
In a commonly repeated legend, Kaldi, a 9th-century Ethiopian goatherd, first observed the coffee plant after seeing his flock energized by chewing on the plant. There are multiple anecdotal origin stories which lack evidence. The terms coffee pot and coffee break originated in 17, respectively. Although etymologists have connected it with a word meaning "wine", it is also thought to be from the Kaffa region of Ethiopia. Its cognates include the Hebrew qehe(h) ('dulling') and the Aramaic qahey ('give acrid taste to'). Semitic languages had the root qhh, 'dark color', which became a natural designation for the beverage. The word qahwah most likely meant 'the dark one', referring to the brew or the bean qahwah is not the name of the bean, which are known in Arabic as bunn and in Cushitic languages as būn. Medieval Arab lexicographers traditionally held that the etymology of qahwah meant ' wine', given its distinctly dark color, and was derived from the verb qahiya ( قَهِيَ), ' to have no appetite'. The word coffee entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch koffie, borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish kahve ( قهوه), borrowed in turn from the Arabic qahwah ( قَهْوَة).

Critics of the coffee industry have also pointed to its negative impact on the environment and the clearing of land for coffee-growing and water use.Įtymology Green coffee describes the beans before roasting. Despite sales of coffee reaching billions of dollars worldwide, farmers producing coffee beans disproportionately live in poverty. Green, unroasted coffee is traded as an agricultural commodity.

As of 2018, Brazil was the leading grower of coffee beans, producing 35% of the world's total. Coffee plants are cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in the equatorial regions of the Americas, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa. The two most commonly grown coffee bean types are C. arabica and C. robusta. By the 16th century, the drink had reached the rest of the Middle East and North Africa, later spreading to Europe. The coffee beans were procured by the Yemenis from the Ethiopian Highlands via coastal Somali intermediaries, and cultivated in Yemen. The earliest credible evidence of coffee drinking as the modern beverage appears in modern-day Yemen in southern Arabia in the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines, where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed in a manner similar to how it is now prepared for drinking. Though coffee is now a global commodity, it has a long history tied closely to food traditions around the Red Sea. Sugar, sugar substitutes, milk, and cream are often added to mask the bitter taste or enhance the flavor. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways (e.g., espresso, French press, caffè latte, or already-brewed canned coffee). It is usually served hot, although chilled or iced coffee is common. The beans are roasted and then ground into fine particles typically steeped in hot water before being filtered out, producing a cup of coffee. The seeds of the Coffea plant's fruits are separated to produce unroasted green coffee beans. It has the highest sales in the world market for hot drinks. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. Coffee is a beverage prepared from roasted coffee beans.
