Coffee History

Coffee's story begins in the ancient coffee forests of the Ethiopian plateau, where legend says a goat herder named Kaldi noticed his goats became energetic after eating red coffee cherries. From there, coffee traveled to the Arabian Peninsula, where Sufi monks first cultivated it as a beverage to aid concentration during prayers.

By the 17th century, coffee had reached Europe, where coffeehouses became centers of intellectual life known as 'penny universities.' The drink fueled the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and eventually a global commodity trade that shaped the economies of dozens of nations.

The modern specialty coffee movement began in the 1960s and 1970s, emphasizing quality, origin transparency, and sustainable practices. Today, coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil, with a rich and complex history behind every cup.