Coffee is, in fact, “period”. If someone believes or says otherwise, chances are they are referring to their persona. Coffee was not readily available as a beverage in Europe until the 17th
Coffee’s origins can be traced as far back as the 5th Century in Ethiopia, where it was, and still, consumed as a food rather than a beverage.
Coffee has its origins in medicine, with hadith’s citing that the angel Gabriel gave Solomon a cure for an illness that was plaguing a village. Coffee was used as a medicine and a source of sustenance for long journeys.
There are several origin stories for coffee, from the tears of Waaqa, to the dancing goats of Kaldi, to the gift from the angel Gabriel to the Prophet.
Coffee was referred to as “qahwa”, which translates to wine. More accurately, it was called “qahwa al-bunn”, translated to “wine of the bean.” Coffee is known in history as the “Wine of Islam” as it was a beverage primarily consumed by Muslims and the people of the Ottoman Empire.
No one knows when coffee was first used as a beverage, but history tells of Sufi monks blending the leaves and the beans to make a beverage
By the late 15th century, coffee was making its way through the Near East, travelling from Kaffa to Mecca, Cairo, Istanbul, and Damascus.
In 1511, a man name Kha’ir Beg, a pious man who was responsible for the markets of Mecca, on June 20th, 1511, he began his campaign to prohibit coffee in Mecca, Cairo, and the Ottoman Empire.
Prohibition of coffee lasted until about 1555, when two Syrian men opened a successful coffee house in Istanbul. Thousands of coffee houses began to spring up, and the popularity proceeded to spread north.
Coffee houses, until 1555, were frequently subjected to raids as the sale of coffee was banned during the first half of the 16th
Within coffee houses, games, conversation, and debates took place. These were places where revolutions were planned, vices were fed, and coffee was consumed.
Suleiman the Magnificent was so enamoured with coffee, he had a dedicated staff member to make him coffee.
The coffee house was one of the few places outside of the home and the mosque that people could have social interactions. And it was often more convenient than hosting people at home.
