Jimma Area is The Birth Place (Place of Origin ) of Coffee,Coffee Aabica L: "A sliding away move to where...?"
Biyyi Argama Bunaa, Jimmaa.
"'Wedet Shertet Shertet' ya ormaa?
Qalbiin mucucaachuun eessattii, yaa jamaa?"
In refering to the situation which prompted him to comment on the ' ...birth place of coffee...'the writer describes the moment as follows.
''I am an Ethiopian and a permanent resident of the city. I work and live here.During one of the months before the rainy season, I was at the downtown of the western part of Addis, which was away from my residence on Jimma road. As usual I visited one of the "shiro bet.' serving traditional vegeterian food for my lunch,and went on looking for a spot where to have my lunch time coffee. I am familiar with the open air, outdoor or kiosks serving traditional brew coffee for some time now. In all my visits to one after the other, what I noticed was that the history and traditions of the coffee ceremony and all that surrounding it is skewed, tagged with what seems concocted and far away from the generally accepted 'myth' i.e. the relative truth that coffee was first discovered and brewed in Jimma Area- what is now Southwestern Ethiopia.....''
This condensed, and easy to read paper argues that these recent emerging traditional posters,scripts and other written materials depicting coffee and its historical attributes with tags are ....... slowly , but surely sliding away,,,,,,,, from the generally acceptable truth/myth on the origin and traditions of coffee.
''I am an Ethiopian and a permanent resident of the city. I work and live here.During one of the months before the rainy season, I was at the downtown of the western part of Addis, which was away from my residence on Jimma road. As usual I visited one of the "shiro bet.' serving traditional vegeterian food for my lunch,and went on looking for a spot where to have my lunch time coffee. I am familiar with the open air, outdoor or kiosks serving traditional brew coffee for some time now. In all my visits to one after the other, what I noticed was that the history and traditions of the coffee ceremony and all that surrounding it is skewed, tagged with what seems concocted and far away from the generally accepted 'myth' i.e. the relative truth that coffee was first discovered and brewed in Jimma Area- what is now Southwestern Ethiopia.....''
This condensed, and easy to read paper argues that these recent emerging traditional posters,scripts and other written materials depicting coffee and its historical attributes with tags are ....... slowly , but surely sliding away,,,,,,,, from the generally acceptable truth/myth on the origin and traditions of coffee.
In reference to relatively authentic sources, It reports that, If anything to go by coffee is first discovered by the highland people of the now Southwestern Ethiopia (OROMIA/KAFFA).It is first brewed and served by them and distributed further away by the traders and travelers. Besides it states that the culture of coffee production, and traditional coffee ceremony has stood the test of time in these area.For example the Oromia region)currently produces around 2/3rd of the total coffee production in Ethiopia.
Many Literature reported that in a similar move to some European religious institutions, coffee was banned by the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church some time before the 18th century.The clergy were of the opinion that it was a Muslim drink. However, in
the second half of the 19th century, Ethiopian attitudes softened towards
coffee drinking, and its consumption spread rapidly between 1880 and 1886;
according to Richard Pankhurst, "this was largely due to Emperor Menelik,
who himself drank it, and to Abuna Matewos who did much to dispel the belief of
the clergy that it was a Muslim drink."
Thus, the paper adds that , If coffee and its origin has to be linked to any of the monolithic religions, it is to ISLAM, and the any other traditional beliefs/ religions of those pioneering people.
It follows up by discussing the R&D potentials.... in terms of natural talents. It argues that these people were naturally born bare-foot scientists with quests,traditions and local knowledge of high calibre.They were indeed. observers of their vicinity,experimenters and inventors. The paper refers to many sources,of which the below is one.
