Today we are used to taking the existence of coffee in our lives for granted. Phrases like: "Let's go and have a coffee", "Can I buy you a coffee?", "I really need a coffee to wake me up" are the order of the day. We are talking about one of the most popular drinks of all, to be precise, 2.6 billion cups are consumed in the world every day.
The origins of coffee are shrouded in mystery and legend. It is said that it all began around 1200 AD in the KafFa region, present-day Ethiopia, one of the places still known today for the production of excellent quality coffee. Here a shepherd monk named Kaldi noticed that his goats became unusually lively and restless after eating the fruits of a certain shrub.
Curious about the energizing effect of these berries, he decided to try it himself, immediately realizing that the reviving effect worked not only on goats. The discovery did not go unnoticed and soon the local monks began consuming these fruits to stay awake during the long nights of prayer. From here the marketing of coffee beans began, first in Ethiopia and then towards the nearby Arabian peninsula. Here the drink had a huge diffusion thanks also to the absolute ban, imposed by the Islamic religion, on the consumption of alcohol.
Through the Ottoman Empire, coffee reached the Balkans and then to Europe, where initially its circulation was slow so it was marketed as a very expensive elite drink.
Its global diffusion continued and during the 1700s the cultivation of coffee plants developed in the French and Dutch colonial possessions, and subsequently in the large producers of Latin America. The increase in supply meant that the price decreased and the spread of the drink spread to all social classes.
Before concluding we move a little more on the legendary side, adding a pinch of fantasy to the story. It is said that initially coffee was consumed green then, following a large fire in a warehouse in the Arabian Peninsula, coffee was roasted for the first time. Consumers realized that it was much tastier this way; it was precisely from that moment that coffee began to be consumed as we know it.
Today coffee is one of the most loved and consumed drinks in the world with a history that has its roots in a distant and fascinating past, made up of travel, trade and culture.