Where Coffee Began A History of Coffee from Ethiopia to the Middle East by George Eisenberg
Ethiopia appears to be a land of firsts. The first Homo sapiens are considered to have been born in this African land about 400,000 years ago. Another first is a drink that many of the descendants of the first man love to drink until today –coffee. Most historians agree that it was in Ethiopia that coffee beans were discovered.
It is in the southwestern region of Kaffa in Ethiopia that the first coffee plants were found. There are some experts who believe that the English word “coffee” came from the name of the region, Kaffa, where it was first discovered, but others disagree. This is because the plant, including its fruit, is called bunn or bunna* in the Kaffa area. As an alternative to “Kaffa”, the Turkish word “kahve” is often presented as the root of “coffee”, passing though the Italian language as “caffe” before in became “coffee” in English. Coming from the Arabic word “qaha”, which means “to have no appetite”, “kahve” indicates a drink that suppresses the appetite.
There are stories, circulating as early as the 1st century, about who and how coffee was discovered. One legend says a goatherd named Kaldi owns the honor of being the first to taste coffee, while another claims that honor belongs instead to a Yemenite Sufi mystic with the very long name of Ghothul Akbar Nooruddin Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili. There is also a third story that comes from Yemen.
Probably beginning as an oral tradition, Kaldi’s story was put to paper only in 1671 CE. Living in Ethiopia in the 9th Century among the Oromo people, he was a goatherd by trade. The story goes on to say that he became aware that his goats always became restless and manic after they eat berries from the bunn plants. Curious, he tried the berries himself and found that he too became bouncy and spirited.
Kaldi was a fervent follower of Islam. He wanted to know what the Muslim holy men thought about the berries, so he brought some to them. One of the holy men, however, thought the berries came from the devil and threw the berries into the fire. A rich and fragrant smell soon filled the air, attracting the attention of the other holy men. Wanting to know what was inside the berries, the imams gathered and ground them. Not really knowing what to do with the grounds, one of holy men poured water over them and, unintentionally, brought forth the world’s first cup of coffee.
Another legend involves a Sufi mystic from Yemen who was travelling in Ethiopia. Intead of Kaldi’s goats, he observed birds becoming very vigorous after ingesting the bunn plants’ berries. Like Kaldi, he tried the mysterious berry and experienced the same vigor and vitality.
There is a third legend that points to Yemen as the origin of coffee. As related in the Abd-Al-Kadir manuscript, Omar, a follower of Sheik Abou’l Hasan Schadneli from Mocha, was exiled to a cave in the Ousab desert. Seaching for food in the desert, he stumbled upon a coffee plant and picked its red berries. When he ate them, however, he found them to be too bitter. Perhaps because he could find no other food, he threw them into the fire to roast them. This, though, made the berries tough. As the berries were too hard to bite, he hoped to soften them by boiling. He found out, however, that the water turned dark brown and had a very pleasant aroma. He drank it instead, felt refreshed and revitalized, and is now remembered by Yemenis as the first man to taste coffee. Travelers across the desert brought news of Omar’s discovery to Mocha, and soon he was called back to the city. He returned to the city with plenty of the red berries which the people considered a miracle drug. Eventually, because his red berries cured many illnesses, Omar was made a saint.
The myths are very enthralling. The Ethiopian origin of coffee and its widespread use in Sufi monasteries can be seen from the legends. As for Kaldi, Ghothul Akbar Noorudin Abu al-Hassan al-Shadhili, and Omar, we probably will never know if they were real people. What we can be sure of is that coffee must have been regarded as an important drink. This is because legends are only spun around important things.
Today we can be certain that coffee was drank in Arabia by the 13th century. Not everybody is convinced about the date, prefering instead to push it back to the 10th century. Perhaps thinking that it would be more economical to grow their own coffee plants, the Yemenis of the 15th century began importing not only coffee berries and beans from Ethiopia, but also the plant
Staying awake during their lenghty nighttime prayers may have been a problem among the Sufi mystics. It is for this reason that they loved the drink. And it also kept the Whirling Dervishes alert during their rituals. Being associated with prayers and rituals, coffee soon became a religious drink, consumed by Sufis and Whirling Dervishes everywhere. It spread to Mecca and Medina, and to the cities of Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, and Istanbul. The trade in coffee was dominated in the 15th to 17th centuries by the port city of Mocha. Lying on the Red Sea coast in Yemen, it was strategically located in between Ethiopia and the modern-day countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. Its importance in the coffee industry is highlighted by the fact that it lent its name to a favorite coffee and chocolate drink –cafe mocha.
It was not only the Sufi and Whirling Dervishes who enjoyed drinking coffee. So did the laity. Kahve kanes or coffeehouses sprang not only in Yemen but all over the Muslim world. The Yemenis actually promoted drinking coffee and the growth of the coffeehouses to support trade. Although the patrons enjoyed drinking coffee, it was not all they did in the kahve kanes. They were also places for socialization and entertainment. There were music, singing, and dancing, very much like today’s coffeehouses and bars. Free discussions were common among friends as they sipped their coffee. Inevitably, their arguments entered politics. Having entered forbidden ground, the kahve kanes were soon closed.
Apart from politicians, a group of conservative Muslim Imams from Mecca preached that coffee comes from the devil. It had to take a fatwa issued by the Grand Mufti Mehmet Ebussuud el-Imadi in 1524 on orders of the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Selim I to lift the Imams’ ban. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church also forbade the drinking of coffee. It was not until the middle of the 1800s that their members were allowed to drink the brew.
North African and Middle Eastern Muslim traders were already doing business with their Venetian counterparts by the 17th century. Thanks to these merchants, the Europeans, and eventually the world, learned about coffee.
*The Bunn Corporation, a manufacturer of coffee and tea machines, was not named after the bunn or bunna, the Kaffa word for coffee. It was named after George Bunn, the corporation’s founder.
There are more interesting articles about coffee at www.coffeemachinesandthings.com. There are also reviews about coffee machines, like the Cuisinart DCC-1200 Brew Central Coffeemaker, DeLonghi EC155 Espresso and Cappuccino Maker, or Mr Coffee DRX5 Programmable Coffeemaker.
Article Source: http://www.earticlesonline.com/Article/Where-Coffee-Began——–A-History-of-Coffee-from-Ethiopia-to-the-Middle-East/1308098
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