Ethiopia is widely considered to be the epicentre of where coffee came from. If you’ve ever googled “coffee history”, you will have come across the famous story of how coffee was discovered in Ethiopia by Kaldi, an Ethiopian goat herder, around 800 AD.

He wandered over to his goats to see them acting very strangely. They were energised and excited after eating some berries from a tree. So, he tried the berries himself, and after he too felt excitable and alert, Kaldi took these berries to a monk. The monks exclaimed that it was the work of the devil and threw the berries into the fire. In doing so, a beautiful, heavenly aroma was released and the berries were quickly raked from the fire and crushed into embers. Realising their mistake, the monks then placed the berries into a jug and covered them with hot water for preservation. The monks went on to drink this lovely new concoction, only to realise it helped them stay awake during nightly devotions and prayers. Of course, this is probably just a wonderful legend and the history of coffee is more likely to lie with the nomadic Oromo/Galla people of Ethiopia and northern Kenya.