Anthony Watson wrote in his diary "Beans on the Bike as follows
".....In an attempt to separate reality from myth, I spoke to a number of people who said that coffee was first used by the Oromo tribes people. By way of preparation, the ground beans were mixed with butter or fat to form a ‘chewing gum’ that could be carried easily. It was then taken to help sustain them in covering long distances on foot to graze their cattle and no doubt, on the battlefield. This was the portable precursor to the Oromiya speciality – Buna Quala – arguably the world’s first ever energy drink.In many respects, I think it’s a good thing that Kaldi’s reputed discovery continues to remain shrouded in the mists of antiquity. It’s all part of the bean’s magic. Chasing ghosts? Chasing goats more like… Long live Kaldi!
The writer also discusses some of the recent comments made by individuals in the business as to their coffee business model, and its sources. The product is on of the main aspects of the 4P's of the product mix Whatever was said,it doesn't matter as the product was first developed by these highland people in around the 9th century. Note that it was the 9th century, not 19th. They may have been talking about the distribution((Place),or Promotion,or Price model. The writer did not know. .As a result, he argues as the coffee business model mainly depends on the product, it generally owes a lot to these people and the area as the major product & process development, were the results of their ingenuity.
....If that is so, can you then say that you entirely/generally copied your original business model from somewhere else? No. I don't think so.
It is our moral and intellectual duty not to coerce with the almost universally accepted truth.
Let's keep everything where it belongs
Thus, the paper adds that , If coffee and its origin has to be linked to any of the monolithic religions, it is to ISLAM, and the any other traditional beliefs/ religions of those pioneering people.
It follows up by discussing the R&D potentials.... in terms of natural talents. It argues that these people were naturally born bare-foot scientists with quests,traditions and local knowledge of high calibre.They were indeed. observers of their vicinity,experimenters and inventors. The paper refers to many sources,of which the below is one.
Anthony Watson wrote in his diary "Beans on the Bike as follows
".....In an attempt to separate reality from myth, I spoke to a number of people who said that coffee was first used by the Oromo tribes people. By way of preparation, the ground beans were mixed with butter or fat to form a ‘chewing gum’ that could be carried easily. It was then taken to help sustain them in covering long distances on foot to graze their cattle and no doubt, on the battlefield. This was the portable precursor to the Oromiya speciality – Buna Quala – arguably the world’s first ever energy drink.In many respects, I think it’s a good thing that Kaldi’s reputed discovery continues to remain shrouded in the mists of antiquity. It’s all part of the bean’s magic. Chasing ghosts? Chasing goats more like… Long live Kaldi!
The writer also discusses some of the recent comments made by individuals in the business as to their coffee business model, and its sources. The product is on of the main aspects of the 4P's of the product mix Whatever was said,it doesn't matter as the product was first developed by these highland people in around the 9th century. Note that it was the 9th century, not 19th. They may have been talking about the distribution((Place),or Promotion,or Price model. The writer did not know. .As a result, he argues as the coffee business model mainly depends on the product, it generally owes a lot to these people and the area as the major product & process development, were the results of their ingenuity.
It is our moral and intellectual duty not to coerce with the almost universally accepted truth.
Let's keep everything where it belongs
Please first see the following facts
and further readings
copied from en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee...
copied from en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee...
