趣味百科：谁发明了咖啡？

很多现代人每天都要靠咖啡来“续命”，喝了咖啡才能神清气爽，正常开启一天的工作模式。那么是谁发明了这么神奇又美味的提神饮料呢？

 

 

Each day, millions of people brew a cup of coffee in the morning to help get their day started. As with most things in history, from milk to vegetables, someone had to be the first to think of roasting beans for their caffeine kick. According to legend, it was a 9th-century Ethiopian goat-herder named Kaldi who may have done as much for the beverage as Starbucks.

每一天都有数百万人在清晨冲泡一杯咖啡来帮助自己开始新的一天。就像历史上大多数事物一样，从牛奶到蔬菜，总得有人第一个想到烤咖啡豆来获取咖啡因的刺激。传说咖啡是9世纪的埃塞俄比亚牧羊人卡尔迪发现的，他为这种饮料做出的贡献可能不亚于星巴克。

 

Allegedly, Kaldi observed his goats behaving erratically after eating the red berries from a nearby Coffea arabica tree. He tried some of them himself and was soon acting as hyper as his herd. He then brought a batch to a monastery, where their stimulating effects during long hours of prayer were cause for concern. Coffee, the men observed, must be the devil’s work.

据称，卡尔迪观察到他的山羊在吃了附近咖啡树上的红色浆果后行为异常。他自己尝了一些，很快也变得和他的羊群一样兴奋。然后他带了一些到修道院，那里的人们在长时间祈祷期间发现它们的提神效果，并为此感到担忧。他们认为咖啡一定是魔鬼的作品。

 

The religious leaders there threw the tree’s beans onto a fire to destroy them—but the pleasing aroma that resulted convinced them to give coffee a second chance. Much like with tea, they put the roasted beans into warm water and coffee (the beverage) was born.

当地的宗教领袖将这棵树的豆子扔到火上以销毁它们，但是烤咖啡豆散发出的令人愉悦的香气让他们决定再给咖啡一次机会。和泡茶一样，他们把烤过的咖啡豆放入热水中，咖啡饮料就这样诞生了。

 

Despite the legend, it’s thought that the practice of chewing coffee beans as a stimulant was around for centuries before Kaldi's alleged discovery. People would grind them to mix with butter and animal fat to preserve and eat on long journeys—basically, a precursor to the energy bar. Similarly, enslaved Sudanese peoples are thought to have chewed on coffee beans to help them survive their difficult voyages on trade routes.

尽管有这个传说，但人们认为在卡尔迪的“发现”之前，嚼咖啡豆提神的做法已经存在了几个世纪。人们会将咖啡豆磨碎，与黄油和动物脂肪混合，以保存并在长途旅行中食用——相当于能量棒的前身。苏丹奴隶也被认为曾经嚼食咖啡豆，以帮助他们在贸易路线上艰难的航行中生存下来。

 

The story of Kaldi is difficult to pin down. What we do know is that true historical accounts of coffee consumption didn't materialize until much later, when devout Sufi in Yemen were said to use the drink to remain vigilant during religious rituals.

卡尔迪的故事难以溯源。我们所确知的是，真正的关于咖啡消费的历史记载直到很久以后才出现，据说当时也门虔诚的苏菲派信徒饮用咖啡以在宗教仪式期间保持警觉。

 

The cultivation and trade of the beans for the drink began in Arabic countries in the 14th century and spread throughout Egypt, Syria, and Turkey. It’s said not a single coffee plant existed outside of Arabia or Africa until the 1600s, when a pilgrim named Baba Budan brought them back to India. In 1616, Pieter van der Broeck smuggled some coffee out of Mocha, Yemen, and brought it back to Amsterdam. Soon, the Dutch and their colonies—most notably Sri Lanka and Java—took over the European trade, followed by the French in the Caribbean, the Spanish in Central America, and the Portuguese in Brazil. The drink eventually made its way to America via British colonizers who docked in New York City.

咖啡豆的种植和贸易始于14世纪的阿拉伯国家，然后传播到埃及、叙利亚和土耳其。据说在17世纪以前，咖啡植株在阿拉伯或非洲之外还不存在，直到一位名叫巴巴布丹的朝圣者将它们带回印度。1616年，彼得·范·德·布鲁克走私了一些也门摩卡的咖啡，带回了阿姆斯特丹。不久之后，荷兰及其殖民地——主要是斯里兰卡和爪哇——接管了欧洲贸易，随后是加勒比海的法国人、中美洲的西班牙人和巴西的葡萄牙人。咖啡最终通过定居在后来的纽约市的英国殖民者传入了美国。

 

Today, the average American spends about $2000 a year on coffee. And while Kaldi may not be a household name like Folgers, he still gets his due. The St. Louis-based Kaldi’s Coffee takes its name from the most energetic goat herder in history.

如今，普通美国人每年在咖啡上的花费约为2000美元。虽然卡尔迪可能不像福爵那样家喻户晓，但他仍然得到了应有的认可。总部位于圣路易斯的卡尔迪咖啡的名字就来源于这个历史上最精力充沛的牧羊人。

 

英文来源：Mental Floss

翻译&编辑：丹妮

审校：小静、三石哥