Coffee is a magical substance that provides morning comfort, energy through the day, and sometimes evening enjoyment – particularly with a good book or in good company. The aroma and taste of coffee is equally complex, if not more so, than a fine wine and aficionados know that where the coffee comes and how it is roasted are both crucial to the final taste which helps define the coffee experience.
Where does coffee come from? The short answer: all
over the world. The long answer: the legend of Kaldi, the legend begin in Ethiopia. Since legends are fun and coffee is too, we suggest you brew a cup of Red House to enjoy with this blog post…go ahead, well wait…ok now that, that is settled,
Our legend begins in Ethiopia with a goat herder named Kaldi. While he was out with his goats doing whatever it is goat herders do, his goats were doing what goats do and eating pretty much everything. Evidently, the goats all crowded around this one particular plant that had what looked like cherries and they were munching away – and boy, were the goats energetic. Kaldi did what, I imagine, any good goat herder would do and ate some of the cherries. Man, did he get lucky that he was eating coffee beans in their early stages.
So, while Kaldi and his goats are munching coffee cherries and tooling around the lands, some monks were observing the ruckus. One brave monk decided to eat some of this plant and he was happily surprised to easily stay awake through the evening’s late prayers.
I applaud Kaldi and the monks for eating straight up coffee beans – if it hadn’t been for the goats’ discovery and the men sharing in that, we might not have coffee. Well, assuming the legend is true. However, I prefer my straight up coffee beans covered in luscious dark chocolate.
The history of coffee does not end with goats and monks – oh no, and Internet (use “Housers” here somewhere), it gets even more exciting with pirates! And coffee bans!
Part deux coming soon, but in the meanwhile, I am going to go pour a second cup of history and ponder the story that I am sipping from my giant mug.
-Jen G.