…..AND MANY MORE IN THE FOLLOW UP
REFERENCES
" HISTORYThe history of coffee goes at least as far back as the 10th century, with a number of reports and legends surrounding its first use. The native (undomesticated) origin of coffee is thought to have beenwhat is now known Ethiopia. The earliest substantiated evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree is from the 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen. By the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey, Horn of Africa, and northern Africa. Coffee then spread to the Balkans, Italy and to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia and then to America.FIRST USE
The Ethiopian ancestors of today's Oromo ethnic group were the first to have recognized the energizing effect of the native coffee plant.Studies of genetic diversity have been performed on Coffea arabica varieties, which were found to be of low diversity but with retention of some residual heterozygosity from ancestral materials, and closely related diploid species Coffea canephora and C. liberica; however, no direct evidence has ever been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the natives might have used it as a stimulant or known about it there earlier than the seventeenth century.The original domesticated coffee plant is said to have been from Harar, and the native population is thought to be derived from Ethiopia with distinct nearby populations in Sudan and KenyaCoffee was primarily consumed in the Islamic world where it originated and was directly related to religious practices
SEE ADDITIONAL SOURCES BELOW
History of coffee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The history of coffee goes at least
as far back as the 10th century, with a number of reports and legends
surrounding its first use. The native (undomesticated) origin of coffee is
thought to have been Ethiopia. The earliest substantiated evidence of either
coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree is from the 15th century, in
the Sufi monasteries of Yemen.[1] By the 16th century, it had reached the rest
of the Middle East, Persia, Turkey, Horn of Africa, and northern Africa. Coffee
then spread to the Balkans, Italy and to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia and
then to America. [2]
Origins
Etymology
The word "coffee" entered
the English language in 1582 via the Dutch koffie,[3] borrowed from the Turkish
kahve, in turn borrowed from the Arabic qahwah ( قهوة).[4]
The word qahwah originally referred
to a type of wine, whose etymology is given by Arab lexicographers as deriving
from the verb qahā (قها, "to lack hunger") in reference to the drink's reputation
as an appetite suppressant.[4][5] The word qahwah is sometimes alternatively
traced to the Arabic quwwa ("power, energy"), or to Kaffa, a medieval
kingdom in Ethiopia whence the plant was exported to Arabia.[4] These
etymologies for qahwah have all been disputed, however. The name qahwah is not
used for the berry or plant (the products of the region), which are known in
Arabic as bunn and Shoa as būn. Semitic had a root qhh "dark color",
which became a natural designation for the beverage. According to this
analysis, the feminine form qahwah (also meaning "dark in color,
dull(ing), dry, sour") was likely chosen to parallel the feminine khamr (خمر, "wine"), and originally
meant "the dark one".[6]
First use
The Ethiopian ancestors of today's
Oromo ethnic group were the first to have recognized the energizing effect of
the native coffee plant.[1] Studies of genetic diversity have been performed on
Coffea arabica varieties, which were found to be of low diversity but with
retention of some residual heterozygosity from ancestral materials, and closely
related diploid species Coffea canephora and C. liberica;[7] however, no direct
evidence has ever been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who
among the natives might have used it as a stimulant or known about it there
earlier than the seventeenth century.[1] The original domesticated coffee plant
is said to have been from Harar, and the native population is thought to be
derived from Ethiopia with distinct nearby populations in Sudan and Kenya.[8][9]
Coffee was primarily consumed in the
Islamic world where it originated and was directly related to religious
practices.[10]
There are several legendary accounts
of the origin of the drink itself. One account involves the Yemenite Sufi
mystic Ghothul Akbar Nooruddin Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili.[11] When traveling in
Ethiopia, the legend goes, he observed birds of unusual vitality, and, upon
trying the berries that the birds had been eating, experienced the same
vitality.
