Legendary accounts[edit]

According to legend, ancestors of today's Oromo people were believed to have been the first to
recognize the energizing effect of the coffee plant,[5] though no direct evidence has been found
indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the native populations might have used it as
a stimulant or even known about it, earlier than the 17th century.[5] The story of Kaldi, the 9thcentury Ethiopian goatherd who discovered coffee when he noticed how excited his goats
became after eating the beans from a coffee plant, did not appear in writing until 1671 and is
probably apocryphal.[5] The original domesticated coffee plant is said to have been
from Harar[19] in Ethiopia.
Other accounts attribute the discovery of coffee to Sheikh Omar. According to the ancient
chronicle (preserved in the Abd-Al-Kadir manuscript), Omar, who was known for his ability to cure
the sick through prayer, was once exiled from Mocha, Yemen to a desert cave near Ousab.
Starving, Omar chewed berries from nearby shrubbery, but found them to be bitter. He tried
roasting the seeds to improve the flavor, but they became hard. He then tried boiling them to
soften the seed, which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. Upon drinking the liquid Omar was
revitalized and sustained for days. As stories of this "miracle drug" reached Mocha, Omar was
asked to return and was made a saint.[20] From Ethiopia, the coffee plant was introduced into the
Arab World through Egypt and Yemen.[21]