An Ethiopian Legend

When someone says the word coffee bean, I instantly think of hot coffee on early mornings to wake me up. About the times at work that I almost fell asleep, but the coffee saved me from it.

Probably everyone has that feeling sometimes. But do you ever think about the coffee bean? Without the bean you have no coffee. So you go to the supermarket, and you buy your coffee beans. But that is not were the coffee bean comes from, your coffee beans that make your coffee in the morning are from Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, India and at least another 20 countries were they produce coffee beans. 

The one who saved our early mornings.. 

Where was the first coffee bean found? No one really knows.. All over the internet I found these stories about an Ethiopian legend that first discovered the potential of these beloved beans. A goat herder, whom was looking for some fresh grass for his goats, crossed a coffee forest on the Ethiopian plateau. He noticed that while his goats were eating the berries, they got very energetic and jumped around like crazy. 

As he told more people, someone came with the idea to make a drink out of it. After drinking the miracle substance the people stayed more focused and energized. Of course word moved fast, and it went east and the coffee reached the Arabian peninsula, were it began a journey to never forget.

The trade and the cultivation of coffee beans started on the Arabian Peninsula. When we reached the 16^th century the coffee was known in Persia, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. People build  coffee shops, and then not the coffee shops that we know of in the Netherlands. People did all sorts of things while drinking their coffee, they listened to music, watched people perform, played music themselves and kept current on the news. They started to call their coffee houses the “schools of the wise”.

People from Europe that travelled to the Near East came home with stories about a black drink that was never seen before. By the 17^th century the coffee made its way to the European market and in became popular across the continent. 

Since coffee is very addictive, looking at my own experiences, the demand for coffee grew in a very short time. Us Dutch people have a climate that is probably the worst to grow coffee beans in, so we started searching for other countries to grow coffee for us. The first attempt was in India, which failed. But the efforts in Batavia, the island of Java and Indonesia were successful. The business thrived and soon we had a productive and growing trade in coffee.

But why did I put my focus on Vietnam, and not on another country? Because most people will not think of Vietnam as the world’s second largest exporter in the world today. And how did their market share jump from 0.1% to 20% in just 30 years? We will find out..