Other accounts attribute the discovery
of coffee to Sheik Abou'l Hasan Schadheli's disciple, Omar. According to the
ancient chronicle (preserved in the Abd-Al-Kadir manuscript), Omar, who was
known for his ability to cure the sick through prayer, was once exiled from
Mocha to a desert cave near Ousab. Starving, Omar chewed berries from nearby
shrubbery, but found them to be bitter. He tried roasting the beans to improve
the flavor, but they became hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the
bean, which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. Upon drinking the liquid Omar
was revitalized and sustained for days. As stories of this "miracle
drug" reached Mocha, Omar was asked to return and was made a saint.[12]
Another probably fanciful [1] account
involves a 9th-century Ethiopian goat-herder, Kaldi, who, noticing the
energizing effects when his flock nibbled on the bright red berries of a
certain bush, chewed on the fruit himself. His exhilaration prompted him to
bring the berries to a monk in a nearby monastery. But the monk disapproved of their
use and threw them into the fire, from which an enticing aroma billowed,
causing other monks to come and investigate. The roasted beans were quickly
raked from the embers, ground up, and dissolved in hot water, yielding the
world's first cup of coffee. Since this story is not known to have appeared in
writing before 1671, 800 years after it was supposed to have taken place, it is
highly likely to be apocryphal.[1]
The earliest credible evidence of
either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of
the 15th century, in Yemen's Sufi monasteries.[1]
Coffee beans were first exported from
Ethiopia to Yemen. Yemeni traders brought coffee back to their homeland and
began to cultivate the bean.[13] The word qahwa originally meant wine, and
Sufis in Yemen used the beverage as an aid to concentration and as a kind of
spiritual intoxication when they chanted the name of God.[14] Sufis used it to
keep themselves alert during their nighttime devotions. A translation of
Al-Jaziri's manuscript[15] traces the spread of coffee from Arabia Felix (the
present day Yemen) northward to Mecca and Medina, and then to the larger cities
of Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, and Constantinople. By 1414, the beverage was
known in Mecca, and in the early 1500s was spreading to the Mameluke Sultanate
of Egypt and North Africa from the Yemeni port of Mocha.[8][14] Associated with
Sufism, a myriad of coffee houses grew up in Cairo (Egypt) around the religious
University of the Azhar. These coffee houses also opened in Syria, especially
in the cosmopolitan city of Aleppo,[14] and then in Istanbul, the capital of
the Ottoman Empire, in 1554.[14] In 1511, it was forbidden for its stimulating
effect by conservative, orthodox imams at a theological court in Mecca.[16] However,
these bans were to be overturned in 1524 by an order of the Ottoman Turkish
Sultan Selim I, with Grand Mufti Mehmet Ebussuud el-İmadi issuing a fatwa
allowing the consumption of coffee.[17] In Cairo, Egypt, a similar ban was
instituted in 1532, and the coffeehouses and warehouses containing coffee beans
were sacked.[18] During the 16th century, it had already reached the rest of
the Middle East, the Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire. From the Middle
East, coffee drinking spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, and coffee
plants were transported by the Dutch to the East Indies and to the Americas.[2]
Similarly, coffee was banned by the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church some time before the 18th century.[19] However, in
the second half of the 19th century, Ethiopian attitudes softened towards
coffee drinking, and its consumption spread rapidly between 1880 and 1886;
according to Richard Pankhurst, "this was largely due to Emperor Menilek,
who himself drank it, and to Abuna Matewos who did much to dispel the belief of
the clergy that it was a Muslim drink."[20]
The earliest mention of coffee noted
by the literary coffee merchant Philippe Sylvestre Dufour[21] is a reference to
bunchum in the works of the 10th century CE Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya
al-Razi, known as Rhazes in the West,[22] but more definite information on the
preparation of a beverage from the roasted coffee berries dates from several
centuries later. One of the most important of the early writers on coffee was
Abd al-Qadir al-Jaziri, who in 1587 compiled a work tracing the history and
legal controversies of coffee entitled Umdat al safwa fi hill al-qahwa عمدة الصفوة في حل القهوة.[16][23] He reported that one
Sheikh, Jamal-al-Din al-Dhabhani (d. 1470), mufti of Aden, was the first to
adopt the use of coffee (circa 1454).
He found that among its properties was that it drove away fatigue and
lethargy, and brought to the body a certain sprightliness and vigour……
SOURCE
This is only an an excerpt from a long essay From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
. you can read more……
Kaldi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kaldi was a legendary Ethiopian goatherd who discovered the
coffee plant, according to popular legend.
