The Origin of Coffee History several legends about the origin of coffee

Origin of coffee: where coffee comes from, some people think it originated from a region called Kaffa in Ethiopia, which is similar to "coffee". However, the early inhabitants of Kaffa called coffee Djimmas (pronounced "jima"), and the Arab world did not use Kaffa to represent coffee, so this is most likely a Western phonetic paraphrase. Early Arabs used to call coffee Choua, Kauhi, or Coffa. After the Turks introduced coffee from Arabia, they changed the name Qahwah(good wine) in the Middle East to Qahveh in Turkish pronunciation. Later Europeans called coffee according to this pronunciation. Italians changed Qahveh to Caffe, while English-speaking countries replaced a with the vowel o, which evolved into today's Coffee. According to historical records, the pinyin word Coffee first appeared in England in 1601 AD. All historians seem to agree that coffee was born in the Kaffa region of Ethiopia, but the first people to cultivate and consume coffee were Arabs, so the name coffee is believed to derive from the Arabic Qahwah, meaning "plant drink."

There are different accounts of coffee's origin, and the credible ones fall into two broad categories: the popular "shepherd legend" and the popular Islamic "omar sheikh legend."

Legend of Shepherd

The legend of shepherd originated from Lebanon linguist Fast Neroni, in his 1671 book "Do not know sleep monastery" records: In the 6th century AD, in the Ethiopian plateau of Africa Kaffa region (Kaffa), there is a shepherd named Kadi, to the new steppe to graze, suddenly found sheep jumping, excited abnormal, even at night also can not sleep, so ran to Abyssinia monastery for help. After investigation by the abbot and the monk, it was discovered that the goat was particularly excited by eating the red fruit on the bush; so he picked it back and boiled it into soup to drink, and it was indeed unable to sleep all night. So the abbot distributed this soup to the monks who dozed off during the evening worship, and the effect was excellent, and the refreshing medicine spread. This is the origin of coffee.

Legend of Chief Omar

The legend of Sheikh Omar is a story recounted by the Muslim Abu Dar al-Qadi in his 1587 Book of Coffee Origin. The stage for this story is in the mountains of Yemen in the thirteenth century: in 1258 Sheikh Omar, banished by his people for crimes, wandered to Wasaba, Arabia, far from his hometown of Mocha. He was hungry and tired. When he sat on the root of a tree to rest, he found a bird sitting on a branch and singing in a most pleasant voice never heard before. He looked carefully and found that the bird was pecking at the fruit on the branch before it made this wonderful cry, so he picked the fruit in that area and put it into a pot to boil it with water. Soon after, it began to emit a rich fragrance. After drinking it, it not only felt mellow and delicious, but also relieved physical and mental fatigue. Therefore, he picked many of these magical fruits and gave them soup to drink when he met patients. Because of his good deeds, the king and his old friends absolved him of his sins, invited him to return to his hometown, and praised him as a "saint."

It is now recognized that coffee originated in Ethiopia in Africa. Coffee cultivation and horticulture originated in Arabia.

Source: Network