mixing ground coffee beans with ghee (clarified butter) persists to this day in some parts of Kaffa and Sidamo, two of the principle coffee producing regions of Ethiopia ,. And in Kaffa, from which its name derives, the drink is brewed today with the addition of melted ghee which gives it a distinctive, buttery flavour.

From the beginning, coffees invigorating powers have understandably linked it with religion, and each tradition claims its own story of origins. Islamic legend ascribes the discovery of coffee to devout Sheikh Omar, who found the coffee growing wild while living as a recluse in Mocha, one famous coffee producing place in Yemen.

He is said to have boiled some berries, and discovered the stimulating effect of the resulting brew, which he administered to the localswho were stricken with a mysterious ailment and thereby cured them.

There are numerous versions of this story concerning the Sheikh Omar, which relate how he cured the King of Mochas daughter with coffee, and another where wondrous bird leads him to a tree full of coffee berries.

Arabic scientific documents dating from around AD 900 refer to a beverage drunk in Ethiopia , Known as buna, and the similarities in the words suggests that this could be one of the earliest references to Ethiopian , coffee in its brewed form. It is recorded that in 1454 the Mufti of Aden visited Ethiopia , and saw his own countrymen drinking coffee there. He was reportedly impressed with the drink which cured him of some affliction, and his approval made it