Origin
Coffee was discovered before America, around
the XV Century. It was mainly found at places like Oriental
Africa,
Ethiopia and Sudan.
There is a legend
around this discovery, which has been orally transmitted and has
even been printed in some trades.
Based on this legend,
it is said that a shepherd from those African regions noticed
that his sheep were acting very strange and that they had
problems falling asleep during the night. Instead of sleeping,
they were seen walking very excitedly around the fields were
they used to graze.
Alarmed, the shepherd
ran to a close missionary’s monastery and told the monks about
the strange event.
The monks, along with
the shepherd, decided to investigate what was happening and
found out soon that the sheep liked to eat leaves and fruits
from some bushes that were growing wildly around there. They
picked up some of those fruits, peeled and pulverized them in
order to make with them an infusion that ended up having a great
aroma and flavor.
When they tasted it, the monks and the
shepherd found out that the drink they prepared produced a
well-being sensation and an excitement that kept them awake
because it healed sleepiness and tiredness.
That is how it was discovered that eating
that plant was what produced that excitement in the sheep and
that is how the Cafetto plant was discovered as well; which with
the time, ended up being a great demanded product.
For understanding the historical moment of
coffee discovery in Ethiopia, it is necessary to know a little
about geography, weather conditions, coffee varieties that are
produced and how is distributed nowadays around the coffee
universe of the producer countries.
Ethiopia bases its economy in coffee
production and exports. In 2005, they reached a production of
4.5 billion bags which makes them the 6th coffee
producer country, followed by Mexico in the 7th place
with 4 million bags in the same period. The 100% of their
production is Arabica variety and it accomplishes the climatic
requirements for being a high qrown coffee.
