Coffee!

[Bêthberry]

And from coffeeuniverse.com (a bit of a biased source, one might say):

A Brief History of Coffee

[Coffee History] Coffee was first discovered in Eastern Africa in an area we know today as Ethiopia. A popular legend refers to a goat herder by the name of Kaldi, who observed his goats acting unusually frisky after eating berries from a bush. Curious about this phenomena, Kaldi tried eating the berries himself. He found that these berries gave him a renewed energy. The news of this energy laden fruit quickly spread throughout the region.

Monks hearing about this amazing fruit, dried the berries so that they could be transported to distant monasteries.They reconstituted these berries in water, ate the fruit, and drank the liquid to provide stimulation for a more awakened time for prayer.

Coffee berries were transported from Ethiopia to the Arabian peninsula, and were first cultivated in what today is the country of Yemen.

From there, coffee traveled to Turkey where coffee beans were roasted for the first time over open fires. The roasted beans were crushed, and then boiled in water, creating a crude version of the beverage we enjoy today.

Coffee first arrived on the European continent by means of Venetian trade merchants. Once in Europe this new beverage fell under harsh criticism from the Catholic church. Many felt the pope should ban coffee, calling it the drink of the devil. To their surprise, the pope, already a coffee drinker, blessed coffee declaring it a truly Christian beverage.

Coffee houses spread quickly across Europe becoming centers for intellectual exchange. Many great minds of Europe used this beverage, and forum, as a springboard to heightened thought and creativity.

This reminds me of a thread I read some months ago here, that the journey from the Shire to Minas Tirith is actually a journey from Edwardian/Victorian England south to Renaissance Venice and thence back to Bronze Age battles. So, it is not much of a jump across the Mediterranean to what would be Harad/ Ethiopia. Thus, it would appear that both Child and Gandalf can have their coffee and drink it too. Now, if only I can find a picture of a coffee cup from an Anglo-Saxon barrow ....

Bethberry