History of coffee
The history of coffee spans many centuries. Wild coffee plants originated in Ethiopia, while the beverage itself has its roots in Yemen, where it was harvested, roasted and brewed; Sufi Muslims in the 15th century used it to aid concentration during night prayers.
From Yemen coffee spread to Mecca and the wider Arabian Peninsula, and by the early 16th century it had reached Cairo, Damascus, and Istanbul. Debates over its permissibility arose in Muslim society, but it soon became a central part of urban life.
Through Mediterranean trade routes, coffee entered Europe in the mid-16th century, first in Italy and later in other regions. Coffee houses were established in Western Europe by the late 17th century, especially in Holland, England, and Germany. One of the earliest cultivations of coffee in the New World was when Gabriel de Clieu brought coffee seedlings to Martinique in 1720. These beans later sprouted 18,680 coffee trees which enabled its spread to other Caribbean islands such as Saint-Domingue and also to Mexico. By 1788, Saint-Domingue supplied half the world's coffee.
For nearly two centuries up to the end of the 17th century, Yemen was the world’s sole gateway for coffee. But as demand grew, cultivation spread to other parts of the world.
By 1852, Brazil became the world's largest producer of coffee and has held that status ever since. Since 1950, several other major producers emerged, notably Colombia, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, and Vietnam; the latter overtook Colombia and became the second-largest producer in 1999.
Today, coffee is one of the world's most popular beverages, with a significant cultural and economic impact globally.
Etymology
The word coffee entered the English language from the Ottoman Turkish ḳahve, borrowed in turn from the Arabic qahwah. Medieval Arab lexicographers traditionally held that the etymology of qahwah meant 'wine', given its distinctly dark color, and derived from the verb qahiya, 'to have no appetite'. The word qahwah most likely meant 'dark', referring to the brew or the bean. Semitic languages had the root qhh, "dark color", which became a natural designation for the beverage. There is no evidence that the word qahwah was named after the Ethiopian province of Kaffa, or any significant authority stating the opposite, or that it is traced to the Arabic quwwa.A different term for 'coffee', widespread in languages of Ethiopia, is buna, bun, būn or buni. Most often the word group has been assumed to originate from Arabic bunn meaning specifically the coffee bean, but indigenous origin in Cushitic has been proposed as a possibility as well.
The Ottomans' dominant position in the trade in coffee is thought to have influenced several other European languages as well, inspiring "caffè" in Italian and "café" in French. These terms, along with the Dutch koffie emerged at roughly the same time, reflecting the beverage's newfound spread across Europe.
The terms coffee pot and coffee break originated in 1705 and 1952 respectively.
Genetics
Studies of genetic diversity have been performed on Coffea arabica varieties, which were found to be of low diversity but with retention of some residual heterozygosity from ancestral materials, and closely related diploid species Coffea canephora and C. liberica; however, no direct evidence has ever been found indicating where in Africa coffee grew or who among the local people might have used it as a stimulant or known about it there earlier than the seventeenth century. The original domesticated coffee plant is said to have been from Harar, and the native population is thought to be derived from Ethiopia with distinct nearby populations in Sudan and Kenya.A 2020 study of Arabica Coffee genetic diversity confirmed the story of Yemeni coffee and established definitely that the vast majority of all of the Arabica coffee in the world today originates from the early cultivated varieties in the coffee farms of Yemen.
History
Spread of coffee
The earliest mention of coffee noted by the literary coffee merchant Philippe Sylvestre Dufour is a reference to bunchum in the works of the 10th century Persian physician al-Razi, known as Rhazes in the West. According to later accounts, bunchum was made from a root rather than from coffee beans. 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.
One of the most important of the early writers on coffee was Abd al-Qadir al-Jaziri, who in 1587 compiled a work tracing the history and legal controversies of coffee entitled Umdat al Safwa fi hill al-qahwa عمدة الصفوة في حل القهوة, tracing the spread of coffee from Arabia Felix northward to Mecca and Medina, and then to the larger cities of Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, and Constantinople. He reported that one Sheikh, Jamal-al-Din al-Dhabhani, mufti of Aden, was the first to adopt the use of coffee.
Al-Jaziri's manuscript work is of considerable interest with regard to the history of coffee in Europe as well. A copy reached the French royal library, where it was translated in part by Antoine Galland as De l'origine et du progrès du café.
Sufis in Yemen used the beverage as an aid to concentration and as a kind of spiritual intoxication when they chanted the name of God. Sufis used it to keep themselves alert during their nighttime devotions. By 1414, the plant was known in Mecca, and in the early 1500s was spreading to the Mameluke Sultanate of Egypt and North Africa from the Yemeni port of Mocha. Associated with Sufism, a myriad of coffee houses popped up in Cairo, when two Arab merchants, Hakem of Aleppo and Shems of Damascus, opened the first coffeehouse in the Tahtakale district of Instanbul.
In 1511, it was forbidden for its stimulating effect by conservative, orthodox imams at a theological court in Mecca. However, these bans were to be overturned in 1524 by an order of the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Suleiman I, with Grand Mufti Mehmet Ebussuud el-İmadi issuing a fatwa allowing the consumption of coffee. In Cairo a similar ban was instituted in 1532, and the coffeehouses and warehouses containing coffee beans were sacked. During the 16th century, it had already reached the rest of the Middle East, the Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire. From the Middle East, coffee drinking spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, and coffee plants were transported by the Dutch to the East Indies and to the Americas.
Yemen
Yemen is regarded as the origin of the beverage and where Coffea Arabica was cultivated as a crop on a large scale rather than gathered from the wild.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.
Modern genetic studies have confirmed Yemen's foundational role in the global spread of Coffee arabica. Research publisched in 2020 demostrated that a vast majority of the world's cultivated Arabica varieties were propagated from plants domesticated and farmed in Yemen.
Iran
Coffee was introduced to Iran during the Safavid era in the 16th century, likely brought by returning pilgrims and merchants from the Arabian Peninsula. 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. Travelers and historians from the Safavid and Qajar periods often mentioned Iranian coffee customs, including how it was prepared and served. Even after Tea became more popular, coffee remained a part of city life and continued to influence Iranian culture into the 19th century.
Coffee in Iran also played a role in trade and the economy. During the Safavid period, coffee beans were imported through Persian Gulf ports and sold in urban markets, linking local merchants to wider international trade networks. Coffee not only played a major role in the economy but also influenced cultural aspects. For example, some coffeehouses served as informal spaces for commercial negotiations and the exchange of news and information. The popularity of coffee created new jobs, such as coffee roasters and servers, demonstrating its influence on daily life and employment in Iranian cities.