Coffee Coffee probably derives its name from the Arabic "gahwah", although some etymologis

Coffee

Coffee probably derives its name from the Arabic "gahwah", although some etymologists connect it with the name Kaffa, a province in southwest Ethiopia reputed to be the birthplace of coffee. Coffee plants were taken to southern Arabia and placed under cultivation there about 500 years ago.

The history of coffee, although vague and obscure, is rich in legend. One of the tales surrounding the discovery of coffee is that of Kaldi, a goat herder. Bewildered by the weird antics of his flock, Kaldi is supposed (about A. D. 850) to have eaten berries of the evergreen bush on which the goats were feeding and, overjoyed at the feeling of exhilaration that he experienced, has been pictured as dashing off in excitement to proclaim his great find to the world.

The stimulating effect of coffee was soon discovered and taken advantage of in connection with the long religious service of the Muslims; but the strictly orthodox or conservative section of the priesthood claimed that it was an intoxicating beverage prohibited by the Koran. Those who used it were threatened with severe penalties. Nevertheless, coffee drinking spread rapidly among Arabian Muslims, and its growth and use became general in Arabia.

The early record of coffee in Europe, where it was introduced into one country after another during the 16th and 17th centuries, is filled with accounts of its use as a religious, political, and medical potion, its rises and falls in favor, and its prohibition or approval. Coffee gained its first real popularity as a beverage in the coffee houses of London.

In the first known coffee advertisement, a handbill produced in 1652 (original in the British museum), proclaimed that coffee "quickens the spirits, and makes the heart lightsome.., is good against sore eyes".

Continental Europe became well implanted with the idea of coffee, and the coffeehouses flourished in most European countries later in the 17th century. In the major cities of North America, coffeehouses also became popular, starting about 1689. The first license to sell coffee in the Merchants' coffeehouses, established in New York in 1737, is claimed by some authorities to have been the "birthplace of the American Union".

Until the close of the 17th century, the world's rather limited supply of coffee was obtained almost entirely from the province of Yemen in southern Arabia. But, with the increasing popularity of the beverage, the propagation of the plant spread rapidly from southern Arabia to many other places all over the world.

By the 20th century, coffee has become responsible for much of the income of many countries lying between the Tropic Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer. Although practically every country within this area produced some coffee, the greatest concentration of production became centered in the western hemisphere. This began to change, however, toward the middle of the century as the growth of coffee in Africa began to assume major importance.

According to this author, the name of Coffee seems to come from______.

A．the name of a province

B．the name of a plant

C．the name of the finder

D．the Arabic word "gahwah"