Daily Junction.mobi portalFood · December 9, 2025 · Sofia Reyes · 1 min
Coffee is the world's most traded agricultural commodity after oil. Here is the history of how it conquered the world and the culture it created.
According to legend, coffee was discovered by a goat herder named Kaldi in the Ethiopian region of Kaffa, who noticed his goats were unusually energetic after eating berries from a particular tree. Whether apocryphal or not, Ethiopia is indeed the genetic homeland of Coffea arabica. Coffee cultivation spread to Yemen in the 15th century, where Sufi monks used it to stay awake for night prayers.
Coffeehouses (qahveh khaneh) spread through the Arabian Peninsula and then the Ottoman Empire in the 15th and 16th centuries, becoming social and intellectual centres. They were nicknamed "schools of the wise" — places where men gathered to drink coffee, play chess and discuss politics. The Ottoman authorities periodically attempted to ban coffeehouses as centres of sedition.
Coffee reached Europe in the early 17th century. By the 1650s, coffeehouses had opened in Oxford and London, becoming the centres of political, financial and intellectual life that taverns had previously occupied. Lloyd's of London — the insurance market — began as a coffeehouse where merchants and ship owners gathered. The London Stock Exchange has similar origins.
Coffee culture has evolved through three waves. The first wave: mass-produced, freeze-dried coffee, prioritising convenience over quality. The second wave: Starbucks-style espresso drinks, introducing Italian café culture to mass markets. The third wave (from the 2000s onward): specialty coffee that treats coffee like wine — focusing on single origins, specific farms, terroir, varietals, and preparation methods as a craft. Third-wave cafés provide detailed information about the provenance of each coffee and treat the barista as a skilled professional.
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