5 Historical Coffee Origin Facts

Coffee is essentially legend, and a staple drink in America. Here are 5 things you may not have known about it's origins.

1. 9th century (800 AD) goat herders and shepherds discovered coffee after noticing it's effect on their goats who performed a sort of 'dance' after eating coffee berries. Subsequently, when made into a drink, they found it kept them awake all night!

2. Coffee was originally a food - the fruit it is from was mixed with fat to create an energy ball... and then it was consumed as a wine from the pulp of coffee berries. 

3. A chemist named George Constant Washington experimented with dried coffee before creating Red E Coffee which was the first brand for instant coffee.

4. Coffee was brought to New York City when it was still called New Amsterdam in the mid 1600s, but only became popular after the Boston Tea Party of 1773. 

5. There have been many attempts to ban coffee over history. In Mecca, it was banned in 1511 due to the hypothesis that it promoted radical thinking. In Italy, folks thought it was satanic in the 16th century, saved by the Pope Clement VII who lifted the ban and had coffee baptized! Turkish Ottoman leader Murad IV created punishments for drinking coffee, and in 1777, Frederick the Great of Prussia banned it for economical reasons: it was interfering with beer sales and consumption!