Kaldi the goat herder

Kaldi ethiopian goat herder

Whats more perfect than a cold sunday, with spots of snow on the ground outside? I see it this way, when it has to be cold outside its coffee time!! A nicely brewed cup of a full bodied coffee is absolutely the way of spending this sunday in my opinion.

BUT when I brewed my cup of coffee and sat staring at the window I thought to myself, you know about the beans origin and the brewing method, but how did it all start? I mean, why do we pick these red berries and then roast the crap out of them and finally add boiling water? Well I sat down and started researching, here are some of the history options.

The most commonly know story is about a ethiopian goat herder from the 9 century. One day he was out along with his flock of goats at a river side, when the goats starts grassing at some dried red berries. A while later the goat went high on caffeine and started jumping and was full of energy. Kaldi thought the berries had magical powers and took it along to a nearby monastery, where he saw a holy monk. The holy monk didn't approve the red berries and threw them into the fire, this started a chemical reaction of the beans from which an enticing aroma billowed. The now roasted beans were gathered from the embers, ground up and dissolve in hot water producing the worlds first cup of coffee.

There is a strong opinion towards the above history, because it wasn't appearing in writing until 1671 and is therefore considered to be an apocryphal story.

Another theory is that the discovery of coffee is contributed to Sheik Omar, according to an ancient chronicle. The chronicle stated that Omar was known for his ability to cure the sick through prayers. One day he was out walking towards a desert cave starving, he therefore picked and chewed the red berries from a nearby shrubbery, but was finding the taste to bitter. He sat a campfire and started to roast the beans because he wanted to improve the flavors, but they become hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the beans, which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. When he drank the liquid he was awake and sustained for days. When the stories of this miracle drug reached Mocha, Omar was asked to return and was made a saint. The coffee beverage hereby spread to the rest of the world.

Personally I don´t know which one to trust, if either one of them. I like the idea thug that some person has dried, roasted and boiled the coffee beans without knowing was he/she was doing and ending up with the most popular and loved beverage of the entire world.

Hope you enjoyed this little story session, enjoy your coffee !

// Hendrup