African Coffee

Columbian coffee is probably the most famous coffee in the world. This is so for two reasons; first it is pretty good good coffee, the second is Juan Valdez. Who NOT a real person. But does it matter? Not really. He and his donkey, loaded with supposedly fresh picked coffee beans is an icon, a believable character representing a product.

So what does this have to do with African coffee? Nothing really except I would like to propose a delightful and believable icon for African coffee. How about a dancing goat? What? You don?t know the legend of Kaldi and his dancing goats? Let me tell you then.

It was a dark and stormy night..uh oops…wrong story.

Travel back to the ancient land of Abyssinia in 800 A.D. The people were farmers, herders and traders under the rule of the last of the Aksumite kings. All of southern Africa was united under his rule and the country flourished; the envy of its neighbor Egypt and its trade rival Persia.

Our story takes place in the Abyssinian Mountains of Kaffa which spring up between dense forests in the area now known as Ethiopia. At that time a palate of cool green greeted the eye and the land was awash in contentment. Even the goats danced with abnormal exuberance.

One particular day a goatherd by the name of Kaldi observed his joyous charges and thought to himself, Ack! It?s hot out here! What?s with the goats today? So he watched carefully as they ate the bright red cherries from a cluster of bushes. Kaldi knew that goats would eat almost anything as long as it was not poisonous so in curiosity he picked several of the pretty fruits and ate them himself. They had an interesting taste but were otherwise not very remarkable. So on they moved climbing higher and higher up the mountainside.

It was not long before Kaldi was dancing down the path alongside of his goats. They frolicked the afternoon away and spent the night under the stars high up on the mountain.

Morning found Kaldi stiff and a bit sore as they made their way down the mountainside toward their home. The goatherd did not fail to notice the goats again stopping by to eat from the ‘cherry’ bushes. Being hungry he helped himself to several handfuls as well. The bright energy and happy feelings returned to Kaldi confirming what he suspected the day before. These were not normal ‘cherries’.

I am sure it would surprise no one to know that Kaldi returned to eat the cherries every morning there after! But our story continues…

Kaldi was a gracious man and shared the delights of the Kaffa bushes or so the legend goes. The story says that there was a monastery near the village where Kaldi lived. Upon hearing that some of the monks had problems with staying up all night and praying he brought them a small basket of the coffee cherries. It was said that from that time forward the monks were “uncannily alert to divine inspiration.” These monks were eager to share their finding with others cloisters and it was through their travels that the grace of the kaffa plant spread the world over.

Welllll…not quite the world over but that is another story!  While Africa is the birthplace of coffee, there are many interesting legends and fun facts about its rise to global popularity.  Come back soon.

If you found this article interesting, I have another blog about India Coffee that you might want to check out.