And the Story goes

Flambé: Our Flagship Coffee. An exclusive house specialty. Coffee with liqueur, served in an exquisite cup with a warm, liqueur-drenched spoon of sugar. Truly a majestic feast for the eyes and the taste buds.

Legend has it that coffee originated in the "Kaffa" region in the Ethiopian highlands, where a goatherd named Kaldi noticed that his goats, upon eating berries from a certain plant became excitable and could not sleep for days. He reported this to the abbot of the local monastery and soon, abbots from other areas also started using these berries to keep themselves awake for longer hours of prayer.

Word of this rejuvenating berry spread and reached Arabia, where it was cultivated, roasted and traded as a commodity. By the 13 th century, the muslims were drinking it religiously, possibly because alcohol was forbidden and the energising properties of coffee provided an acceptable substitute.

Shortly after, coffee was consumed at all sorts of social occasions and in public coffee houses called "qahveh khaneh". With the rising interest in coffee, the Arabians were careful to guard their coffee trade monopoly.

European travellers brought coffee back in the 17 th century and coffee's reputation soon soared and swept through the continent. Coffee houses rapidly opened and in England, "penny universities" where people purchase a cup of coffee for a penny and engage in mind-provoking conversations sprang up!

The Dutch took coffee trade to new heights with the founding of the first European-owned coffee estate on Java, thereafter expanding the coffee cultivation to the islands of Sumatra and Celebes.

Coffee was said to have arrived in Brazil with the help of Colonel Francisco de Mello Palheta, who so captivated the wife of French Guiana's governor, that she presented him with bouquet of flowers with coffee beans hidden within. With that, he began what is today a billion-dollar industry in Brazil which turned coffee into a drink for everyone, not just the elite.

In 100 years, coffee has established itself as one of the world's most profitable crops.