All about coffeeUkers, William H. (William Harrison)
History
All about coffee
Ukers, William H. (William Harrison)
Coffee; Coffee Industry; Drinking customs
"Oh, Schadheli, my dear master," cried the unfortunate dervish one
day; "if the things which happened to me at Mocha were destined,
was it worth the trouble to give me a bowl to come here?"
To these just complaints, there was heard immediately a song of
incomparable harmony, and a bird of marvelous plumage came to rest
in a tree. Omar sprang forward quickly toward the little bird which
sang so well, but then he saw on the branches of the tree only
flowers and fruit. Omar laid hands on the fruit, and found it
delicious. Then he filled his great pockets with it and went back
to his cave. As he was preparing to boil a few herbs for his
dinner, the idea came to him of substituting for this sad soup,
some of his harvested fruit. From it he obtained a savory and
perfumed drink; it was coffee.
The Italian _Journal of the Savants_ for the year 1760 says that two
monks, Scialdi and Ayduis, were the first to discover the properties of
coffee, and for this reason became the object of special prayers. "Was
not this Scialdi identical with the Sheik Schadheli?" asks Jardin.[31]
The most popular legend ascribes the discovery of the drink to an
Arabian herdsman in upper Egypt, or Abyssinia, who complained to the
abbot of a neighboring monastery that the goats confided to his care
became unusually frolicsome after eating the berries of certain shrubs
found near their feeding grounds. The abbot, having observed the fact,
determined to try the virtues of the berries on himself. He, too,
responded with a new exhilaration. Accordingly, he directed that some be
boiled, and the decoction drunk by his monks, who thereafter found no
difficulty in keeping awake during the religious services of the night.
The abbe Massieu in his poem, _Carmen Caffaeum_, thus celebrates the
event:
The monks each in turn, as the evening draws near,
Drink 'round the great cauldron--a circle of cheer!
And the dawn in amaze, revisiting that shore,
On idle beds of ease surprised them nevermore!
According to the legend, the news of the "wakeful monastery" spread
rapidly, and the magical berry soon "came to be in request throughout
the whole kingdom; and in progress of time other nations and provinces
of the East fell into the use of it."
The French have preserved the following picturesque version of this
legend:
A young goatherd named Kaldi noticed one day that his goats, whose
deportment up to that time had been irreproachable, were abandoning
themselves to the most extravagant prancings. The venerable buck,
ordinarily so dignified and solemn, bounded about like a young kid.
Kaldi attributed this foolish gaiety to certain fruits of which the
goats had been eating with delight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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