Kaldi, a goatherd in the Ethiopian highlands, was the first todiscover coffee after noticing that his goats, upon eating somemysterious berries from a certain tree became spirited andsleepless at night.Kaldi reported enthusiastically about his findings to an abbot in alocal monastery, who made a drink with the berries and discoveredenergizing sensations from this mysterious drink. Soon theinvigorating effects of the powerful fruit began to spread. Withtime, it reached the Arabian Peninsula and this is where thejourney begins.The Arabs started cultivating this precious fruit and also tradingit. With the passing of time, coffee was getting known on theYemeni district of Arabia, Persia, Egypt, Syria and Turkey.Coffee was not only drank in homes but also in many public coffeehouses; called "qahveh khaneh", which began to appear in citiesacross the Near East. The popularity of the coffee houses wasgrowing for all kinds of social activity. Not only did they drinkcoffee and engage in conversation, but they also listened to music,watched performers, played chess and kept current on the news ofthe day. In fact, they quickly became such an important center forthe exchange of information that the coffee houses were oftenreferred to as 'Schools of the Wise.'
