Coffee story

The Legend of Kalde

The legend of coffee originated in Ethiopia.

In the 7th century BC, Kalde, a goat herding boy, lived in a mountain village in Abyssinia, a precipitous mountain range in Ethiopia. One day, he saw a strange sight. It was the goats who suddenly made a fuss like a ball. After observing the goats, Caldy found that they became extremely excited and did not sleep at night after eating the fruit of a wild shrub at the bottom of the hillside. Curious Caldy personally picked the fruit and tasted it and found that he was full of strength and felt very happy. So he picked a few more fruits for nearby Islamic monks, and the monks found through experiments that the fruit had the function of expelling drowsiness. Coffee later became a drink used by Islamists to ward off drowsiness when they prayed at night.

The Legend of Omar

In 1258, an Arab Islamic monk, Omar, had the ability to heal patients with prayer and medicine. But Omar, who was expelled by the king after being framed by his political opponents, was exiled to Osama in Osama, Yemen, where he stumbled upon the fruit of coffee. One day, Omar was walking hungrily in the mountains when she accidentally saw a bird with strange feathers on the branches pecking at the fruit of the tree and making a very sweet cry. He then picked the fruit and boiled it with water. Unexpectedly, the boiled juice gave out a strong and attractive aroma, and the original feeling of exhaustion disappeared after drinking it. Omar collected many of these magical fruits and boiled the fruit into soup for them to drink when they were sick to refresh their spirits. Because he was loved by believers for doing good everywhere, his sins were soon forgiven. When he returned to Mocha, he was praised for finding this fruit, and people respected him as a saint. The magic cure at that time was said to be coffee now.

The etymology of coffee

The etymology of coffee is Kaffa. The etymology of the English word "Coffee" is actually the Ethiopian word "Kaffa" for strength. As the legend of Caldi says, "all over the body is full of strength". In fact, wild coffee is still grown in that part of Ethiopia called Capa. Coffee grown in Ethiopia began to spread along the neighboring Arab countries, with a wide variety of names, such as "Kahway", "Gahwa", "Qahwa", "Kahve" and so on. These words, which are judged to be another etymology of coffee, mean "wine from plants". Islamic culture must stay away from alcohol for religious reasons, and they drink coffee with the effect of expelling drowsiness instead. This is also the reason why it was called "Arab wine" in Europe before it was officially called "coffee" in the early 17th century. After the drink spread to Europe, it was called "Cafe" in France, "Kaffe" in Germany, "Kape" in Spain, "Caffe" in Italy, "Kafes" in Greece, "Koffe" in the Netherlands, and "Coffee" in Britain.