How Arabs Introduced Coffee Culture to the World - The Story of How an Arab Beverage became a Global Favourite

 Few coffee lovers around the world are aware of the origins of their favourite morning beverage and its heritage in the Middle East due to the many misconceptions regarding the popularisation of coffee. Those who are fortunate enough to visit Dubai and other regional cities will, however, witness just how intrinsic coffee culture is in the Arab world. Here's a look back at how Arabs gifted the world its most flavourful drink and created a culture around the beverage.

image via pixabay.com

1. The Numbers Lie

If one considers where coffee is cultivated and where it's most consumed, the Arabian heritage of this popular beverage will inevitably get lost in the numbers. Coffee plants grow well in tropical climates, and as such, some of the world's leading coffee producers are countries boasting median temperatures throughout the year. Thus it should come as no surprise that Colombia, Brazil, and Rwanda are among the globe's biggest coffee cultivators whereas the countries that consume the most amount of coffee are all located in the west with Germany, Finland, and the United States claiming top spots. In spite of the numbers, none of the countries mentioned above counts coffee culture as an integral part of their heritage. In the UAE, however, the one-dirham coin features an Arabic coffee pot or Dallah denoting how coffee is bound to the country's national identity.

2. Humble Origins

Research suggests that the Arab world first fell in love with coffee as early as the 13th century. Coffee berries were believed to have been first discovered by a shepherd in Ethiopia who noticed how his livestock became animated around a coffee plant. Named Kaldi, the shepherd enters the history books as the first person to realise the energising power of coffee.  Although there are conflicting stories of the discovery of coffee beans, most experts agree that East Africa was where the bushes were first uncovered and were then brought to Arab nations by Yemeni traders. Drinking coffee in liquid form is credited to the Sufi community in Yemen as this population used coffee to stay energised during pilgrimages to holy sites including Mecca. The popularity of coffee spread throughout the Middle East soon after and became the beverage of choice among Bedouin tribes. 

3. The Coffee House of Old 

Anthropologists now believe that coffee houses emerged as the natural evolution of Arab Majlis, which were places in which people could gather to relax and discuss their ideas, opinions, and daily concerns. Majlis were an inseparable element of Ottoman and Levantine communities so it seems fitting that the world's first coffee house was established in the 17th century in the heart of the Ottoman Empire's city of Istanbul. It is said that the Middle East set up coffee houses a century before Europe caught on to the trend and set up their own. The first coffeehouse in the UK, for example, was called The Great Turk Coffeehouse and thereby paid homage to the land of its origin. 

4. Coffee Artists 

Although coffee has become an artisanal product of late and it appears that new and inventive types of coffee are being introduced to the market, it was the Bedouins that first experimented with different recipes and coffee-making methods. While most of us would simply pick up a coffee maker in Sri Lanka by dropping by Fits Retail and other retail outlets, it took decades for ancient Arabs to explore the many ways in which coffee can be made and consumed. Exotic but widely available Arab ingredients such as saffron, cardamom, and cinnamon were added to coffee and were a big hit back in the day.

5. Founders of Café Culture 

The Arabic word "qahwa" not only denotes the hospitality and social aspects of Middle Eastern culture but is also a word derived from the local term of coffee and cafe. So, while the Arabs cannot be credited with cultivating coffee, it is through their local culture that coffee entered the global stage.