History of Coffee

Circa AD 800

Coffee was discovered about the time that Charlemagne was establishing the German Holy Roman Empire that extended over France, Germany, and much of central Italy.

According to legend, an Ethiopian goatherd named Kaldi discovered coffee. He noticed his goats dancing from bush to bush while eating the little red berries. The legend goes on to say that Kaldi took a few berries for himself and soon was frolicking with his herd.

Some people question the date and location that coffee was actually discovered. It seems very likely that coffee may have been discovered hundreds or even thousands of years earlier and its existence kept as a carefully guarded secret. Realistically, how many men would tell their friends that they were frolicking with a goat? Certainly, no one would want that bit of news getting back home.

Circa AD 1000 ~ 1300

Back to the legend. Coffee beans were first roasted in Arabia about 1000 AD because the rulers were still trying to keep their secret and didn’t want any fertile coffee beans/seeds to leave the country. Roasting the beans was the law of the land. By the 13th century, they’d learned that if the roasted coffee beans were crushed and boiled it was an exhilarating and good tasting brew.

Circa AD 1600

The Dutch are credited founding the first European owned coffee plantation in 1696, on colonial Java, which is now part of Indonesia.

And the rest of the history of coffee is actually history.

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