Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, yet it is not a country that comes to mind when the average consumer thinks of coffee. The South American countries are much more synonymous with coffee production but coffee did not come to these countries until the early 1700’s, nearly a thousand years after it was discovered. As legend has it, Ethiopian coffee was originally discovered around 600 A.D. by a young boy tending goats. It is not known when the name coffee was applied to the strange plants but an interesting legend places it around 900 A.D.

Shortly thereafter coffee found its way across the Red Sea to Arabia and what is present day Yemen. Arabs embraced coffee and for almost a thousand years were the sole producers and exporters of the highly sought-after product. Today Ethiopian coffee is specialty coffee and favorite among connoisseurs around the world. It is known for its smooth body, delicate acidity and delightful flavor.

The original Ethiopian coffee plant that made its way to Yemen is said to be the plant that was propagated throughout the Arab world and cuttings were eventually transplanted into every main coffee growing region of the world. So, in a sense Ethiopian coffee is in every can and every cup everywhere in some form or another.

Legend has it that around 900 A.D. a partial tract of an Ethiopian coffee plantation was given as dowry to the family of an Arab coffee sultan whose son was to marry the daughter of the plantation owner. The sultan was offended by the offering of ‘inferior’ Ethiopian coffee and beheaded and burned the bride on the day of the wedding. The plantation owner, a powerful man in his own right, retaliated by sending one of his sons to kill a daughter of the sultan. The son fell in love with the daughter he was sent to kill and instead the two eloped.

Upon the sons return with the girl he was supposed to kill, the plantation owner saw an opportunity. As it is the family of the bride who is obliged to provide dowry for the marriage, the plantation owner decided to demand half of the sultan’s coffee crops lest he would behead and burn the bride as well. The sultan reluctantly agreed. After the two were married the plantation owner beheaded and burned the bride anyway, and the son, outraged, killed his father. Legend has it that the son buried his bride in the coffee fields and named the Ethiopian coffee after the bride, her name was Coffea.

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