Coffee, a hot beverage favored by people indifferent regions, is said to hav

Coffee is one of the most popular beverage throughout the world today. In fact, according to some estimates, over 30% of all adults in the world drink coffee at least once a day on the average.
   Coffee contains a kind of drug called caffeine. Caffeine is a chemical substance that stimulates the nerves of the body. Drinking coffee tends to make people a little bit more awake or alert2--at least for a short time-- because of this stimulating effect on the nervous system. A cup of coffee has, on the average, about 3% caffeine in it.
   One story of the discovery of the coffee plant relates to the effect of caffeine. According to the story, coffee was discovered in southern Ethiopia--in East Africa--in a province called Kaffa. The story says that coffee was first found by a goat farmer, or rather a goat herder named Kaldi. This was in about the year 850, according to the story, Kaldi, the goat herder, was leading his animals through the mountains and the goats were stopping constantly to eat plants near the path. Suddenly, some of the goats started jumping up and down in a very strange way. Kaldi figured out that the goats were acting this way because of the plants they were eating. Kaldi himself tried eating some of the green beans that the goats had been eating. He, too, felt the stimulating effect of the beans.
   Kaldi wanted to prove what had happened, so he picked some of the beans and took them back to his home village, where he told his story.
   The green bean got the name "Kaffa" and later "coffee" because the beans were discovered in the province called Kaffa in Ethiopia.
   Then, for years, people used to eat a few of the green Kaffa beans when they were in the mountains and needed extra energy or stimulation. It was later found that the coffee beans could be picked and then dried until they turned brown, and then they could be stored. If the beans were dried and stored, they could be used at any time.
   When the coffee beans were dried, however, they were too hard to eat, as had been done before. There- fore, people began to crush the beans into small pieces--and then boil the pieces in hot water--and make a hot drink.
   Gradually, it became common to drink this hot beverage in Ethiopia. Next, the hot coffee drink became popular among Arab travelers who visited Ethiopia. The Arabic word "Kawah" means coffee.
   After coffee drinking became common in the Arab countries, its popularity spread to Europe. Once again, it was spread by travelers. In the 16th and 17th centuries travelers and traders from Europe began to visit the Arab countries. The Arab merchants and shopkeepers served coffee to the Europeans. Apparently, the Europeans liked coffee and as travel increased, the amount of coffee drunk in Europe increased.
   Gradually, the European traders and explorers introduced coffee drinking to the people in North American and Asia. Coffee drinking increased rapidly in the late 1700’s and 1800’s. Today it remains a popular hot drink in many places.