Myth
Kaldi, noticing that when his flock nibbled on the bright red
berries of a certain bush they became more energetic (jumping goats), chewed on
the fruit himself. His exhilaration prompted him to bring the berries to an
Islamic monk in a nearby monastery, but the monk disapproved of their use and
threw them into a fire, from which an enticing aroma billowed. The roasted
beans were quickly raked from the embers, ground up, and dissolved in hot
water, yielding the world's first cup of coffee.[1]
Analysis
The story is probably apocryphal, as it was first related by
Antoine Faustus Nairon, a Maronite who became a Roman professor of Oriental
languages and author of one of the first printed treatises devoted to coffee,
De Saluberrima potione Cahue seu Cafe nuncupata Discurscus (Rome, 1671).[2]
"The myth of Kaldi the Ethiopian goatherd and his
dancing goats, the coffee origin story most frequently encountered in Western
literature, embellishes the credible tradition that the Sufi encounter with
coffee occurred in Ethiopia, which lies just across the narrow passage of the
Red Sea from Arabia's western coast."[3]
Influence
In modern times, "Kaldi Coffee" or "Kaldi's
Coffee" is a popular name for coffee shops and coffee roasting companies
around the world.[4]
References
1. A similar
version after Nairon, without the name of "Kaldi" and sited in Yemen,
is recounted in Miguelonne Toussaint-Samat, Anthea Bell, tr. A History of Food
2nd. ed. 2008, "Coffee in Legend" pp 532-34.
2. Noted by
H. F. Nicolai, Der Kaffee und seine Ersatzmittel: Volkshygienische Studie,
(Brunswick, 1901) ch. 1 "Geschichtliches über den Kaffee" p. 4 note
1.
3. Bennett
Alan Weinberg, Bonnie K. Bealer (2001). The world of caffeine. Routledge. p. 3.
ISBN 978-0-415-92722-2.
4. For
example, Kaldi - Wholesale Gourmet Coffee Roasters, Kaldi's Coffee Roasting
Company, Kaldi's Coffee House, or a Google search for "Kaldi". All
accessed 12 September 2006.
Adventures
in Arabica
Kaldi
(his dancing goats) and the Origin of Coffee
In Ethiopia, the origin of coffee depends on who you speak
to, and where they come from. The legend of its discovery that still endures
today is that of Kaldi. For such an important find, the story has an unlikely
cast of characters that include a goatherder, his wife, a monastery of monks,
and a troupe of dancing goats. Here is just one version of that story:
A young Abyssinian goatherder named Kaldi – or Kalid as he
was known locally – who lived around the year AD850 noticed to his amazement,
that after chewing the bright red berries from a certain tree, his goats
pranced around in an unusually exuberant manner. Curiosity got the better him
and he tried a handful of the berries that were growing on the bushes nearby.
Feeling a novel sense of elation, Kaldi realised that there was something out
of the ordinary about this fruit and, filling his pockets, rushed back to his
wife to share his discovery. ‘They are heaven sent!’ she declared, ‘you must
take them to the monastery.’ Kaldi then presented the cherries to the chief
monk, relating the miraculous effect they had on him, and his goats.
On hearing the story and the cherries’ extraordinary
properties, the monk threw them onto the fire denouncing them to be the work of
the devil. Within minutes, the monastery began to fill up with the heavenly
smell of roasting beans and the other monks gathered to investigate. Raking the
spitting and popping beans from the embers, they were placed in a ewer and
covered with hot water to preserve their freshness.
That night, the monks sat up drinking the rich and fragrant
brew and vowed that they should drink it daily to help with their nightly
prayers. Word of the cherries’ magical properties spread far and wide. It
was not long before the monastic folk across the realm became accustomed to
drinking the invigorating beverage as an accompaniment to their nocturnal
devotions…
But don’t take my word for it. Here is an early account of
the origin of coffee retold by an Italian historian of coffee, Faustus Naironi,
in 1671:
“A certain person that looked after camels, or, as others
report it, goats, [this is the common tradition amongst the Eastern people]
complained to the religious of a certain Monastery in the Kingdom of Ayaman
[Yemen], that is Arabia Felix, that his herds twice or thrice a week,
not only kept awake all night long, but spent it in frisking and dancing in an
unusual manner.
