- Moderator
- #1,081
I wonder what happened first - did somebody toss coffee beans into hot water and then notice that the effects could be improved by grinding them, or did somebody crush coffee beans and then subsequently decide that putting the product into hot water would improve it?
And if it's the latter, what did they do with the grounds? Eat them? Snort them? Feed them to their children and watch what happens?
I always found it amazing how our entire civilisation seems to be based on a series of random discoveries. And how come no other animals have evolved like this? Seems so.. random
It feels like I'm in the right place .................................... But I my greatest skill in life is getting lost, so who knows?
Some animals do seem to have made random discoveries!
Definitely in the right place. Here you go!
Wikipedia mentions both the goat-herding story and and account of Sheikh Omar. He was exiled Mocha, Yemen, and was starving in a cave. He ate some berries - but they were bitter. He tried roasting them to make them taste better, and they got crunchy. He boiled them to make them soft.... Coffee. He was apparently made a Saint after his discovery.
Some animals do seem to have made random discoveries! Chimps get drunk off rotting fruit (apparently intentionally), for example, and crows in urban areas have been observed dropping nuts on well-traveled streets, waiting for cars to run over them and break the shells. and then swooping down to grab the meat before more cars come. It's pretty cool.
The discovery I always wonder about is soap. I can see how someone could have accidentally come across lye from leaving wood ash in water, but what on earth possessed someone to mix this caustic liquid with fat, let it sit, and then try rubbing it on their skin? :scratch