"Originally, the beans were not roasted and brewed; one of the first coffee drinks was, ironically, a tea (or, more properly, an infusion) brewed from the leaves and cherries. As with most human endeavors, an alcoholic beverage (a wine made from the fermented pulp) was also made. It wasn't until about five hundred years ago that someone, whose name has also been lost to history, first roasted the beans and before brewing them." -- Scott Rothstein, The Coffee FAQ (Chapter 8: Miscellaneous)
[This was scheduled as a QotD for mid-December; I rearranged the
queue after silmaril pointed out
this
article about "coffee beer". But note that unlike Buzz Beer
on The Drew Carey Show or the historical coffee wine, this
new fermented beverage will be non-alcoholic.]