Many coffee enthusiasts love to joke that coffee was discovered by goats in the sixth century and they’re not wrong. No one knows exactly when or where coffee was first discovered, but the most popular tale is that of Kaldi, an Abyssinian goat herd, where coffee still grows in the wild.
Kaldi was out in the hills with his goats one day, walking and playing light melodies on his simple flute. As they wandered about, his goats went into a grove of trees only to emerge full of life and energy. They danced and skipped about. Moving into the grove, Kaldi discovered that his goats had been eating these little red berries found on the bushes within the trees. Concerned, he herded the goats back home. Perhaps these berries were poison and the goats would not last the night, perhaps they had negative side effects and there would be no milk in the morning, or the meat they would eventually provide would be damaged and he and his family would become ill.
Yet in the morning, the goats were all fine. They eagerly took the paths that Kaldi herded them down, continuing into the grove they had found the day before. Once there the goats again ate the berries and began to dance about. Figuring that the beans were not toxic, Kaldi ate a few. He was overcome with energy and began to sing poetry to the hills and dance as he played his flute. He joined his goats as they danced back down the hills to the village.
Over time he became known as the happiest of goat herds and Kaldi of the Dancing Goats. Some time later, after he had discovered the little red berries, a monk passed by and observed the energy and enthusiasm of the goats. He asked Kaldi about the goats and was presented with the little red berry. This berry must have been a gift of the gods, because it solved a grave concern for the monk – he had been falling asleep during his prayers! When he ate the berries he was able to stay awake through his prayers. This knowledge left Kaldi’s valley, along with the berries, where he shared it with others of his faith. And thus coffee began it’s journey through the world.
This, of course, is a myth and a legend. You will see references in the coffee world to “The Dancing Goat” and to “Kaldi Coffee”, as it is a wonderful story to tell. But, as before, no one truly knows when coffee was discovered, or by who. This is just a lovely little story to tell while the coffee is brewing.