The History of Coffee: From an Ethiopian Legend to the "Third Wave"

The cup in your hand now arrived at the end of a journey of over a thousand years. From the highland of its birthplace, through religious ritual, the cafés of revolution, colonial plantations, and on to modern specialty. Trace the history of coffee and world history itself comes into view.

Origin: the highlands of Ethiopia

Famous is the legend of Kaldi the goatherd, around the 9th century. Seeing his goats grow lively and leap about after eating red berries, he noticed the power of those berries — so the story goes. Whether it is historical fact is unknown, but there is no doubt the birthplace of the coffee tree (Arabica) is the highlands of southwestern Ethiopia. At first it was eaten not as a drink but as a "portable food," the berries crushed and mixed with fat.

Yemen: as the world's first "drink"

In the 15th century, in Yemen across the Red Sea, coffee became a "drink" — roasted and extracted with hot water. Sufis (Islamic mystics) using it to ward off drowsiness during all-night prayer was the trigger for its spread. The name of the shipping port Mocha still remains as "Mocha," a byword for coffee. At the time, taking out seedlings or green beans was strictly forbidden.

To Europe: the birth of the café

In the 17th century, coffee reached Europe via Venice. London's coffeehouses became places where intellectuals exchanged debate for a small entry fee, earning the name "penny universities." Lloyd's of insurance and the stock exchange also originated from coffeehouses. Coffee was the "social fuel" that moved information and commerce.

Exploration and colonies: spreading to the world

Before long the Dutch began cultivation on Java, and the French on the Caribbean island of Martinique. In the 18th century, just a few seedlings crossed to Central and South America, becoming the foundation of the vast coffee belts of Brazil and Colombia. The "Bourbon variety," born on the Indian Ocean island of Bourbon (now Réunion), also spread to the world in this era.

The three waves

• The first wave (to the 1960s): instant and mass consumption. "Cheap and easy" was the lead, with origin and quality secondary
• The second wave (from the 1970s): the espresso/café culture represented by Starbucks. Origin names and roasts began to be talked about
• The third wave (from the 2000s): an era treating beans like wine. Tracing back to farm, variety and processing method, with light roasts and direct trade spreading

And now: toward the fourth wave

In recent years the focus is the scientization of extraction, new processing such as anaerobic fermentation, the surging price of the Geisha variety, and responses to climate change. Arabica's suitable growing areas are projected to shrink with warming, and sustainability and variety improvement have become the industry's most important themes. The cup you drink now stands on this cutting edge.

Japan's coffee history

The Japanese encounter with coffee was in the Edo period, at the Dutch trading post on Dejima in Nagasaki. In the Meiji era "cafés" appeared, and after the war kissaten culture flourished. The world's first canned coffee was also born in Japan (1969). In the 2010s the third wave landed, and now house-roasters and specialty have spread nationwide.

A cup of coffee is the "latest page" of a long story continuing from the highlands of Ethiopia. Next time you drink, spare a little thought for the thousand-year journey behind it.