Modern coffee, that mystical nectar of the gods, has its roots in several legends and folklore.
According to legend, the modern-day Oromo people of Ethiopia were the first to recognize the energizing effects of the coffee plant.
A different legend tells of 9th-century goatherd Kaldi, who noticed how excited his goats got when they nibbled on the beans of a certain bush, tried them for himself. When he discovered their enticing aroma from being set on fire, he ground up the beans, boiled them in water and enjoyed the first ever cup o’ joe.
However the first cup was created, it was in the mid-15th century that history books in Arabia first started to tell the tales of these magic beans, that when roasted and brewed became this “magic elixir” that was used to give energy and cure everyday common ailments.
They proved to be so popular that poets and authors began to sing coffee’s praises.
“O Coffee! Thou dost dispel all care, Thou are the object of desire to the scholar. This is the beverage of the friends of God.”
“In Praise of Coffee” ~ Arabic Poem (1511)
In fact, in Turkey in the 1500s, a woman could divorce her husband if he failed to provide her with enough coffee to her satisfaction. How’s that for a quickie divorce Vegas?
But, for Europeans, it was almost a different tale entirely. One that could have gone horribly wrong if not for Pope Clement VIII.
In the late 1500s, after coffee beans made their way to Venice through trade with the Ottoman Empire, the craze began to take over the land. The pope had been pressured by priests at the Vatican to denounce the “Muslim drink” and rid the Christian world of its satanist qualities.
In 1600, after giving the infidel drink a taste, he gave the brew his blessing, declaring it a Christian beverage.
The pope allegedly said, “This Satan’s drink is so delicious, it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall fool Satan by baptizing it.”
The first European coffee house would open in Rome in 1645. The rest would become history and now there’s a Starbucks on every corner.
Silver linings I guess.
