Laos: Coffee and croissants - the ubiquitous 'continental breakfast', here served in sleepy Vientiane

Four centuries ago coffee was all but unknown beyond the Horn of Africa and Southern Arabia, the area from which a small, berry-bearing tree, known to science as coffee arabica, first sprang. The unassuming plant which plays so important a part in our lives today, is thought to be indigenous to the Kaffa region of highland Ethipia -- from which the name 'coffee' may originate; others argue that it derives from its Arabic name qahwa. Certainly the earliest known legend concerning coffee -- still recounted today in the suqs, or markets, of Southern Arabia -- tells how an Arab goatherd called Kaldi, whilst out tending his flock, noted their queer behaviour on eating certain small berries. Kaldi tried them himself, liked the mild sense of euphoria they induced, and told his companions.