The history and development of the beverage that we know as coffee is varied and interesting.

According to one story the effect of coffee beans on behaviour was noticed by a sheep herder named Kaldi as he tended his sheep. He noticed that the sheep became hyperactive after eating the red “cherries“ from a certain plant. He tried a few himself, and was soon as overactive as the herd. The story relates that a monk scalded him for “partaking of devil’s fruit“. However, the monks soon discovered that this fruit from the shiny green plant could help them stay awake for their prayers.

Another legend gives us the name for coffee or "mocha". An Arabian and his followers were banished to the desert to die of starvation. In desperation, Omar and his friends boiled and ate the fruit from an unknown plant. Not only did the broth save the exiles but their survival was taken as a religious sign by the residents of the nearest town, Mocha. The plant and its beverage were named Mocha to honour this event.

The Galla tribe from Ethiopia used coffee, but not as a drink. They wrapped the beans in animal fat as their source of nutrition while on raiding parties. The Turks were the first country to adopt it as a drink, often adding spices such as clove, cinnamon, cardamom and anise to the brew.

Coffee was introduced much later to countries beyond Arabia. They guarded its secret like top military plans. Transportation of the plant out of the Muslem nations was forbidden by the government. The spread of coffee started illegally. An Arab named Baba Budan smuggled beans to some mountains near Mysore, India and started a farm there. Early last century the descendants of those original plants were found still growing fruitfully in the region.

Coffee was believed by some Christians to be the devil’s drink. Pope Vincent III heard this and decided to taste it before he banished it. He enjoyed it so much he baptised it, saying “coffee is so delicious it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it“.

Coffee today is grown and enjoyed worldwide, and is one of the few crops that small farmers in the third world countries can profitably export. In the worldwide marketplace coffee ranks alongside oil, steel and grain and grows as an exportable raw material. Many prime coffee producing nations are almost entirely dependent on the export of coffee for their material wealth.