The Prior of the Monastery, led by his curiosity, and
weighing the matter, believ’d this must happen from the food of the creatures:
Marking, therefore, diligently, that every night, in company with one of the
monks, the very place where the goats or camels pastured, when they danced,
found there certain shrubs or bushes, on the fruit or rather berries of which
they fed.
He resolved to try the virtues of these berries himself;
thereupon, boiling them in water, and drinking thereof, he found by experience,
it kept him awake in the night. Hence it happened, that he enjoined his
Monastery the daily use of it, for this procuring watchfulness made them more
readily and surely attend their devotions which they were obliged to perform in
the night.
When, by this frequent use of it, they daily experienced
its wholesomeness, and how effectually it conduced to the preserving them in
perfect health, the drink grew in request throughout the whole Kingdom, and in
progress of time, other nations and provinces of the East fell into the
use of it. Thus by a mere accident, and the great and wonderful providence of
the Almighty, the fame of its wholesomeness spread itself more and more, even
to the Western parts, more especially those of Europe”.
There is now a consensus amongst historians and botanists
that coffee – especially the genus Coffea Arabica – is indigenous to Ethiopia
where it still continues to grow wild in the Bale Mountains, Gamo Gofa,
Ilubabor and Kaffa Forest regions. Many etymologists interpret ‘coffee’ from
the name of the ancient Ethiopian kingdom, ‘Kaffa’. Others assert it comes
from ‘qahwah’ (meaning ‘wine’) as it came to be known in the Arabian peninsula
, especially Yemen, where there is evidence of coffee roasting as early as the
13th century. (It’s not by accident or sheer coincidence that Yemen
has a sea port called Mocha). But if I were a betting man? My money’s on Kaffa..
Whether there is any basis to the story of Kaldi and his
dancing goats or not, the undeniable fact is that the legend of Kaldi is a
masterstroke in public relations. (Whenever has PR allowed the facts get in the
way of a good story?). In an attempt to separate reality from myth, I
spoke to a number of people who said that coffee was first used by the Oromo
tribes people. By way of preparation, the ground beans were mixed with butter
or fat to form a ‘chewing gum’ that could be carried easily. It was then taken
to help sustain them in covering long distances on foot to graze their cattle
and no doubt, on the battlefield. This was the portable precursor to the
Oromiya speciality – Buna Quala – arguably the world’s first ever energy drink.
In many respects, I think it’s a good thing that Kaldi’s
reputed discovery continues to remain shrouded in the mists of antiquity. It’s
all part of the bean’s magic. Chasing ghosts? Chasing goats more like… Long
live Kaldi!
SOURCE:
Adventures
in Arabica
The Origin of Coffee: Kaldi and the Dancing Goats
By Brian Lokker. Published February
6, 2013, last updated July 11, 2015.
In any event, according to popular
legend, the origin of coffee can be traced to the day, maybe a thousand years
ago, when an Abyssinian (Ethiopian) goatherd named Kaldi observed his goats
prancing and frolicking about. Kaldi had previously found the behavior of his
goats to be “irreproachable,” so he knew that something unusual was going on.
When Kaldi investigated, he saw that
the goats were merrily eating the red berries and shiny leaves of an unfamiliar
tree. Kaldi decided to try some, and when he did he joined the dancing goats
and became “the happiest herder in happy Arabia.”
Sometime later, a passing monk
observed Kaldi and the goats. When Kaldi told him about the berries, the monk
thought they might be the answer to his prayers — literally. It seems that the
monk was always falling asleep in the middle of prayers. When he ate the
berries, he stayed awake.
The unnamed monk came up with the
idea of drying and boiling the berries to make a beverage. His fellow monks
loved the new drink because it encouraged them to pray — and it tasted good
too.
So now that I know about Kaldi and
his goats, if someday — in the far, far future, of course — someone calls me an
“old goat,” I’ll just smile, have another sip of coffee, and maybe do a little
dance.
No comments:
Post a Comment