In some accounts, a Dutch spy tried to rip the plant to shreds and/or throw it overboard in an attempt to sabotage the French coffee industry. There are many tales of piracy and thievery that lie just on the brink of unbelievable.
Dancing Goats
Coffee originated in Ethiopia but exactly how it was first made into a drink is a heavily debated subject. Most legends about the drink agree that an Ethiopian
goat herder noticed that his goats were more energetic after eating a specific kind of red berry; so the herder brought the red berry to a monk. This is where the tales tend to diverge. Some stories say the monk was overjoyed to have found a stimulate that allowed him to stay up all night studying texts. If this is true, the use of coffee by college students to pull all-nighters in the library is an ancient practice. Not that I would encourage any students to use that as justification to their parents. Other legends say the monk viewed the berries as the devil’s work and threw the beans into a fire. The berries were later scooped up, ground down and made into a beverage by other monks.
Coffee Baptism
The association of coffee with the devil can be traced throughout history. In the 1500s, coffee was associated with the Muslims who cultivated it and facilitate
d its spread to Europe. Christians who did not get along with the Muslimsassociated the drink with heresy and called
it ‘Satan’s drink.’ When coffee eventually touched the lips of Pope Clement VIII, he thought it was too good to leave to the devil and baptized it.
Treacherous Seas
A man named Gabriel de Clieu was a naval officer for the French Colonies and is credited with bringing coffee across the seas to the New World. When his request to bring a coffee seedling from the French Royal Botanical Gardens to the French colonies was denied, he decided to steal it. It is believed that he seduced a woman within the royal court, convinced her to bring him the seedling before sailing off, and left her alone on the French shores. Poor lady.
The tale doesn't end there though, because de Clieu faced many challenges during his long sea journey with the plant. Not only did he give the seedling half of his water rations to keep it hydrated, but the seedling was nearly sabotaged. In some accounts, a Dutch spy tried to rip the plant to shreds and/or throw it overboard in an attempt to sabotage the French coffee industry. Or so it is said.
Those little stolen seedlings supposedly started the first coffee farms on the island of Martinique, so if any of your favorite coffee comes from the Caribbean you have Gabriel de Clieu to thank.