Kaldi

According to legend, Kaldi was the Ethiopian goatherder who discovered the coffee plant.

Myth

Kaldi, noticing that when his flock nibbled on the bright red berries of a certain bush they became more energetic (jumping goats), chewed on the fruit himself. His exhilaration prompted him to bring the berries to an Islamic holy man in a nearby monastery. But the holy man disapproved of their use and threw them into a fire, from which an enticing aroma billowed. The roasted beans were quickly raked from the embers, ground up, and dissolved in hot water, yielding the world's first cup of coffee.^[1]

Analysis

The story is probably apocryphal, as it was first related by Antoine Faustus Nairon, a Maronite who became a Roman professor of Oriental languages and author of one of the first printed treatises devoted to coffee, De Saluberrima potione Cahue seu Cafe nuncupata Discurscus (Rome, 1671).^[2]

"The myth of Kaldi the Ethiopian goatherd and his dancing goats, the coffee origin story most frequently encountered in Western literature, embellishes the credible tradition that the Sufi encounter with coffee occurred in Ethiopia, which lies just across the narrow passage of the Red Sea from Arabia's western coast."^[3]

Influence

In modern times, "Kaldi Coffee" or "Kaldi's Coffee" is a popular name for coffee shops and coffee roasting companies around the world.^[4]

It also played a small, yet significant role in the Cold Case episode "Creatures of the Night." The victim, who was planning on opening up an espresso shop, is told the story of Kaldi by a friend, who gives him a goat-shaped pendant as a "good luck" token. The pendant later turns up as evidence in his murder.

References

1. ^ A similar version after Nairon, without the name of "Kaldi" and sited in Yemen, is recounted in Miguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Anthea Bell, tr. A History of Food 2nd. ed. 2008, "Coffee in Legend" pp 532-34.
2. ^ Noted by H. F. Nicolai, Der Kaffee und seine Ersatzmittel: Volkshygienische Studie, (Brunswick, 1901) ch. 1 "Geschichtliches über den Kaffee" p. 4 note 1.
3. ^ The world of caffeine. Routledge. 2001. pp. 3. ISBN 9780415927222. http://books.google.com/books?id=YdpL2YCGLVYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+world+of+caffeiene&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&ei=v_ZRSqHJC4zqzATN85DhAg. 
4. ^ For example, Kaldi - Wholesale Gourmet Coffee Roasters, Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Company, Kaldi's Coffee House, or a Google search for "Kaldi". All accessed 12 September 2006.

Further reading

• from Google books
• All about coffee
• 15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee