Every coffee plant in the world is thought to be a descendent of plants from Ethiopia—the only country where coffee grows wild, and where the fascinating history of the world’s most popular beverage begins.  So before you open your own CrimsonCup® community coffeehouse, or if you’re a coffee lover in need of a refresher, read on to know where the coffee business has already been.

c. 300 AD Goats Discover Coffee
Legend has it that one day, a young Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi found his goats bounding over the hillsides in a joyous frenzy. He watched the goats closely and found that they were eating “cherries” from a nearby tree. He tried a few of the “cherries” for himself and felt instantly rejuvenated.

The Monks Get Involved
News of Kaldi’s discovery spread throughout Ethiopia. Monks from a local monastery collected the “cherries” and ate them in order to stay awake during long prayers and religious services.

c. 400 AD Arabs Become First to Cultivate Coffee Plants
Ethiopia’s magical “cherries” made their way to southern Arabia (now Yemen), where coffee was cultivated for the first time. The Arabs also created the first recorded word for coffee—quawah (KAH wah) which means “Arab Wine.”

Coffee Becomes, Well, Coffee
Up to this point, coffee beans were eaten as food, or fermented in water to create a medicinal wine. Thank the Turks for roasting the beans over open fires, crushing them, pouring hot water over them, and creating the beverage we love.

c. 1654 First Coffeehouse Opens in Italy
The first coffeehouse opened in Venice a full seven years before the first public restaurant opened in Paris. The coffeehouse concept spread quickly throughout Europe, and by the mid 1600s, there were over 200 coffeehouses in Venice alone.  Unfortunately, no barista training just yet.

c. 1696 Dutch Create First Blend
Coffee was planted on the Dutch colony of Java, making the Dutch the first Europeans to grow the plant. Java quickly became one of the world’s best coffees—second only to Arabian Mocha. By taking the two coffees and mixing them together, the Dutch created Mocha Java—the world’s oldest coffee blend.

c. 1700 Coffee Discovers America
French naval officer Gabriel de Clieu nurtured a lone coffee plant during a journey across the Atlantic. This one plant—transplanted to the Caribbean island of Martinique— multiplied to nearly 20 million trees by 1777, and is the source of the coffee plants found in Central and South America today.

1700s Voltaire Single-handedly Contributes to Coffee’s Popularity
The French philosopher is reported to have drunk in excess of 50 cups of coffee a day.

c. 1822 First Espresso Machine Invented in France

c. 1908 First Drip Coffee Maker Invented
For the first time, coffee was passed through a filter.

c. 1933 First Automatic Espresso Machine is Created

c. 1995 Coffee Surpasses Tea as World’s Most Popular Beverage
In the past three centuries, more than 90% of all people living in the western world have switched from tea to coffee.

c. 2006 Coffee is a Giant Global Industry
Today, the coffee industry employs more than 20 million people worldwide. The commodity ranks second only to petroleum in terms of dollars traded. Over 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed every year.