Individual Assignment: section 1

            Coffee is a very popular drink among millions of people all over the world. People increasingly use it every day. The health benefits and health problems associated with drinking coffee are still heavily debated.

               Coffee was first used by the Ethiopians in the 9^th century. Legend has it that a shepherd named Kaldi was tending his goats up on the mountains in Ethiopia. He was tired and it was a very hot day and he was taking a rest. Then he looked up and could not believe his eyes when he saw his goats dancing around. Walking over to where they were dancing, he discovered that they had been eating a red fruit, coffee beans. He  asked himself the reason for this behaviour and a  local imam  came along and thought he must be dreaming also when he saw Kaldi dancing with his goats. He asked Kaldi what was going on Kaldi claimed that the ‘coffee beans’ were the  cause. Trying some for himself, the imam found that this was no regular fruit. The imam then shared the coffee beans with others and they became famous in Ethiopia . The legend is called ‘the legend of the dancing goats’. We do not know if the story was true or not , but it is clear that coffee was consumed by the Ethiopians in the 9^th century. So now you know who discovered coffee.

              As for the migration of coffee, it crossed the 50 miles across the Red Sea from Ethiopia to Yemen. Coffee trees were planted in Yemen and  Mocha in an area that the name is derived for mocha coffee .Smuggling by travelers allowed it to reach Saudi Arabia, because at that time strict laws were in place in Yemen. Then it reached India and Indonesia, spice capitals.Later it spread to Europe and South America, Cuba and Brazil and then Spain and then Kenya.Nairobi and Mombasa has become  major ports in the coffee trade.