Coffee Facts

It wasn’t always called coffee

When coffee was first discovered, it wasn’t called coffee but ‘Qahhwat al-bun,’ which, when translated from Arabic, means ‘the wine of the bean.’

Over time, it was shortened to ‘Qhawa,’ and then the Turks later changed to ‘Kahve.’

It didn’t stop there as it became popular in the Dutch language as “koffie,” which is where its English equivalent was borrowed.

Coffee was originally chewed

While most of us are used to sipping it, coffee was originally eaten by African tribes centuries ago. According to historians, coffee berries were ground and then mixed with animal fat to create energy-rich snack balls.

It was discovered in a humorous way

Legend has it that a goat herder discovered the coffee plant in the 9th century. Here’s how it happened:

The Ethiopian herdsman noticed strange effects in his goats after they ate their meals. Each time his herd nibbled on a small, red fruit of a bush, they appeared to dance energetically.

Led by his curiosity, the herder tried them out and was intrigued by the effects, so he presented it to a local monk who made a drink with the berries.

After drinking the coffee, the monk was able to stay up all night, and that was how the first cup of coffee was born. While there are other versions of the history of coffee, a good number of historians believe these origins were all made up.

Coffee sent Brazil’s team to the Olympics

In 1932, Brazil was experiencing a shortage of funds so much so that it was unable to send its athletes to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. So they put their athletes on a ship and loaded them with 50,000 stacks of coffee so they could sell on the way to finance their trip.

The world’s most expensive coffee comes from cat poop and costs up to $100 per cup