The True Beginnings of Coffee

The goats were behaving strangely. Instead of calmly foraging for food, they were running around, leaping up in the air, butting heads. The shepherd boy in 8th-century Ethopia, on the east coast of Africa, was worried. What could have caused this? When it continued the next day, he watched them closely and saw that they had found something new to eat; the small red berries and glossy green leaves of a strange tree. After they ate the berries, they started dancing and doing what for goats passes for singing--bleeding. When the goats showed no other effects from eating this strange, new food (like falling over dead, which the boy was afraid of), he tried some, too. He liked the way they made him feel.

Wow, what a story of the true beginning of coffee. Does this sound like you in the morning or maybe in the late afternoon after visiting your favorite cafe?

Cuisine and Culture. A History of Food and People. Wiley Publishing