And even took quite some time before it was commonly enjoyed there. Several European heads of state prohibited its use, or saw it as an object of severe taxation. Since its discovery it has been considered a food, a wine, a medicine, and even an aphrodisiac.

The origin of coffee is shrouded in the myths of the Middle East. One story has it that the goats of a young goatherd named Kaldi one night didn't return from grazing. The next morning he went looking for them and found them dancing around a cluster of dark leafed shrubs with red berries. Kaldi suspected the berries from the shrubs might have something to do with their odd behaviour. So he tasted them. And soon he was dancing with his goats. He is said to have mentioned the experience to some monks of a nearby monastery and one of them, obviously an experimental type, decided to try the virtues of the berries himself. From boiling the berries he developed a beverage and soon neither he nor the other monks had problems staying awake at prayers. The news of the wakeful monastery spread and the success of the berries were assured!

Initially, coffee was thought to have originated on the Arabian peninsular in what is now Yemen, where Europeans first saw it growing. But subsequent evidence indicates that it must have originated in central Ethiopia, where, on high plateaus, "Coffea Arabica" still grows wild in the rain forests. How it got to Yemen is unknown but Arabian traders might well have brought seeds or small trees back with them. At any rate the Arabs were the first to cultivate coffee, and for a long time managed to prevent its spreading by refusing to allow fertile berries to leave the country. By the 13th century coffee was part of everyday life in Arabia; many coffee-houses had emerged where one could enjoy not only coffee but along with it, music, games and relaxed conversation.