Coffee is one of the true joys of life for millions of people in all corners of the world. First believed to have been discovered in what is known today as Ethiopia, an old legend might explain this substance’s discovery; according to the tale, a farmer’s goat became unusually frisky after eating something it found on a bush. These, of course, were coffee beans, and after the farmer tried them and learned of their rejuvenating properties, word spread quickly of what coffee could do for human beings.
Christian Monks were the first to dry out the beans for safe shipping to distant monasteries. Once water was added back, the beans themselves were consumed along with the “juice” to give some extra energy to those during long quiet hours of prayer or work in the scriptoriums.
When coffee left Africa it quickly spread into parts of the Middle East, and from there, down into Turkey where the coffee beans were first roasted. Open fires were the method for roasting the first coffee beans that were first crushed and next boiled in water. That was the first version of coffee as we now know have come to know and love it.
When coffee first arrived in the European continent, the new black beverage fell under heavy scrutiny from the Catholic Church. Pressure was put on the pope to ban the so called “drink of the devil.” The pope, however, was already a coffee drinker. He surprised the world when he blessed coffee, and declared it a Christian drink.
The coffee houses that quickly overspread Europe soon became centers for intellectual exchange and inspired great conversations and even the creation of new art. The greatest thinkers of Europe adopted the beverage and extolled its many benefits to mental acuity and creative prowess.
Today, you can see how we owe a lot to our ancestors for the discovery of coffee, which still serves the same purpose today as it did in antiquity. People still like to gather in coffee shops in New Hampshire and exchange ideas, write poetry and novels, draw, or just surf the Internet while getting a little boost from the blessed bean. Coffee is clearly not going away anytime soon, and has become one of the largest agricultural industries on Earth.
