The Mad Roaster Coffee Beans

The Goatherd and the Dervishes

Once upon a time, in faraway Ethiopia, there lived a young goat-herd named Kaldi.

Every day Kaldi would set his goats to grazing in the hills that surrounded his village, and every evening he would lead them home.

One evening, Kaldi noticed some of his goats were more frisky than usually, especially his old billy goat.

The next morning, Kaldi followed the goats and discovered a shiny, dark-leafed shrub with bright red berries. The goats were nibbling away and prancing with reckless abandon.

Being a curious lad, Kaldi tried the berries and soon he was romping with his goats!

One day, a holy man came along, and wondered why Kaldi and his goats seemed to behave so oddly. Kaldi explained, and gave the holy man some of the berries. Not surprisingly, the holy man found that he couldn't sleep.

The holy man was famous for his all night nissertations, so he gave some of the berries to his disciples, who were known a "dervishes." The dervishes would chew on berries as they listened to his ceremonies and then whirled in religious dance under the light of the stars.

To this day the Sufis begin their whirling dervish ceremonies by drinking a brew made from - ready for this? - coffee beans.

The very first coffee was made from the leaves and perhaps berries, and was a bitter brew at best. It wasn't until later that people started roasting the bean.

P.S. You might like to know that our Cradle of Man coffee beans are grown on small peasant plots on the hillsides of Ethiopia, at an elevation of 5,000 to 6,000 feet... not unlike the beans Kaldi discovered so many years ago.