WHERE?IT?ALL?BEGAN

Our journey begins in Ethiopia. While it is generally accepted that Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, it'squite likely that it was simply the frist place that the crop

truly flourished after spreading from the sudan.

Exactly when its leaves,cherries, or beans were first consumed is a mystery,

though. What we do know isthat around 2,000 years ago, the nomadic Oromos

tribe, living in the kingdom of Kefa (in modern-day Ethiopia), were known to havemoulded the leaves and fruit of the coffee tree into a kind of cake that could be

sucked and chewed on - rather like a caffeinated chewing gum- giving them a

temporaryboost of energy. Later evidence is rather circumstantial,

however. In the 5th century AD, the kingdom of Aksum ruled northern Ethiopia

and parts of southern Egypt, and at this time, Aksum was doing a roaring trade with the Roman Emoire, but, alas, there's no record of a roman ever drinking a cup of coffee...

　　It's possible that coffee was planted in the kingdom of Himyar (now part of

　　modern--day yeman) shortly after the kingdom of Aksum had invaded. failing that, the 7th century saw plenty more interaction between the people of Ethiopia

　　and Yeman, on both a political and intellectual level. It also saw the rise of

　　lslam-much to coffee's benefit. Some time later, the Arab trading routes from

　　Yemen, namely the port of Mokha, became responsible for coffee's domination

　　of the Middle East.

　　The legendary tale of coffee's discovery is worthy of a mention, though. The story goes that it was first discovered by a young Ethiopian goatherder called kaldi. This story, more than any other, has stuck because it's cute, vaguely believable, and open to a touch of embellishment. Kaldi was tending to his herd one evening when he noticed that they exhibited a certain friskiness after nibbling on the

　　leaves and red cherries of a particular tree. Confused, and a more than a little intrigued, kaldi tried the fruit for himself. The effect was almost immediate-he felt

　　energized, motivated and alert. Kaldi had discovered caffeine, the most widely

　　consumed drug in the world today. What happened next is open to debate; some say Kaldi took the fruit and leaves to elders, or religious men nearby, while others say that the influence of coffee made Kaldi rather 'attached' to his herd.

　　In time, Yeman developed its own stoey of the discovery of coffee, which tells a

　　tale of a man called Omar who was condemned to die outside Mokha'scity walls. During his wanderings in the wilderness,Omar found a coffee tree and ate its

　　fruit. which gave him the energy he required to return to thecity. His survival

　　was seen as a blessing, and so too was the discovery of the coffee plant, which

　　subsequently became the beverage of choice for the residents of Mokha. The

　　Arabs called the drink qwaha(the Arab word for wine), and since Muslims are forbidden to drink alcohol, coffee was probably about as close as they were likely to get to a bottle of plonk.

《WHERE?IT?ALL?BEGAN》由河南新闻网-豫都网提供，转载请注明出处：http://food.yuduxx.com/jkys/459879.html，谢谢合作！