Coffee#1 /

Once upon a time, coffee houses were the heart of the storytelling universe…

The trend spread from the old coffee houses of Turkey where men, women and children… rich and poor, would gather together to be captivated in the art of storytelling and teleported to another world through the power of spoken word alone.

So this week we’d like to revive this old tradition of coffee and storytelling, and share with you share a folktale from Ethiopia about the discovery of coffee…

The Story of Khaldi

Long, long ago – when time stood on its head – in the far away land of Ethiopia lived a young goat herder named Khaldi.

Khaldi lived in a village named Caffa, high in the mountains. His goats were very well behaved, and so every day he allowed them roam free, happily grazing and drinking from the mountain streams.

One day, as the sun began to set, Khaldi sat outside his home watching to see his goats return home over the mountain as they did every night.

He waited and waited… the sun had almost set and soon it would be dark, but his goats still had not returned! Khaldi began to worry. He grabbed his cloak and staff and set out to find his dear goats.

Khaldi hurried along the steep mountain passes searching hither and tither… and tither and hither…

Finally he caught sight of the herd. But…there was something strange about them. The goats were jumping, dancing and bleating with glee next to a shiny, dark-leafed shrub with red berries…

Khaldi was clever, and quickly realised that the goats had eaten the red berries and become very happy and energised. Khaldi ate some berries too, and soon he was dancing gleefully with his goats.

Just then, a holy man was passing on his way to the evening prayer.

The holy man saw Khaldi and the goats dancing ecstatically. He was puzzled and confused so he picked all the berries, took them away with him, and threw them into a fire.

The aromas rose from the fire and reached the noses of those who were falling asleep whilst performing their evening prayers.

As they smelled the delicious aroma of the roasting berries they became wide awake. They rescued the berries from the fire and brewed them in hot water to create a special drink that would keep them away during prayer. They prepared and drank this special new drink every night and never fell asleep during prayers again.

The wonderful drink was named after Khladi’s village of Caffa. News of it spread quickly in the four directions, and merchants bought the precious magic beans by the bag full to trade in distant lands.