咖啡的傳說

THE ORIGIN OF COFFEE

The story of how coffee growing and drinking spread around the world is one of the greatest and most romantic in history. It starts in the Horn of Africa， in Ethiopia， where the coffee tree probably originated in the province of 1)Kaffa. There are various fanciful but unlikely stories surrounding the discovery of coffee beans. One story has it that an Ethiopian 2)goatherd was amazed at the lively behaviour of his goats after chewing red coffee berries. What we know with more certainty is that the 3)succulent outer cherry flesh was eaten by slaves taken from present day Sudan into Yemen and Arabia， through the great port of its day， 4)Mocha， now 5)synonymous with coffee. Coffee was certainly being cultivated in Yemen by the 15th century and probably much earlier than that.

Mocha was also the main port for the one sea route to Mecca， and was the busiest place in the world at the time. But the Arabs had a strict policy not to export any fertile beans， so that coffee could not be cultivated anywhere else. The coffee bean is the seed of the coffee tree， but when stripped of its outer layers it becomes infertile. The race to 6)make off with some live coffee trees or beans was eventually won by the Dutch in 1616.

Initially， the authorities in Yemen actively encouraged coffee drinking as it was considered preferable to the extreme side effects of 7)Kat， a shrub whose buds and leaves were chewed as a stimulant. The first coffeehouses were opened in Mecca and were called “kaveh kanes”. They quickly spread throughout the Arab world and became successful places where chess was played， gossip was exchanged， and singing， dancing and music were enjoyed. They were luxuriously decorated and each had an individual character.

Nothing quite like the coffeehouse had existed before: a place where society and business could be conducted in comfortable surroundings and where anyone could go， for the price of coffee.

The Arabian coffeehouses soon became centres of political activity and were suppressed. Coffee and coffeehouses were subsequently banned several times over the next few decades， but they kept reappearing. Eventually a solution was found when coffeehouses and coffee were taxed.

咖啡的起源

咖啡的種植和飲用在全世界廣泛流傳的經歷可以說是歷史上最神奇、最浪漫的故事之一。這段傳奇從位于埃塞俄比亞的非洲之角（即索馬里）開始，咖啡樹最早可能就是在那里的喀法省出現的。關于咖啡豆是如何被發現，有各種各樣離奇但不靠譜的傳說。其中一個故事說的是一個埃塞俄比亞牧羊人驚訝地發現他的山羊吃了一些紅色的咖啡漿果后行為變得異?；钴S。然而我們能夠比較肯定的是，當年奴隸通過當時昌盛的海港摩卡從今天的蘇丹被賣到也門和阿拉伯地區時，他們都會吃這些咖啡果外層味甜汁多的果肉，而時至今日摩卡已成了咖啡的同義詞。到了15世紀，也門肯定已經栽種有咖啡，說不定時間還要更早些。

摩卡在當時也是前往圣地麥加的海上航線上的主要港口之一，也是當時世界是最繁忙的港口。但阿拉伯人有一個嚴格的規定，禁止出口所有能結果的豆類，因此咖啡未能在其他地方種植。咖啡豆是咖啡樹的種子，但咖啡豆去殼后就不能結果了。最終，荷蘭人于1616年贏得了偷取活咖啡樹或咖啡豆的競賽。

也門當局一開始就積極鼓勵人們飲用咖啡，因為相對于阿拉伯茶——一種果實和葉子被人們咀嚼來提神的灌木——強烈的副作用來說，咖啡要溫和些。世界上的第一批咖啡館在圣地麥加誕生，它們被叫作“kaveh kanes”。隨后，咖啡館迅速遍布阿拉伯地區，顧客盈門。它成了人們下棋、閑聊、欣賞歌舞和音樂的地方?！?br>