4. Shepherds discovered coffee in Ethiopia around 800 A.D.
The legend goes that goat herders in the early 9th century noticed that their goats seemed to dance after eating coffee berries. A local monk got the idea to make a beverage with the berries, and after drinking it, he predictably stayed up all night. That event marks the birth of the original cup of coffee, but in the earliest use of coffee overall, the berries were mixed with fat to create an energy-rich snack.
If you prefer your history codified, the first written record of the coffee plant comes from Yemen at the end of the 15th century. After discovery of the plant, coffee was very quickly exported to the rest of the world. Cultivation began in the 1600s.