Stressed? Coffee. Headache? Coffee. Meeting friends, first date, 6 AM start or 9 PM deadline? Coffee. Today we raise a cup to the drink that fits every moment, and tell you why our name means the same thing.
Coffee is one of the few things that travelled from our part of the world to every office on the planet. Here is the five-minute version.
In the Ethiopian highlands, a goatherd called Kaldi notices his goats dancing after nibbling red berries from a shrub. Legend or not, the berries were coffee cherries.
Sufis in Yemen roast and brew the beans to stay awake for night prayers. The port of Mocha ships Yemeni coffee to the world and lends its name to a drink.
Coffee spreads through Makkah, Cairo and Istanbul. Coffee houses become the place to talk, trade, play chess and share news.
Merchants carry it to Europe, then planters to Asia and the Americas. Today coffee is grown in about 70 countries, and is one of the most traded farm products on earth.
There are over a hundred coffee species, but two of them fill nearly every cup you have ever had.
The fussy one. Grows high up (often above 1,000 m), needs cool nights and careful farming. Born in Ethiopia, made famous in Yemen.
The tough one. Grows lower and hotter, shrugs off pests, and carries a stronger punch. Big in Vietnam, Brazil and Indonesia.
