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The hidden history behind your morning coffee

Have you had your morning cup of joe yet? You’re not alone…

People across the globe drink a whopping 400 billion coffees every year – and each cup contains many centuries of history.

Here are just some of the things we learned about this world-beating beverage from The Curious History of Your Home.

Find out more about Coffee, by listening to The Curious History of Your Home on 大象传媒 Sounds!

1. Legend has it that coffee was discovered by a goat herder called Kaldi.

One morning sometime in the ninth century, in the region of Kapha in Ethiopia, he noticed that some red berries were having an unusual effect on his goats. Instead of lounging around in the sun, they were prancing about energetically. He showed the berries to a passing Sufi monk, who took some home, dried them out and boiled them in water. And this, according to the myth, was the world’s first cup of coffee.

Legend has it that coffee was discovered by a goat herder / Getty Images

2. By the end of the 15th century, coffee was drunk across the Arabic world.

Having come across coffee while travelling from Ethiopia, the religious leader Muhammad Ibn Said Al Dhabhani popularised coffee in Yemen. Before long coffee had spread across Persia, Egypt, Syria and Turkey.

3. The first Pope to try coffee was Pope Clement.

In 1600, the Holy Father is said to have tried a cup – and he rather liked it, despite rumours that it was a satanic drink. He gave it the Catholic Church's blessing, and within a century coffee was popular across Europe.

4. Coffee caused controversy.

In 1633, the Ottoman sultan Murad IV outlawed public coffee consumption in Istanbul, claiming that the coffee houses were a fire risk In truth, he believed they were breeding grounds for dangerous philosophies and sedition.

Coffee beans after they have been roasted / Getty Images

5. The first London coffee house opened in 1652.

The owner was Pasqua Rosée. He’d been employed as a servant by an English merchant called Daniel Edwards in Turkey, where one of his jobs was to make the morning coffee. So many of Edward's friends wanted to try the drink that Rosée set up his own shop. After a decade, 83 more coffee houses had opened in the city.

6. Coffee was the thinking man’s drink in the 17th century.

Coffee houses became a hub for intellectuals to meet, drink, listen and debate. They became a hangout for the likes of diarist Samuel Pepys, architect Christopher Wren, and the French philosopher Voltaire.

7. Britain isn’t just a nation of tea drinkers.

More than 80% of us buy coffee in our weekly shop, and an eye-opening 98 million cups are drunk in the UK every year.