How did coffee travel across globally?

Coffee’s Journey to the Arab World

From Ethiopia, coffee spread to the Arabian Peninsula, where it flourished in Yemen by the 15th century. The Yemeni city of Mocha (al-Makha) became a major coffee trading hub, lending its name to the famous mocha coffee blend.

Sufi monks used coffee to enhance concentration and stay awake during spiritual practices. By the 16th century, coffeehouses known as qahveh khaneh began to appear in cities like Mecca and Cairo. These coffeehouses became important social hubs for conversation, music, poetry, and intellectual exchange — earning coffee the nickname “the Wine of Islam.”

The popularity of coffee quickly expanded across the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and North Africa.

Coffee’s Arrival in Europe and Beyond

By the 17th century, coffee made its way to Europe through trade routes. Initially met with suspicion and sometimes called “the bitter invention of Satan,” coffee eventually gained favor, especially in England, France, and the Netherlands.

Coffeehouses opened in major European cities, becoming centers of social life and political discourse. The Dutch established coffee plantations in their colonies such as Java (Indonesia), while the French and Portuguese introduced coffee cultivation to the Caribbean and South America.

The spread of coffee cultivation and consumption worldwide transformed it into a global commodity. Today, coffee is grown across tropical regions, from Latin America to Africa and Southeast Asia.