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Prior to 1000 AD	Members of the Galla tribe in Ethiopia notice that they get an energy boost when they eat a certain berry, ground up and mixed with animal fat. Another Ethiopian legend evolves, of goat herder Kaldi who notices goats are friskier after eating red berries of a local shrub. Kaldi then experiments with the berries himself and begins to feel happier.
1000 AD	Arab traders bring coffee back to their homeland and cultivate the plant for the first time on plantations. They also began to boil the beans, creating a drink they call qahwa (literally, "that which prevents sleep").
1453	Coffee is introduced to Constantinople by Ottoman Turks. The world's first coffee shop, Kiva Han, opens there in 1475. Turkish law makes it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he fails to provide her with her daily quota of coffee.
1511	Khair Beg, the corrupt governor of Mecca, tries to ban coffee for fear that its influence might foster opposition to his rule. The sultan sends word that coffee is sacred and has the governor executed.
Circa 1600	Coffee enters Europe through the port of Venice, introduced to the West by Italian traders. In Italy, Pope Clement VIII is urged by his advisers to consider the favourite drink of the Ottoman Empire part of the infidel threat. However, he decides to "baptize" it instead, making it an acceptable Christian beverage.