from a beehive village in
Aleppo, Syria, sipping the traditional murra (bitter) coffee, 1930 women grinding coffee, 1905
Spread of coffee The earliest mention of coffee noted by the literary coffee merchant Philippe Sylvestre Dufour There is no confirmed evidence, either historical or archaeological, of coffee as a drink being consumed before the 15th century. The beverage appears to be a relatively recent development. By the late 15th century, coffee drinking was well established among Sufi communities in Yemen. More definite information on the coffee tree and preparation of a beverage from the roasted coffee berries dates back to the late 15th century. The Sufi Imam Muhammad Ibn Said al-
Dhabhani is known to have imported goods from Ethiopia to
Yemen. In 1511, it was forbidden for its stimulating effect by conservative, orthodox imams at a theological court in
Mecca. Yemen became the first major production zone and global exporter of coffee, dominating the trade for two centuries. By the fifteenth century, coffee cultivation had taken root in Yemen's highland regions such as Haraz and Bani Matar, where it was harvested, roasted and brewed by Sufi circles seeking to sustain energy during nightly prayers. By the late sixteenth century, Yemen had established a thriving coffee economy centered in its western highlands. Coffee was cultivated on terraced slopes overlooking the Tihamah, while caravan routes carried the beans to the Red Sea ports, particularly Mocha, which connected the Yemeni trade with Jeddah, Cairo and beyond. During the seventeenth century, demand for Yemeni coffee grew so rapidly that it rivaled and eventually surpassed many commodities of the global spice trade. Until the end of that century, Yemen remained the world's principal producer and exporter of coffee, and the port of Mocha became synonymous with the beverage itself. collection. Modern genetic studies have confirmed Yemen's foundational role in the global spread of Coffee arabica. Research published in 2020 demonstrated that a vast majority of the world's cultivated Arabica varieties were propagated from plants domesticated and farmed in Yemen. The earliest records show that
Qahveh khaneh appeared in cities like
Isfahan and
Tabriz, where people socialized. At the beginning, coffee was first grown in the northern provinces and later spread to other regions, and over time it became a central part of Iranian social life. During the
Qajar era,
tea gradually replaced coffee as the preferred drink, although coffeehouses remained important cultural spaces. Coffee played a central role in social life in
Iran.
Qahveh khaneh became places where people interacted socially, shared stories, read poetry, and discussed political events, which shows the central role of coffee in Iranian social life. The popularity of coffee created new jobs, such as coffee roasters and servers, demonstrating its influence on daily life and employment in Iranian cities. Contrary to its role in recent centuries, coffee became a subject of debate for some. When the
fatwa came into effect in 1532–1533, coffee and its consumption was established as
haram. An effort was made to stunt coffee's growing popularity. While Suleiman I was still in power, taxes were imposed in an attempt to prevent both bureaucrats and those who were unemployed from consuming coffee.
Kaldi, who, noticing the energizing effects when his flock nibbled on the bright red berries of a certain bush, chewed on the fruit himself. His exhilaration prompted him to bring the berries to a monk in a nearby Islamic monastery. But the monk disapproved of their use and threw them into the fire, from which an enticing aroma billowed, causing other monks to come and investigate. The roasted beans were quickly raked from the embers, ground up, and dissolved in hot water, yielding the world's first cup of coffee. This legend does not appear before 1671, indicating the story is likely apocryphal, first being related by Antoine Faustus Nairon, a
Maronite professor of Oriental languages and author of one of the first printed treatises devoted to coffee, (Rome, 1671), which describes a camel or goat herder in the Kingdom of Ayaman, Arabia Felix. The herder is unnamed in the earliest account and the name Kaldi appears to be a later invention in the twentieth century. Another account involves the 13th century Moroccan Sufi mystic Ghothul Akbar Nooruddin
Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili. When traveling in Ethiopia, the legend goes, he observed birds of unusual vitality feeding on berries, and, upon trying the berries, experienced the same vitality. Yet another attributes the discovery of coffee to Sheikh Abu al-Hasan ash-Shadhili's disciple, Omar. According to the ancient chronicle (preserved in the Abd-Al-Kadir manuscript), Omar, who was known for his ability to cure the sick through prayer, was once banished from Mecca to a desert cave near the Ousab City. Starving, Omar chewed berries from nearby shrubbery, but found them to be too bitter. He tried roasting the beans to improve the flavor, but they became too hard. He then tried boiling them to soften the bean, which resulted in a fragrant brown liquid. After drinking the liquid, Omar was revived and survived for days. As stories of this "miracle drug" reached Mecca, Omar was asked to return and was eventually made a saint.
Nepenthe (, ) is possibly derived from a misunderstanding of coffee in the Homeric cycle. It is mentioned as originating in
Egypt. The word '''' first appears in the fourth book of
Homer's
Odyssey: Figuratively, nepenthe means "that which chases away sorrow". Literally it means 'not-sorrow' or 'anti-sorrow': , , i.e. "not" (
privative prefix), and , from , , i.e. "grief, sorrow, or mourning". In the
Odyssey, νηπενθές φάρμακον : (i.e. an
anti-sorrow drug) is a magical
potion given to
Helen by
Polydamna, the wife of the noble Egyptian Thon, Coffee was originally consumed in the Islamic world and was directly related to religious practices. For example, coffee helped its consumers fast in the day and stay awake at night, during the Muslim celebration of Ramadan. ==Europe==