coffee

Ok, this is 50+ years out of period. However, I thought I’d try it anyway.

Coffee comes to Europe through trade with the Ottoman Turks. Coffee first came from Ethiopia, sometime in the 15th century it was introduced to Yemen (The Ottomans and the Yemeni Coffee Trade, Hathaway, Jane, 163) and by the 16th century was also being grown in Egypt, Syria, and near Istanbul (Ibid.). If those places sound like they might be linked at the time it’s because they were all part of the Ottoman Empire. They loved their coffee, and the best coffee was grown in Yemen (164).

(more…)