| Over a thousand years ago an Ethiopian goatherder called Kaldi noticed that even the oldest goats behaved like young kids when they ate certain wild berries. Hearing this the chief of the local monastery decided to experiment. He found that a brew of these 'cherries' could keep his brother monks awake through the long hours of prayer.
In the 15th century coffee trees were cultivated in Arabia. Farmers transported their crops to Moka on the Red Sea for export and pilgrims going to Mecca spread coffee to Cairo, Damascus and Istanbul. Soon Vienna and Paris had an explosion of coffee houses.
In Britain the first coffee house was opened in Oxford in 1637 and by 1700 there were 3,000 coffee houses in London. Every man of the upper or middle classes went to his coffee house daily to learn the latest news. Edward Lloyd's Coffee House in Tower Street attracted seafarers and merchants and became Lloyds of London, the famous maritime insurers. Jonathon's Coffee House became the London Stock Exchange.
Coffee drinking spread to the colonies but would not have become so popular in America had it not been for the Boston Tea Party. Americans turned their backs on Britain and tea, adopting coffee as their national beverage.
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