The History of Coffee
No coffee experience is complete without knowing the story behind the black drink that has conquered the world. Join us on a journey through time and continents.
The legend of the goat Kaldi (circa year 850)
The story begins in Ethiopia sometime in the 9th century. A goatherd named Kaldi discovered that his goats became unusually lively after eating red berries from a certain bush. He took the berries to a nearby monastery, where the monks' abbot boiled the berries – and was very disappointed by the bitter taste. Annoyed, he threw the berries into the fire. Suddenly, a wonderful aroma spread through the room. The monks fished the roasted berries out of the embers, crushed them, and poured hot water over them. The world's first cup of coffee was born.
From Ethiopia to Arabia (15th century)
Over the next centuries, knowledge spread from the Ethiopian highlands to Yemen. Here, coffee trees began to be cultivated systematically, and Yemen became the world's first commercial coffee producer. The word "coffee" comes from the Arabic "qahwa," which originally meant wine – because coffee was seen as a sober substitute for alcohol.
The first public coffeehouses opened in Mecca and later in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1554. They quickly became social gathering places – so popular that the authorities tried several times to ban them because men apparently spent more time talking and playing chess than praying.
Europe discovers coffee (17th century)
In 1615, Venetian merchants brought the first coffee beans to Europe. Initially, coffee was met with suspicion – Pope Clement VIII was even presented with the matter because some priests called it "the devil's drink." The Pope tasted, blessed the coffee, and reportedly said: "It is so good that it would be a shame to let the unbelievers have it alone."
In 1650, the first coffeehouse opened in Oxford, England, and in 1683, Vienna's first coffeehouse opened – after the Turks had left sacks of coffee beans following their failed siege of the city.
Revolution in the colonies (18th century)
The Dutch were the first to smuggle live coffee trees out of Yemen. In 1714, the court of Louis XIV gave a single plant as a gift to itself – it became the ancestor of millions of coffee trees in the Caribbean, South America, and Asia.
In 1727, a Portuguese officer brought a single coffee cutting to Brazil by seducing the governor's wife in French Guiana. Today, Brazil is the world's largest coffee producer – thanks to a flower and a rendezvous.
The second coffee wave and specialty coffee (2000-present)
In 1971, three college friends opened Starbucks in Seattle and started the modern coffee revolution. In Denmark, we only really began to talk about the origin of the bean, roast level, and brewing methods in the 2000s.
Today, we talk about “third wave coffee” – where coffee is treated like wine: focusing on terroir, single estate, microlots, and light roasting that highlights the bean's natural flavor nuances. This is exactly the philosophy we live by at Home Roast.
From an Ethiopian goat to your morning cup – coffee has survived bans, wars, smuggling, and the pope's blessing. It has created coffee houses, revolutions, and countless excuses to meet with friends.
Now it's your turn to become part of the story.
☕ Cheers to the next 1200 years of coffee!
