by Adrienne Brunner

Created on: August 30, 2008   Last Updated: September 21, 2008

Coffee has a long and somewhat murky background, complete with historical banishments and legendary stories, both true and untrue. Its humble beginnings have evolved from myths about goats to mass-cultivation to what is now undoubtedly one of the most popular and widely accepted addictions in the world, fueling many economies around the globe.

Although recorded as early as the 10th or 11th century, many of the early records of coffee are steeped in legends and tales, making it difficult to sort out the truths behind the stories passed down from generations. One specific legend contains the story that Ethiopian goat herders first experienced the coffee berry as having strange effects on goats, causing them to "dance" after having consumed the wild coffee berries.

The story also suggests that the goat herder then tasted the berries, and found himself rejuvenated and happier. The first historical record of coffee may actually have been in the 10th century, but these records cannot be confirmed. Actual instructions for preparation of coffee date several centuries later. Caffeine addictions began in the highlands of Ethiopia, where the coffee bean was first cultivated.

Abd al-Qadir al-Jaziri wrote a work in 1587 about both the controversies and history of the beverage, stating that a sheikh was the first to use the drink in approximately 1454. They had discovered it was useful for keeping one awake, and it quickly spread in popularity to other cities such as Mecca, Cairo and finally Istanbul. Traditional Islam did not allow the use of alcohol as a drinkable beverage, so coffee was seen as an acceptable alternative to drinking wine.

Coffee beans were first exported to Yemen, where they began to cultivate the bean, but although the first coffee house, Kiva Han, located in Istanbul, opened in 1471; it was not accepted with open arms. This was a dark time for the coffee bean, with much confusion about whether it was acceptable to drink coffee. In Africa and Yemen, it was used for religious purposes. The theological court in Mecca banned the use and consumption of coffee for its stimulating effects in 1511. As its popularity spread, however, the bans were overturned in 1524 by the Turkish Sultan Selim I.

The troubles of the coffee bean were not over, as similar bans were instituted in 1532 in Cairo, where coffeehouses and warehouses storing coffee beans were ransacked and shut down. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church grouped the use of coffee with other unacceptable behaviors

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