When Was Coffee Invented? (Solved & Explained!)

Coffee comes from the seed of the Coffee Cherry found on the Coffee plant and was originally discovered on the Ethiopian Plateau in 700 A.D. The Coffee drink was invented around the same time by Ethiopian Monks looking to stay up all night for prayer. 

Although the history of Coffee is sometimes convoluted and hard to trace, there are two good theories that most historians lean towards on how the first cup of coffee was made. Below we’ll take you through the journey of Coffee from plant to your morning cup of joe.

Where is Coffee Originally From?

Although tracing the exact origins of Coffee is difficult, most historians agree that the first cup of coffee came from the ancient Coffee Forest found on the Ethiopian Plateau. This particular grove of coffee plants had been around for centuries before coffee and its effects were discovered.

Originally found by a local goat herder sometime in 700 A.D, and used by Ethiopian monks for many years, coffee quickly became a commodity that would spread around the world in mere centuries.

How was Coffee First Discovered?

The most famous, and widely believed, a story about the discovery of Coffee on the Ethiopian Plateau has to do with a goat herder named Kaldi. As the story goes, Kaldi was out with his goats and noted erratic behavior in his herd after they consumed the red berries from the Coffee grove.

Kaldi, fascinated by his ‘dancing goats’, brought the red berry back to the local monastery where he told the monks about what he had discovered. Once the monks had tested out the berries, they found that they could now easily stay up all night to pray. Thus Coffee was born.

Who first used Coffee?

The Ethiopian monks that Kaldi had brought the berries to are recognized as being the first ones to use Coffee. Once they discovered the energizing qualities of Coffee, the drink became a staple among them. The story of how they thought to make it into a drink has two different versions.

Some believe that the monks had simply tested out the berries by brewing them, and discovered they were able to stay awake all night for prayer. Others think that the monks had thought the berries to be demonic and threw them into the fire, accidentally creating the roasted coffee.

What Was Coffee Originally used for?

Whatever the way Ethiopian Monks first thought to use the Coffee bean in a drink, the outcome of the discovery of Coffee was for it to become a staple among the monasteries in Ethiopia. This is because of two simple reasons.

Reason one is the energizing qualities that caffeine has; Coffee became very popular among the monks because of its ability to allow the monks to stay awake for nightly prayer and their daily duties. The second reason that played a part is the addictiveness of caffeine found in Coffee.

How was Coffee Used?

Coffee was either brewed by the monks using the whole berry or by roasting the berry in an open fire until only the bean remained. Whichever way, Coffee was used as an energizer for the monks of the monastery who had extensive daily and nightly duties.

Whichever way the story is told there is one common outcome for Kaldi, who brought the coffee cherry to the monastery – the monks were ecstatic at Kaldi’s discovery and the new drink that made their jobs much easier.

How did Coffee Become What it is Today?

Due to the energizing and addictive nature of Coffee, the drink was quickly popularized and spread across the world like wildfire. As it passed from North Africa to the Middle East to Europe and across the ocean to the Americas, Coffee was being transformed by the people that drank it.

The invention of the French Press and the Espresso machine changed how coffee was prepared and consumed. And because of its fierce popularity, naturally energizing qualities, and of course, its addictiveness, coffee became a staple part of many people’s daily routines.

What is Coffee Used For Today?

The reason why coffee is consumed today hasn’t changed much in the last 1300 years since its initial discovery on the Ethiopian Plateau. Coffee is a staple in most households today – evident by the astronomical statistic that around 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed on a daily basis.

The caffeine found within coffee has two effects – it’s both energizing and addicting. Coffee is used by people in order to power them throughout their daily duties whether that is work or school. Today, there are multitudes of cafes and coffee shops that make coffee easily accessible.

What is Coffee?

Coffee, in its simplest form, is a bean or seed that comes from the Coffee Cherry of the Coffee Plant. The Coffee plant is a large, woody evergreen that can grow several feet tall. Although there is such thing as Coffee Forests, the actual Coffee Plant is not a tree, but rather an evergreen.

The Coffee Bean is now roasted, ground, and brewed to create a widely popular drink called ‘Coffee’. This brown, nutty drink is consumed all over the world and is highly addictive due to the caffeine found in the drink. The Coffee we drink today is vastly different from what it started as.

How Many Cups of Coffee are Consumed per day?

It is estimated that around 1.4 – 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed daily all around the world. The average American consumes about 3 cups per day, the average Norwegian drinks about 4 cups per day, and the average Finnish person will consume up to 7 cups of coffee daily.

Once you add up all the countries and the number of coffee drinkers in those countries and how many cups of coffee they consume, it’s easy to visualize just how large the coffee industry is today. In fact, coffee is the second-largest traded commodity in the world, just behind fuel.