lifted.

When coffee reached Europe in Vienna in the early 17th century, the Pope had similar puritanical religious concerns, which were quickly pushed aside when he tried the beverage for the first time. Europeans were enthralled with this new drink, adopting the infamous Ottoman coffeehouse culture in cities such as Venice, Amsterdam and Paris. The additions of sugar and cream made coffee more palatable and increased economically to feed this new appetite. Thus, coffee growing colonies expanded, fuelled by slave labour in Indonesia and Latin America, where the majority of beans are still produced today.

Though the monetary gains from this exciting product were huge, perhaps the biggest change coffee caused was philosophical. Water at the time wasn't safely drinkable yet, so the average European consumed several litres of beer each day. Essentially a byproduct of the expanse of wheat and barley fields, beer was drunk with breakfast, during a work break, at lunch, and long into the evening. If not beer, it was wine. 

Either way, this was not exactly the formula for a sharp mind.

When the commodity was switched to something more sobering, the social topics of conversation concerned increasingly intellectual matters. Coffeehouses were known as 'penny universities', as you paid a coin for your cup, then sat around listening to the greatest minds of the era. Figures including Newton, Leibniz, Rousseau and Voltaire were frequent coffeehouse visitors, the latter claiming to stomach a remarkable 72 cups a day. 

The French thinkers are of particular note as some historians argue that by providing a cognitively stimulating beverage and an open place for discourse, coffee inadvertently triggered the Enlightenment.

It wasn't just ideas borne of the coffeehouse, but tangible companies too, with Lloyds of London and the New York Stock Exchange created within their premises.

One group who weren't necessarily the biggest fans of this new habit were women, who, aside from being excluded from the club, believed coffee had a curbing effect on their husband's sex drives. ‘The excessive use of that dry, enfeebling liquor,’ read the 1674 women's petition against coffee. The idea of caffeine bluntening the libido seems puzzling, until you learn that coffeehouses were not single-floored establishments. Upstairs, local sex workers would hang out, where men, after knocking back a few cups of Joe, would go to (ahem) expel excess energy. After a long day of this routine, the men returned home exhausted to their disappointed wives.

So how were these coffees drunk? How did the long list of variations that are now standard in every major coffee shop appear? Well, the Ethiopians, Turks and Arabs consumed the coffee just as ground beans and hot water. Turks and Ethiopians still drink coffee this way, with some of the former engaging in the practice of reading the remaining granules in much the same way as tea leaves. It is also customary for Turkish women to put salt in their prospective husband's brew - if he finishes the cup without complaint, this is a sign that he will be resilient and committed in the marriage to come.

As previously mentioned, the Viennese added cream and sugar to mask some bitterness (the popularised Italian name for this, ‘latte’, simply meaning milk). The cappuccino was christened as its foamy pale top layer resembled the colour of Capuchin monks' robes. Amid the fast-paced industrialising working life, Italians developed the espresso to get their caffeine fix quicker. Often mispronounced ‘expresso’, the drink is actually named for the innovative technique of using pressure to rapidly 'press' out the coffee's essence into a shot. The Americano came when US troops, stationed in Italy during the Second World War, added hot water to the espresso, finding it too strong for their tastes.

Nowadays, coffee is a universally appreciated flavour, present in cakes, ice cream, sweets, and the delightful tiramisu. The most consumed legal drug on the planet, billions of us are thankful for the existence of coffee. Whether we direct that gratitude towards the faraway harvesters in tropical climates, the chemists who stabilised instant coffee granules at the turn of the 20th century, those early Yemeni traders, or Kaldi and his dancing goats, I hope you too can appreciate the vastly fascinating tales behind this unassuming drink.  When we grasp that ceramic handle, or clasp that cardboard Costa cup, we are tasting hundreds of years of history at our fingertips.