The
first mentions of coffee have to be attributed to
the less than accurate accounts of the important
doctor Avicenna in th XI'th century. The first
scientific description was given by Prospero Albino
in 1582. In the 1671 work of the monk Antonio Fausto,
"De Saluberrima potione", the Nairon wrote that at
around 800 B.C. some Ethiopian sheepherders noticed
that when their sheep and goats ate a specific plant
they would start to behave in a peculiar way. When
the monks came to hear of these strange stories from
the sheepherders they started experimenting with the
plant. They created an infusion by mixing the plant
with hot water and called it "kahwa" (an Arab word
meaning "wine"; and a Turkish one "kahvè" meaning
"exciting"). According to religious legends "kahvè"
the Archangel Gabriel gave this drink made by Allah,
to the prophet Mohammed.
