Coffee: a myth born in Ethiopia, not with a goat in Arabia

The truth about coffee: it was neither invented in Arabia nor discovered by a goat

The most widespread legend about coffee claims that some shepherds discovered the stimulating effect of its beans after seeing their goats become more active from eating them. It's a nice story, but it rests on about as much evidence as most fables: very little. Those who have bothered to look at the data point out that the coffee plant needs stable temperatures between 17 and 23 degrees, high humidity and constant rainfall, conditions that are impossible in the Arabian desert. The most likely origin is Ethiopia, in the Kaffa region, from which the drink may even take its name.

The second part of the discussion is less picturesque and more uncomfortable: caffeine is a poison. The plant produces it to deter the insects that want to eat it. And humans, in a antiestéticat of adaptive survival, have turned it into the most widely consumed psychoactive substance on the planet. Something being natural does not make it harmless; something being popular does not make it healthy. The irony is that a substance designed to kill bugs has become the morning fuel of millions of jittery office workers.

There is no consensus on the exact origin, nor on whether it's worth switching to mate or green tea. The only thing that seems clear is that the official tale of the jumping goat does not hold up. And that, like almost everything in the modern consumer industry, coffee is a mix of marketing, tradition and a good dose of self-deception. Everyone should pick their own poison.