Kaldi Explained

Kaldi was a legendary ^[1] Ethiopian goatherd who is credited for discovering the coffee plant around 850 CE, according to popular legend, after which such crop entered the Islamic world and then the rest of the world.

Analysis

The story is probably apocryphal, as it was first related by Antoine Faustus Nairon, a Maronite Roman professor of Oriental languages and author of one of the first printed treatises devoted to coffee, De Saluberrima potione Cahue seu Cafe nuncupata Discurscus (Rome, 1671).^{[2] [3]}

Influence

In modern times, "Kaldi Coffee" or "Kaldi's Coffee" and "Dancing Goat" or "Wandering Goat" are popular names for coffee shops and coffee roasting companies around the world.^[4] The biggest coffee chain in Ethiopia is called Kaldi's.

Further reading

• All about coffee from Google books
• All about coffee from archive.org

Notes and References

1. • Book: Colonna-Dashwood . Maxwell . The Coffee Dictionary: An A-Z of coffee, from growing & roasting to brewing & tasting . 7 September 2017 . Octopus . 978-1-78472-302-6 . en . Kaldi, an Arab Ethiopian goatherd, is said to have found his goats dancing in the forest in south-west Ethiopia sometime in the ninth century..
   • Book: Driem . George L. van . The Tale of Tea: A Comprehensive History of Tea from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day . 14 January 2019 . BRILL . 978-90-04-39360-8 . en . In Ukers' book, a young Arabian goatherd named Kaldi, afflicted with melancholy, followed the example of his frolicking goats and ate the coffee berries from the trees..
   • Book: Brookshier . Frank . The Burro . 1 June 2001 . University of Oklahoma Press . 978-0-8061-3338-6 . en . Another tale and one that is commonly accepted is the story of a ninth-century Arab goatherd named Kaldi..
   • Web site: Nathan . Myhrvold . Coffee . www.britannica.com . en . 11 September 2023 . One of many legends about the discovery of coffee is that of Kaldi, an Arab goatherd who was puzzled by the strange antics of his flock.
2. Noted by H. F. Nicolai, Der Kaffee und seine Ersatzmittel: Volkshygienische Studie, (Brunswick, 1901) ch. 1 "Geschichtliches über den Kaffee" p. 4 note 1.
3. Book: Banesio, Fausto Naironio. De saluberrima potione cahue, seu cafe nuncupata discursus Fausti Naironi Banesii Maronitae, linguae Chaldaicae, seu Syriacae in almo vrbis archigymnasio lectoris ad eminentiss. ... D. Io. Nicolaum S.R.E. card. ... Typis Michaelis Herculis. 1671. Latin.
4. For example, Kaldi - Wholesale Gourmet Coffee Roasters, Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Company, Kaldi's Coffee House, or a Google search for "Kaldi"Wandering Goat Coffee CompanyDancing Goat Cafe

   All accessed 12 September 2006.