09/26/2020
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears in the middle of the 15th century in the accounts of Ahmed al-Ghaffar in Yemen. It was here in Arabia that coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed, in a similar way to how it is prepared now. Coffee was used by Sufi circles to stay awake for their religious rituals. Accounts differ on the origin of the coffee plant prior to its appearance in Yemen. From Ethiopia, coffee could have been introduced to Yemen via trade across the Red Sea. One account credits Muhammad Ibnsa'd for bringing the beverage to Aden from the African coast. Other early accounts say Ali ben Omar of the Shadhili Sufi order was the first to introduce coffee to Arabia.\
Coffee consumption in Egypt developed thanks to the brotherhood of Sufi Islamic mystics, who used it during prayers. The drink soon acquired a social and cultural role: by the end of the 17th century, Cairo already had 643 bayt qahwa, coffee houses which became cultural centers and gathering places. Even today, coffee drinking is an important social occasion for Egyptians, at all levels of society. In many cases, a coffee house becomes a kind of literary circle or political club, but the peaceful, comfortable ambience also makes it an ideal place in which to do business, and in fact many coffee houses can be found in markets, where traders meet to negotiate. In Egypt, as in Syria, when ordering coffee you also need to say how much sugar you prefer, because sugared water is used in the preparation. You can choose from mildly sweet (arriha), medium-sweet (mazboot), or very sweet (ziyada); bitter coffee (sada) is reserved for sad occasions such as funeral ceremonies.