There are many legends which portray the origin of coffee drinking.

One of the most widespread is about an exiled Arabian Sheik who saved himself from starvation while in the wilderness by making soup from the berries of the coffee shrub.

A more complete story of the origin of the coffee drinking is about Kaldi, a goat keeper, who lived in Ethiopia more than 1000 years ago. He noticed his goats behaved very strangely if they ate red berries from the coffee bush. Even older goats would leap about like young kids. Kaldi told his story to the abbot of a nearby monastery who decided to test the power of this berry for himself. He poured boiling water onto some berries to make a drink, which he found helped him to stay awake. He and the other monks then drank this liquid each night and they no longer felt sleepy during their long hour of prayer.

Although there are many legends about coffee and Muslim monks, it was definitely grown in Islamic Monastery gardens in the Yemen and there is evidence to suggest that coffee trees were cultivated about 1000 years ago.