History of Coffee

The Monks of a monastery in Kaffa (Ethiopia) knew of the energising effects of coffee well over 1,000 years ago. What attracted their attention was the remarkable behavior of their herd of goats. The animals were still active at night when they should have been sleeping like the other animals. The monks discovered that goats had grazed on a large bush with thick dark-green shoots bearing berries that turned from green to yellow and red. The monks dried the berries, made them into powder and poured water over it. From now on they had a beverage which kept them awake at night when they had to undertake long hours of prayer.

From the mountain forests of Kaffa, the coffee started its journey around the world. In the 15th century it arrived in Yemen, and from there found its way to Mecca, where it was forbidden as “devil drink” after civil unrest had broken out.

The Augsburg physician Dr. Leonard Rauwolf is credited as the first European to sample coffee during a trip to the Orient. Only a few decades later, coffee conquered Rome and Venice, where in 1645 the first coffee house in Western Europe opened.

For the worldwide popularity of coffee we have the Dutch to thank. It was they who first cultivated coffee bushes under glass in greenhouses, bred strong coffee plants and had them transported across the world.

In Vienna it was only a short time later that businessmen refined the coffee by the addition of honey and cream and made a beverage which appealed to the European taste far more than the bitter original. Today, this coffee is world famous as a Viennese Mélange.

The coffee house culture helped shape many towns and cities throughout Europe. In 18th century London alone there were more than 3,000, where members of all social classes were able to meet and exchange their opinions of God, the world, literature and music.