One of the most famous stories must be that of Kaldi, an Ethiopian goat shepherd. Though, he might have been an Arabian one, depending on which story you chose to believe. Anyway, on what probably was a bright and sunny day somewhere halfway through the 9th century he noticed his goats behaving pretty energetic after they had eaten the red cherries of a certain, rather leafy bush. Being a curious and adventurous lad, he decided to taste a few himself and soon was dancing along with his flock.
Exhilarated with his discovery, he filled his pockets with the red cherries and ran off to a nearby monastery. However the monk he told his story to was not at all impressed and, deciding they must be 'the devil's work', he threw the cherries into the fire. Now, it doesn't take much imagination to figure out what happened next: a heavenly aroma soon filled the air in and around the monastery and the other monks came to investigate where this wondrous smell came from.
The cherries were raked from the fire, crushed to find out the origin of this aroma and covered with hot water in an attempt to preserve it. And so the world's first cup of coffee was a fact.
Wonderful as this story is, in other legends it's not the goats, but birds that take the lead role. Like the one about the Yemenite mystic Gothul Akbar Nooruddin Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhlili who noticed a flock of birds with unusual vitality when travelling in Ethiopia. And of course, he just had to try some of the cherries these birds had been eating.
It most likely was another flock of birds who led Sheikh Omar to the same discovery, as he was living as a recluse in Mocha, a coffee producing area in Yemen. Contrary to his fellow-discoverers, he decided to make a brew of the cherries and, after noticing its stimulating effect, he is said to have administered it to the locals to cure them from some mysterious ailment. Some say he even used it to cure the daughter of the King of Mocha.
But, as said at the beginning, these are all just legends and it's not really all that important whether or not they are true. Though I'm willing to bet you might find at least one of these legend's main characters wandering through your mind when you have your next cup of coffee.