Behind a cup of coffee lies a legend spanning a thousand years. From the red berries discovered by Kaldi, an Ethiopian shepherd, in the 5th century AD, to coffee's first arrival in the Arab world via Yemen, and from qahwa to today's "coffee," what kind of journey has the name of coffee undergone? This article sorts through the three great legends of coffee's origin—the shepherd's story, the legend of the Arab monk Omar, and the romantic adventure of French officer de Clieu, who risked his life to bring coffee saplings to Martinique—taking you through coffee's romance from the silent forest to the world. At the end is a curated recommendation from Front Street Coffee, adding a professional guide to your coffee journey.

Where exactly does the name "coffee" come from?

The story traces back to 5th-century Ethiopia. Legend has it that a young shepherd named Kaldi discovered that after his flock nibbled on some unfamiliar red berries, they became extraordinarily excited and frisky. Unable to contain his curiosity, Kaldi and his companions tasted a few too, and immediately felt full of energy and completely free of drowsiness.

Word spread quickly, and these red berries gradually became part of the local food tradition—they were coffee. Later, coffee spread to the Arab world, with its first stop being Yemen. The Arabs called it qahwa, originally meaning "wine," and the pronunciation of coffee today stems precisely from this.

The Turks pronounced qahwa as kahwe, the Venetians turned it into the Italian caffee, and finally the English replaced the a with an o, fixing it as the "coffee" we say today.

Legendary Stories

Coffee has long been an indispensable drink in our daily lives, but looking back on the long journey of coffee's discovery, one can still feel the passion and adventurous spirit poured in by countless people—like an epic romance.

How exactly was coffee, growing quietly deep in secluded forests, discovered by humans and then accepted around the world? When did its cultivation begin? Among the many legends of coffee's discovery, two versions are the most widely circulated and most talked about: one is "The Shepherd's Story," and the other is "The Arab Monk." The former belongs to the Christian account of discovery, while the latter is classified as the Islamic account.

The Shepherd's Story

In 16th-century Ethiopia, a shepherd one day suddenly noticed his flock jumping and frolicking nonstop in place. Puzzled, he observed carefully and realized the sheep had eaten a certain red berry.

So he took these berries to the monastery for the monks to taste, and after eating them, everyone felt refreshed and clear-headed. It is said that from then on, these berries were used as a stimulant and became deeply favored by the monks.

The Arab Monk

In 1258, a chieftain named Sheikh Omar was exiled by his tribe for a crime. He wandered to Wasaba (in Arabia), far from his hometown of Mocha, and by then he was so hungry and exhausted that he could no longer walk. As he sat resting on a tree root, he suddenly noticed a bird perched on a branch, uttering a cry more melodious than any he had ever heard.

He looked closely and saw that only after the bird pecked at the fruit on the branch did it open its throat and sing such a beautiful song. Omar then gathered all the fruit in that area, put it in a pot, added water, and boiled it. Before long, a rich aroma wafted from the pot, and after taking a sip, he not only found it delicious but also felt his weary body and mind greatly revived.

So he gathered many of these miraculous fruits and boiled them into a soup for the sick. In the end, because of his good deeds everywhere, the people of his hometown forgave his crime, allowed him to return to Mocha, and revered him as a "saint."

Another highly romantic coffee story concerns a French naval officer—Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu, who was stationed at Martinique at the time. As he was about to leave Paris, he managed by every means to obtain some coffee trees and decided to bring them back to Martinique.

That was around 1720 or 1723. He may have made the trip twice, because the seedlings he brought the first time all failed to survive. What is certain is that de Clieu eventually set sail from Nantes with one of the finest saplings, which he had carefully tended all along. The sapling was kept in a glass case on deck, which could both prevent seawater from splashing in and provide insulation.

De Clieu's diary records how his ship was threatened by Tunisian pirates and how it survived a storm. The diary also mentions that a man on board was jealous of him and tried to destroy the little tree, even breaking off a branch in one struggle. Later the ship ran aground, and drinking water could not be replenished, so de Clieu used his own drinking water to irrigate the sapling.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.