When discussing the history of coffee, there is a frequently repeated tale of a 9th century Ethiopian herder who noticed his goats seemed to dance and have more energy after consuming the berries of a certain bush. The herder gathered some of the berries and took them to a holy man who did not like the idea of using them and threw them into a fire. As the coffee beans inside the berries roasted in the fire, they emitted their appealing aroma. The beans were removed from the embers and, after being crushed, were mixed with hot water – thus the first cup of coffee was made. While a charming story, the tale never appeared in writing until approximately 800 years after it supposedly took place.

In fact, it is more likely that coffee was first brewed and drunk as a beverage (similar to the way we brew it today) in the 15th century. At this time it was being used in Sufi monasteries near the Mocha port in Yemen across the Red Sea from Africa. Coffee spread from Mocha throughout the Middle East by the 16th century.

Coffee entered Europe through the Venitian port in Italy. In 1600, Pope Clement VIII was urged to ban the drink that originated from the Muslim world. He instead baptized coffee making it an acceptable beverage for Christians. In 1616, a Dutchman named Pieter van den Broeck defied an Arab ban on the exportation of coffee plants by smuggling coffee seedlings out of Yemen. The Dutch grew coffee crops in Java and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) at the latter part of the 17th century. The British East India Company helped popularize coffee in England. In fact, Queen’s Lane Coffee House in Oxford, which opened in 1654, is still in business. And, during the Battle of Vienna in 1683, coffee was captured from a fleeing Turkish army and introduced to Austria and Poland.

In the early 18th century coffee plants were brought to Martinique and San Domingo (now Haiti) in the Caribbean. Eventually San Domingo came to produce 50% of the world’s coffee. African slaves, used on both coffee and sugar plantaions in San Domingo, began a revolution in 1791 that would lead to an end to slavery in that country as well as the collapse of that country’s dominance in coffee production. Brazil, the current world leader in coffee production, received the coffee plant in 1727. By the latter half of the 19th century, coffee had spread to much of Central America. Unfortunately, at that time, many native peoples were removed from their lands and exploited in the production of coffee.

Coffee came to North America during the Colonial period (possibly introduced by Captain John Smith, a founder of the Jamestown colony of Virginia). Even though coffee replaced beer as New York City’s favorite breakfast beverage in 1668, Americans still preferred alcoholic drinks and coffee remained less popular here than in Europe. The first American coffee shop was opened in 1676 in Boston. During the Revolutionary War with England coffee’s popularity grew. Merchants hoarded supplies and raised prices. Coffee became even more popular during the War of 1812 when the British cut off tea supplies to the United States.