Caffeine isn’t something that suddenly showed up. It has been around for hundreds of years. It was discovered as a chemical compound in Germany in 1819 and has been found in the beans, fruits, and leaves of various plants. It has been consumed, though, since the stone age. During this time, people found that chewing the seeds, leaves, or bark of specific plants helped to lift their mood and also helped to keep them more alert. They were not as tired and they had less fatigue to deal with on a daily basis. They were happier and they felt better, so they continued to experiment as to which plants contained caffeine and which did not. It was not until quite a while later that the idea of steeping these plants in water was tried. Once that was done, it was seen that the effects that caffeine had were actually increased by this practice.

There are many different cultures that talk about this practice and how people figured it out thousands of years in the past. Some of these brews were allegedly created by accident, but they soon became popular because of the heightened effects of caffeine and because of the flavor. Coffee beans were used in the ninth century, and evidence of this has been recorded. Of course, they could not be acquired anywhere during that time except their native Ethiopia, but that did not stop the people of the region from using them. A goat herder was the one who is credited with the discovery of the coffee bean. The legend says that he noticed how some of the goats would not sleep at night and would apparently be very happy and exuberant after they had chewed on a specific bush. After he tried some of the bush’s berries himself, he found that he felt the same way. The uses of coffee and the export of it eventually became very important, and other countries started to grow the beans, as well. They will only grow in certain climates, but there are a lot of places where they can flourish.

By the sixteenth century, a European resident in Egypt was talking about coffee, and it was seen in Europe by the seventeen century. By that time it was more common in a lot of areas of the world and the desire for it was spreading. It made people feel good, so they kept using it. Coffee houses were eventually created in places like Venice so that more people could enjoy the beverage and its benefits. While coffee was becoming so very important for its stimulant properties and for the way it seemed to ease social gatherings throughout Europe, the Spaniards were introducing chocolate to that part of the world as well. Tea also became very popular and produced many of the same effects as coffee. With this being the case, it was clear that there had to be something in these products that caused the effects, and scientists set out to find out what that was.

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