Introduction to Medieval Coffee - Class Handout

Leanne Coffee
  • Coffee is, in fact, “period”. If someone believes or says otherwise, chances are they are referring to their persona. Coffee was not readily available as a beverage in Europe until the 17th
  • Coffee’s origins can be traced as far back as the 5th Century in Ethiopia, where it was, and still, consumed as a food rather than a beverage.
  • Coffee has its origins in medicine, with hadith’s citing that the angel Gabriel gave Solomon a cure for an illness that was plaguing a village. Coffee was used as a medicine and a source of sustenance for long journeys.
  • There are several origin stories for coffee, from the tears of Waaqa, to the dancing goats of Kaldi, to the gift from the angel Gabriel to the Prophet.
  • Coffee was referred to as “qahwa”, which translates to wine. More accurately, it was called “qahwa al-bunn”, translated to “wine of the bean.” Coffee is known in history as the “Wine of Islam” as it was a beverage primarily consumed by Muslims and the people of the Ottoman Empire.
  • No one knows when coffee was first used as a beverage, but history tells of Sufi monks blending the leaves and the beans to make a beverage
  • By the late 15th century, coffee was making its way through the Near East, travelling from Kaffa to Mecca, Cairo, Istanbul, and Damascus.
  • In 1511, a man name Kha’ir Beg, a pious man who was responsible for the markets of Mecca, on June 20th, 1511, he began his campaign to prohibit coffee in Mecca, Cairo, and the Ottoman Empire.
  • Prohibition of coffee lasted until about 1555, when two Syrian men opened a successful coffee house in Istanbul. Thousands of coffee houses began to spring up, and the popularity proceeded to spread north.
  • Coffee houses, until 1555, were frequently subjected to raids as the sale of coffee was banned during the first half of the 16th
  • Within coffee houses, games, conversation, and debates took place. These were places where revolutions were planned, vices were fed, and coffee was consumed.
  • Suleiman the Magnificent was so enamoured with coffee, he had a dedicated staff member to make him coffee.
  • The coffee house was one of the few places outside of the home and the mosque that people could have social interactions. And it was often more convenient than hosting people at home.

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Bibliography - Update January 2026

Leanne Coffee

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Amenu, Teshome. “The Rise and Expansion of Islam in Bale of Ethiopia: Socio-Cultural and Political Factors and Inter-Religious Relations.” The Norwegian Teacher Academy Department of Philosophy of Religious Education, 2008.

Angelico, Irene Lilienheim, director. Black Coffee. National Film Board of Canada, 2007.

Anthony, F., et al. “The Origin of Cultivated Coffea Arabica L. Varieties Revealed by AFLP and SSR Markers.” Theoretical and Applied Genetics, vol. 104, no. 5, 8 Feb. 2002, pp. 894–900. doi:10.1007/s00122-001-0798-8.

Aregay, Merid W. “The Early History of Ethiopia's Coffee Trade and the Rise of Shawa.” The Journal of African History, vol. 29, no. 1, 1988, pp. 19–25. doi:10.1017/s0021853700035969.

Aregay, Merid W. “The Early History of Ethiopia’s Coffee Trade and the Rise of Shawa.” The Journal of African History, vol. 29, no. 1, 1988, pp. 19–25. Cambridge University Press, www.jstor.org/stable/182236.

Bacha, Ayehu, et al. “Buna Qalaa Ritual of the Boorana Oromo.” Üniversitepark Bülten, vol. 7, no. 1, 2018, pp. 26–39. doi:10.22521/unibulletin.2018.71.3.

Bacha, Ayehu, et al. “Coffee Ceremony of the Macha Oromo in Jimma Zone, Ethiopia.” International Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies, vol. 6, no. 1, June 2019, pp. 14–28.

Barton, Loukas. “First Farmers: The Origins of Agricultural Societies by P. S. Bellwood, and: The Peopling of East Asia: Putting Together Archaeology, Linguistics and Genetics Ed. by L. Sagart, R. Blench, and A. Sanchez-Mazas, and: The Origins of Pottery and Agriculture Ed. by Y. Yasuda.” Asian Perspectives, vol. 51, no. 2, 2014, pp. 321–333. doi:10.1353/asi.2014.0000.

Başarır, Selen. A Comparative Study on Design of Turkish Coffee Brewing Machines for Self-Service: “Telve,” “Kahwe,” and “Gondol.” Master’s thesis, İzmir Institute of Technology, 2005.

Beeley, Brian W. “The Turkish Village Coffeehouse as a Social Institution.” Geographical Review, vol. 60, no. 4, Oct. 1970, pp. 475–493. American Geographical Society, www.jstor.org/stable/213769.

Crawford, John. “History of Coffee.” Journal of the Statistical Society of London, vol. 15, no. 1, Apr. 1852, pp. 50–58. doi:10.2307/2338310.

Çizakça, Defne. “Long Nights in Coffeehouses: Ottoman Storytelling in Its Urban Locales.” Academia.edu, www.academia.edu/11811289/Long_Nights_in_Coffeehouses_Ottoman_Storytelling_in_its_Urban_Locales.

Harl, Kenneth W. “Great Ancient Civilizations of Asia Minor.” The Great Courses Series.

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Hassen, Mohammed. The Oromo of Ethiopia, 1500–1850: With Special Emphasis on the Gibe Region. University of London, 1983.

Hattox, Ralph S. Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East. University of Washington Press, 1985.

Hattox, Ralph S. “Coffee Houses and Urban Society in the Mamluk and Ottoman Lands in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries.” Princeton University, University Microfilms International, 1982, pp. 1–222.

Kaya, Mustafa Ismail. “Shops and Shopkeepers in the Istanbul İhtisab Register of 1092/1681.” Bilkent University, Ankara, 2006.

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Megenassa, Worku Derara. The Ethnoarchaeology of Coffee Production and Consumption: Three Case Studies from Southwest Ethiopia (Kafecho, Majangir and Oromo). Dissertation, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2019.

Pendergrast, Mark. Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World. Basic Books, 2019.

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The Dancing Goats

Leanne Coffee

 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.

A Little Cup of Coffee

Leanne Coffee

 Coffee was not originally consumed in the roasted bean, boiled water method that we are accustomed to today. The Oromo people of Ethiopia would take fresh coffee beans and mash them into a paste, mixing the paste with butter or animal fat and various herbs. This paste was then rolled into balls about the size of a billiard. There are tales that these would be tied in a leather pouch on the belts of warriors, sustaining them as they went into battle.

The original beverage consumed from the plant was a tea that is still enjoyed in parts of the world called Abyssinian Tea. The leaves of the coffee plant are dried and boiled in the same method as tea is. Whole coffee beans and a variety of spices would be added to the tea as it made. The roasting, grinding and preparation of coffee that we have come to expect in the middle ages occurred much later, as coffee’s influence and culture grew over the centuries, the methods in which it was consumed changed.

Turkish coffee, as was made popular when the prohibition of coffee was lifted, began its own rise in culture and influence as the coffee houses were established and began to thrive within society.

The following is my recipe for Turkish Coffee that I love to serve people at events. There is no filter, you can eat the grounds in the bottom of your cup if you so choose. More coffee is acceptable and encouraged.

Ingredients and Equipment

- Turkish ground coffee

-  Desired spices, to taste. I use ground cardamom, but you may use ginger or saffron.

- Organic natural cane sugar. If all you have is refined white sugar, I recommend drink

- Ibrik, a small saucepan is too big, an ibrik is essential for this.

- Cold water