Coffee comes from the Arabic word 'qahweh'. According to legend, Kaldi, an Arab goatherd in Ethiopia, first discovered coffee in about 850 AD, after noticing the strange effects the plant had on some of his flock who had been feeding on it, but it was not until the thirteenth century that coffee reached Arabia, and 200 years later, Turkey. From there it was introduced into Europe. Before its use as a beverage, coffee was a food, then a wine and later a medicine. Despite the threat of severe penalties, coffee drinking spread rapidly among the Arabs and their neighbours, and had established its popularity in Europe and North America by the end of the seventeenth century.

Today, coffee is enjoyed throughout the world and throughout the day. The coffee plant has its origins in Ethiopia. From there the plant was imported into Yemen where it was cultivated and inherited the name ‘qahwa’ which originally meant ‘wine’ in Arabic. Since alcohol (wine) was forbidden in Islam, the caffeinated drink made a suitable replacement. In fact, the Sufi mystic who apparently introduced the crop into Yemen from Ethiopia, promoted the drink based on the fact that the stimulant allowed him to spend more time in prayer and contemplation.

Originally, the Yemenis themselves made a coffee drink from the coffee husk and then exported the beans.