The most widely circulated story about the coffee's beginnings is difficult to substantiate, but has developed into an enjoyable tale over the years. The story says that a young Ethiopian named Kaldi, while minding his goats, decided to try some of the red berries his goats were eating from a mountainside shrub. He immediately felt a surge of energy. Kaldi shared the secret of the berries with a monk from a nearby monastery. The monk boiled the cherries to make a liquid for the monks to drink. From then on the news of this drink spread quickly. The drink became known as “Qahwah” which means, “invigorating and stimulating”.

Coffee is believed to have arrived in America in 1607. By 1668 coffee had replaced beer as New York City's favorite breakfast drink and there were coffeehouses in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and elsewhere. Most of these coffeehouses were more like pubs and taverns, they served not only coffee but also chocolate, ales, beers and wines and also rented rooms to sailors and travelers.

Coffee replaced Tea as the United States national drink in 1773. At this time the colonists were so angered by King George’s tax on tea that they responded with the Boston Tea Party and a strong allegiance to coffee.

During the next centuries the popularity of coffee spread through Europe on such a large scale, that there were more coffee shops in London than today. A true coffeehouse was crowded, smelly, noisy, feisty, smoky, celebrated and condemned. People stopped nearby coffeehouses, sniffing the air of roasting beans.

There is no doubt that coffee brought revolution in man's tastes not only because of its delicious flavor and tempting aroma, but because of its stimulating and sustaining effects.