In between sipping, your favorite coffee drink brewed from freshly roasted Arabica coffee beans, have you ever wondered where coffee originated?
Well, there are different schools of thought available on search engines that seek to answer that question.
One prevailing theory notes that coffee originated in Ethiopia. Legend has it that a goat herder named Kaldi who after stepping out into his field was shocked to see his goats missing. In the search for his missing goats, he went out to the forest only to find them gathered around a coffee tree dancing wildly. To his surprise, the source of their excitement was a red cherry hanging from several coffee trees. Intrigued by this, Kaldi himself tried the strange cherry and soon found himself dancing alongside his four-legged friends. He shared his discovery of this 'miraculous berry' with monks from a nearby monastery.
The legend goes on that the monks, initially skeptical, wondered why such a simple berry would have such a profound effect on man. Believing it contained satanic supernatural powers, the monks cast the berries into the fire as to 'exorcise their powers,' but they could not resist the coffee's pleasant aroma coming out of the fire. As a result, they ordered that the beans be drunk with hot water "so the goodness may flow through the liquid" and soon the beverage was used exclusively by monks in monasteries.
Within no time, coffee became a great beverage to church since it allowed monks to work late into the night translating Biblical scriptures!
Today, Ethiopia is the world's seventh-largest producer of coffee and the top producer in Africa. The country accounts for around 3% of the global coffee market. Approximately 60% of Ethiopia's foreign income comes from coffee, with an estimated 15 million of the population relying on some aspect of cash crop for their livelihood.
Over time, drinking coffee has become famous world over. Today, it is estimated that 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed each day across the globe. People in New York are expected to drink 7 times the amount of any other city in America. A study commissioned by the National Coffee Association surveyed 3,000 Americans about their coffee drinking habits. The survey found that 64 percent of Americans drink a cup of coffee every day, up from 62 percent in 2017, and the highest percentage since 2012. Furthermore, 79 percent of participants said that they had brewed a cup of coffee at home the previous day.
The character and taste of coffee are influenced by the region it is grown. To better experience how an area affects the flavor and aroma of the coffee, you only need to take a(virtual) tour of the different coffee growing regions in Africa which we offer in the "Shop" section. You will likely discover new flavors!