COFFEE

When was coffee first grown?

     A legend says the coffee plant first grew in Kaffa, a province in south Ethiopia, where it was discovered by a goatherd called Kaldi about the year 850. Kaldi’s goats were reported to have skipped and pranced in a strange manner after feeding on an evergreen plant. The goatherd, so the story goes, tried some of the berries himself and excitedly dashed to the nearest town to tell of his find, which was called coffee after the name of the province.

     Another theory is that the word coffee is probably derived from the Arabic qahwah. Certainly coffee was introduced into Europe from Arabia during the 16^th and 17^th Centuries. The first licence to sell coffee in the United States was issued to Dorothy Jones of Boston in 1670. The coffee houses of the time became famous meeting places for discussion.

     As the drinking of coffee became more popular, its production spread to Java, Haiti, Dutch Guiana, Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rica, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, the Hawaiian Islands and, in this Century, Africa.