Coffee

This passage discusses how the coffee we drink today was discovered.

Lexile Level: 710L

Categories: History Sports & Health


Coffee is the most popular drink in the world. It is made from the coffee bean. This bean contains caffeine, a chemical that stimulates the central nervous system. According to one legend, the effects of coffee were first discovered around the year 800 in eastern Africa. One day, a man named Kaldi was tending his herd of goats. He noticed that the animals became very active after eating the berries from a tree. Kaldi decided to try the berries. He too felt a surge of energy. Inside these berries was the coffee bean. News of Kaldi's discovery soon spread throughout the region. At first people simply ate the beans. Then, around the year 1000, people in Turkey began preparing coffee in a new way. They roasted the beans, crushed them, and then poured hot water over the powder. This is the drink that we call coffee today. More than 400 billion cups of it are consumed every year.


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