History of coffee in Africa

Studies have shown that coffee is native to the Kaffa province southwest of Ethiopia. Coffee Arabica grew here wild. And it was here that the local inhabitants began using the bean for their own, evolving purposes. 

The origins of coffee are shrouded in mystery and brim with unanswered question.

The most common story is that, in year 850, it was a shepherd, called Kaldi, who discovered the use of the coffee bean about four centuries ago, in a region of Abyssinia (Ethiopia).

The shepherd noticed that some of his goat became hyperactive after eating red cherries from nearby tree. 

This happened several times. The shepherd then decided to taste these strange berries for himself. Raw berries were hard to chew, so he took some to the village. The shepherd decided to roast them to make them edible.

He tasted some roast beans and his sleepy eyes got wide open. All village people liked it as it kept awake during long prayers.

At first, coffee beans were chewed rather than ground, roasted and turned into liquid. Later people crushed the roasted seeds into powder and poured boiling water to make a tasty drink.

Another legend suggested that coffee was consumed by the Oromos and other contemporaneous tribes in ancient Ethiopia about 1500 – 3000 years ago but mostly as snack not a drink.

There was also a legend gives the name for coffee or mocha. An Arabian was banished to the desert with his followers to die of starvation. In desperation, Omar had his friends boils and eat the fruit from unknown plant. Not only did the both save exiles, but their survival was taken as a religious sign by residents of the nearest town, Mocha.

The plant later migrated from Ethiopia to Arabia, where it was developed as a beverage 800 years ago. By the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, cultivation had become common in Yemen.

In order to protect their new product, Arabian rulers mandated that no beans could be exported from the region until they had been fully roasted or boiled, both being processes that destroy the seed’s germinative powers.

Coffee first spread to Europe from northern Africa by way of Venice, Italy, a leading port during the sixteenth century.
History of coffee in Africa