The tropical evergreen coffee plant is native to Africa. The beverage coffee is brewed from roasted and ground seeds of various varieties of coffee plants. Coffee is now consumed by about a third of the world's population. Coffee – A very short history Coffee is a ubiquitous part of office culture. Popular representations of the office on both sides of the Atlantic, on TV, in film and in literature, are riddled with references to coffee drinking. As a stimulant coffee is associated with both industrious motivation and with taking time out of work. Some office workers claim not being able to “function” in the morning until they have had a cup of coffee. Despite early prohibition in some quarters of Islam (because it was an intoxicant) coffee drinking spread rapidly through the Arab world and successive Muslim empires. Coffee was introduced to Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, gaining particular popularity in coffee-houses which were also hubs of cultural, political and – significantly – business influence and activity. Legend has it that coffee was discovered in c. AD 850 by an Arab or Ethiopian (depending on the source) goatherd called Kaldi. He is said to have noticed his charge of goats behaving oddly – dancing and such – after nibbling a plant. Kaldi tried the plant for himself and realising its effects announced his discovery of coffee ('qahwa' in Arabic, 'Kahve' in Turkish) to the world.