Today September 29 is “National Coffee Day”

Something so ubiquitous as coffee deserves its own day…and today’s the day!

Legend has it that a goat herder by the name of Kaldi in Ethiopia first came across coffee in the 9th century when his goats ate the berries off a bush.  The goats seemed more lively to Kaldi, so he chewed some himself, was excited by what ate, and then took some cherries to a Muslim holy man at the local monastery. The holy man discarded the cherries in the fireplace; the beans roasted; the delicious aroma spread; the roasted beans were recovered and were then dissolved in water.  From there, the first cup of coffee was consumed!

That may or may not be true, but it’s a good story.  References to coffee first appeared in writings from the 10th century, and it is known that coffee cultivation spread from Ethiopia in the 15th century to Yemen, then Egypt and beyond.  The first coffee house was in Istanbul in 1554!

Little did that goat herder realize some 1200 years ago that coffee would turn out to be the most consumed drink in the world after that of water… and be shown to help prevent heart disease certain cancers, Parkinsons, Type 2 Diabetes, and many other maladies as well.

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