National Coffee Day: Legend of the Dancing Goats

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National Coffee Day: A Drip Coffee Primer

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sourced by Jordan Yerman

It's National Coffee Day. How do you think I'm going to celebrate? On National Coffee Day, let's look toward Ethiopia, where the stimulant effect of coffee bean was first observed. It's The Legend of the Dancing Goats., in which Kaldi the shepherd observed his flock hopping around vigorously after devouring coffee beans...  and stepped into caffeinated legend.

Coffee in its liquid (i.e. awesome) form was first popularized in Yemen in the 15th century, making it to Europe a hundred years later, courtesy of the British and Dutch East India Companies, rising to popularity during the Restoration, along with chocolate from the New World. If it stained your teeth, the European well-to-do loved it.

These days, coffee shops are pretty much on every corner, especially the ones with green awnings and bitter coffee. I mean, I'm just saying. Ethiopian coffee (especially Yirgacheffe) is my favorite, and I'm glad that Starbucks' quixotic quest to copyright that name has met with failure.