The many legends told about coffee are interesting. Let's see a few of them together...
Beliefs and legends
Many have heard the legend of the Chehodet monastery in Yemen, in which a monk, having learned from a shepherd named Kaldi that his goats and camels remained "lively" even at night if they consumed certain berries, made a beverage using the berries in the hope of remaining awake to pray longer.
Mohammed is the subject of one legend:it is said that one day the Prophet felt very ill and the Archangel Gabriel came to his aid, offering him a potion sent directly from Allah.The beverage was dark like the kaaba, the Sacred Black Stone of Mecca. Mohammed drank it, was instantly revived, and was "able to unseat forty knights and satisfy as many women".
Another ancient legend claims that the beverage is a source of ecstasy, able to carry the spirit to celestial spheres.
Add yet another story, told to students of the Maronite monk Antonio Fausto Nairone, a teacher of theology at the Sorbonne in the 1700s, says that in Arabia a shepherd named Kaddi, having brought his goats to pasture, was bewildered when he noticed that after the animals ate the fruit of a certain plant they immediately appeared agitated. The shepherd was unable to explain this, so he addressed the question to the elderly Abbott Yahia.The Abbott, guessing the properties of the plant, used it to make a richly warm and bitter beverage, that warms the body, rejuvenating it, banishing sleepiness and tiredness.
A similar legend claims that coffee was discovered by an Iman in an Arab monastery, who made a decoction and served it to all the monks in the convent, who remained awake without effort all night.
Yet another legend tells of an Arab monk, Ali Ben Omar, who found himself alone on a voyage to Mocha, the city to which he was accompanying his master Schadeli, who died during the trip.An angel appeared to him, giving him courage to continue toward the city, where a terrible plague raged.There, with his prayers to Allah, he was able to heal many of the sick, including the daughter of the King, with whom he fell in love.Despite all that had happened, the king turned the monk away. Forced to live in solitude, in order to appease his hunger and thirst he invoked the help of his master, who sent him a magnificent bird with many-colored feathers and a beautiful song. Omar approached to admire the bird, and upon reaching the place saw a tree with white flowers and red fruit:the coffee plant.He collected a few berries and made a decoction, which he often served to the pilgrims to whom he offered shelter.As news spread of the magical quality of the beverage, the monk was welcomed back into the kingdom with great honor.
A final legend says that an enormous fire spread through a vast area of Abyssinia covered by native coffee plants, wafting the aroma of what could be considered an enormous natural roasting machine over dozens of kilometers.
Other legends trace the origins of coffee to the uplands of Abyssinia, where its true origins appear to lie.Whatever the case may be, reports from many travelers provide evidence that coffee was used widely throughout the Islamic East at the end of the 16th century.
In the West, coffee spread through Venice, where it is believed that the first coffee shop opened in 1640, although some believe that one had been opened even earlier in Livorno.
There even seems to be a story about coffee beans in the Bible (First Book of Kings), in which David brings "roasted grains" as a conciliatory gift.
Some scholars claim that coffee was the bitter beverage that Homer called useful "against dislikes, grudges, and the memory of pain", and that Helen added to wine to dry the tears of guests at Menelaus' table.
Like all historic ingredients, it is no easy task to trace the origins of coffee, beginning from the word itself, which probably derives from the Turkish, "Kahveh".
Other legends traced the origins of coffee to the uplands of Abyssinia, but the fact is that in 400 the use of coffee was documented in Mecca, and from here it spread throughout Islam, to the extent that in 1511 the earliest prohibitions were issued to remove it from religious functions.
In 1544 in Istanbul, the first coffee shops opened, and quickly became a popular trend.
Italian cardinals denounced this dark beverage of Islam that "came from the Devil", until Clement VIII declared that "the aroma of coffee is too pleasant to be the work of evil, and it would be a shame if Muslims held it exclusively."
It was initially considered a pharmacy product and was very expensive. The Yemenite port city of Mocha was the only point of supply. In order to protect their franchise, before selling the product, the Arabs boiled the green coffee beans so the plant could not be grown elsewhere.
But in 1616 the Dutch merchant Pieter Van der Broeke managed to steal a few coffee plants, entrusting them to the Amsterdam botanical Gardens, and soon the first Dutch plantations sprang up in Asia, as did French plantations in the Antilles.
Greater historical consistency appears in the 14th century, a period from which we have news of the slow but progressive spread of coffee through Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and Turkey.
Everywhere it turned up, it instantly won great favor with the population.And that's not all. The earliest scientific evidence about the goodness of coffee and its therapeutic qualities also date to this period.
Avicenna, a great Arab doctor, prescribed it as a medication, as did his colleague Rhazes.
Having spread through India and other Asiatic countries, coffee was the "new beverage" that "is the color of the night, has the exotic perfume of the harem, and the intense flavor of the fruits of the desert."
The Ottoman Turks drank coffee all day, to the point that it replaced wine because it was considered a convivial beverage.In fact coffee was also called the 'Wine of Arabia' or the 'Wine of Islam'.
Coffee is very widespread in Ethiopia, and is prepared according to a precise and elaborate ceremony that is full of charm.
