An agreeable habit, a custom which is so deeply rooted that it has become almost a ritual; having a coffee helps bring people together and break the ice in the office or at home with friends. A vast range of varieties are now available, the possibilities are endless: first of all, there is “espresso”, which also comes extra strong, American style filter coffee, the much-loved and very Italian “cappuccino”, our old friend “café-au-lait” and finally, the decaffeinated and more delicate, sophisticated varieties which are now all the rage. Tracing the origins of coffee, which over the centuries has spread throughout the world, makes good reading. Although a number of scientific studies have revealed that the Coffea plant already existed round about the period that Homo Sapiens inhabited the earth, its use as a beverage has more recent origins. References to coffee in literature, though a little vague and often no more than legends, vary considerably in the account given. Homer, for example, describes the miraculous effects of “Nepenthe that thwarts all sorrow” in the fourth book of the Odyssey. To the ancient Greeks, Nepenthe was a beverage, coffee in fact, which eased pain and acted as a sedative. Many centuries later, in around the year 1000, the Arab physician Avicenna was very familiar with the plant and often prescribed it as an effective medicine. The most well-known and fascinating legend regarding the origins of the beverage however, is the story of a goat herder Kaldi who, taking his herd up onto the Ethiopian hills to graze, noticed that some of the animals became restless and excitable after eating the leaves and berries from a certain shrub. Curious to see these strange effects, the herder tried the fruits from the plant himself, thereby discovering their invigorating and stimulating powers. Kaldi gathered some berries and took them to a nearby monastery. The monks did not seem overjoyed at the find and fearing that the berries represented the fruits of the devil, threw them onto the fire. This is when the miracle happened: a delicious smell wafted out of the flames and soon convinced the monks to change their mind and to save the plant from its hapless fate. It was in fact the monks who soon came up with an idea for preparing the beverage and thus, the fruit of the devil was to be magically transformed into a gift from God, helping them to keep awake during long nights of prayer. Coffee spread throughout the world of Islam as an acceptable substitute for alcohol, forbidden by the Koran. The real stamp of approval came when the Prophet Mohammed was rescued as he was about to fall asleep during prayers. The story goes that the Archangel Gabriel gave him a little coffee sent down from Heaven. After only a few sips, it seems that Mohammed acquired the strength to “unseat forty horsemen and gratify forty women”. The legends suggest that coffee was already a beverage at that time, but in truth, it was first consumed, by either munching the berries whole or ground into a paste with animal fat and eaten as cakes. The Arabs were the first to boil the beans taken from the berries, green to start off with and then roasted and ground: it is no coincidence that coffee takes its name from the Arab word “quahwa” meaning any vegetable-based beverage. Even the tale of how coffee was introduced to the West has two very different versions. According to some, it was the Turks who, after their defeat at the ports of Vienna in 1683, abandoned their provisions as they fled, leaving behind five hundred sacks of the precious beans. Another version, on the other hand, attributes the find to Venetian merchants who started to import coffee to Europe in 1615 and to sell it, firstly to pharmacists as a “miraculous medicinal cure” and then as a beverage to enjoy with friends. In fact, in about 1624, the Venetians mastered the art of roasting and went on to perfect it in the “Water and Ice Shops” where water-based and iced drinks were traditionally served. It was not by chance that by about 1645, these establishments came to be known as “Coffee Shops”. Consumption of the beverage was soon to spread to every corner of Europe: Venice became the supplier of the raw material for neighbouring countries. The Germans and Dutch were the most passionate patrons. In Austria, coffee was marketed by the Pole Kolshitzky who was assigned the five hundred sacks of coffee beans abandoned by the Turks during their hasty retreat from the ports of Vienna following defeat at the hands of the Hapsburgs. The Polish industrialist started up a roaring trade and it was he who adapted the bitter and rather muddy beverage to European tastes, using a simple but genial trick: he added honey to mask the bitter taste and filtered the coffee to eliminate the unpleasant sensation of powder on the palette. The beverage spread throughout the Muslim world, making its way first of all to the “qahveh khaneh”, which were to become the modern-day coffee houses, and shortly afterwards to people’s homes where even women were permitted to sample its qualities.