Date: 28 Jun 2026
Topic: History
Codebreakers are a fun way to build numeracy skills.
Ugandans and Ethiopians of East Africa were the first recorded peoples to start enjoying the energizing benefits of the coffee plant.
The original story suggests that it was a goat herder called Kaldi who first made the discovery. One afternoon, his goats were particularly frantic and danced all around uncontrollably. He wondered to himself what could have given the goats so much energy, and realized that they had been grazing on the cherries growing on a new tree.
The tree was a coffee tree, and the cherries the goats ate contained a seed that is the coffee bean. The means of preparing the bean for consumption have varied greatly over the last two thousand years. In the modern day, the cherries are picked when ready, then they are often left out on mats to dry. Once dry, the seeds are separated from the cherry, and then they are roasted until the bean darkens in color.
Once roasted to perfection, the beans are cooled and then thoroughly ground down into the product we all drink today.
The coffee trees grow well in the mountainous regions of Uganda as the equatorial weather means year-round sunshine, the two rainy seasons give sufficient water, and the cool mountainous air at night slows down the ripening process, allowing the coffee bean to acquire a richer flavor.