Welcome to For the Love of Coffee. A weekly blog about all things coffee exclusively for the employees of Vienna Coffee.
In today’s post, I thought it would be fun to revisit the story of how coffee was first discovered. “The Legend of Kaldi” is widely known and generally accepted as the epic and historical event which changed the world and gave us the exquisite beverage we all know and love.
Let us go back in time in our imagination to the plains of an Ethiopian countryside in the mid-9th century. A humble goat herder named Kaldi sits on a gently-sloping hill just outside his village where he has a small flock of goats that he lovingly tends. It is a normal day for Kaldi as he tends his flock, providing food for himself and his animals, and enjoying the beauty and tranquility of the Ethiopian plains. The climate is tropical and the soil produces an abundance of vegetation, fruit, and shrubs of great variety.
On this particular day, Kaldi awakes from his afternoon nap and notices that some of his goats have wandered off. He stands up to see if he can spot them. Suddenly he hears them just over the hill baaing excitedly. Thinking his precious goats are being attacked by some wild animal he runs to see what is causing the commotion. To his astonishment, he sees his normally very calm and mild-mannered goats leaping and running around a particular bush and acting very energized. This unique bush had beautiful, red fruit in abundance amidst its leathery dark green leaves. The goats had been feasting on these berries and as a result, seemed to have received an abundance of energy. Kaldi was very curious about this and decided to try the berries himself. Apart from some bitterness, the berries were edible and had a pleasant sweetness. As was customary in those days, Kaldi decided to take the newly discovered fruit and boiled it to make himself some tea. He immediately noticed that the beverage also gave him more energy and alertness. Thinking he had discovered something of great value, he takes some of the fruit to the local monastery and shares it with the monks who lived there.
An early and famous rendering of Kaldi and his dancing goats
Most of the retelling of the Kaldi legend ends here, but some accounts continue the story saying that when Kaldi brought the berries to the monastery, the head Monk seeing the effects of the berries threw them into the fire thinking it was the devil’s work. As the berries began to cook in the fire, a pleasing aroma filled the air. The monks then took some of the cooked berries and made tea from them which resulted in an energizing beverage that the monks then used to help them stay awake during long periods of prayer. I don’t think it is a coincidence that coffee to this day is still served at most churches before service!
Vienna Coffee offers a wonderful blend called Kaldi’s Dance in honor of this famous legend of the discovery of coffee. The blend contains a sweet Harrar coffee from Ethiopia as well as two south-American beans. It is a dance of wonderful flavor notes including caramelized sugar, black tea, and plum.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and learned a little bit about the legendary origin story of the beverage that is loved around the world. Look for more posts in the future about the history of coffee and how it has traversed the globe to become the most highly-traded and sought-after food item in history!
It’s a GREAT day for coffee!
~Matt~
