How it began
Wild coffee plants are thought to be native to the plateau region of Kefa (Kaffa) in what is now southwestern Ethiopia, although Britannica notes that the exact history of their origin and domestication remains unclear. World Coffee Research describes Coffea arabica as native to Ethiopia, where the major genetic diversity of the species is found. A well-known legend credits a goatherd named Kaldi, who noticed his flock behaving strangely after eating the berries. No date or named person can be confirmed for the first use of the plant.
How it works
Arabica is a shrub whose cherries hold the seeds that are roasted and brewed as coffee. In Ethiopia the plant evolved in forests and was shaped by what World Coffee Research calls a process of human-led domestication, producing locally adapted traditional varieties known as landraces. Most coffee landraces come from the forests of Ethiopia. They are generally associated with very high cup quality and lower yields than later cultivated varieties.
How it spread
At some point, perhaps as late as the 15th century, coffee plants were taken across the Red Sea to Yemen in southern Arabia and placed under cultivation. Genetic tests have confirmed that the main seeds taken from Ethiopia to Yemen were related to the Bourbon and Typica varieties. By the late 1600s coffee trees had left Yemen and were growing in India. In 1706 a single plant was taken from Java to the botanical gardens in Amsterdam, and from Paris plants were sent to Martinique in 1723, which opened the Americas to the crop.
What changed first
Tradition holds that Sufi monks in Arabia were among the first to brew coffee as a drink and used its stimulation to pray through the night. The drink gained popularity among Arabs, and coffeehouses appeared in Mecca and then in Constantinople. Britannica describes these houses as social and cultural hubs that attracted intellectuals and stimulated discussion.
Where it stands today
Coffee grown in Latin America is still based to a large extent on cultivars developed from the Typica and Bourbon varieties that left Ethiopia through Yemen. World Coffee Research reports that this has produced a significant genetic bottleneck for the species: in Brazil, which accounts for about 40 percent of world production, 97.55 percent of cultivars derive from Typica and Bourbon. The forests of Ethiopia remain the place where most of the diversity of the species is found.
