![]() Though Arab, Turkish and Indian tradesmen dominated the scene in the Red Sea area, Europeans began to threaten the future of the area’s coffee economy. In the 1690s, the Dutch were able to propagate coffea trees from stolen seeds in greenhouses in Amsterdam before transferring them to Java and the Caribbean, along with the French. By the 17 th century, trade in the Red Sea area was prosperous and included ships with silver arriving from New World colonies through the Mediterranean and over to the Ottoman Empire: the Red Sea connecting West to East as ships carried on to India and China. The passing of trading ships and merchants through the Red Sea meant coffee was propelled into a global trading market and dispersed further than ever before.Īn implication of the expanding trade of coffee was the emergence of competition between European colonies and Red Sea merchants. ![]() Wars between Christians and Muslims in the mid-16 th century destabilized Ethiopia and affected the output of coffee – particularly to the Ottoman Empire – which left a gap in the market that was filled by Yemen in 1543-44, however Yemeni production only took off after 1571. This promotion of coffee connected the drink from Yemen to the Holy Places of Islam, implicitly classifing it as a trading commodity, although production was limited as a result of Ethiopia being the only coffee source which exported to the countries bordering the Red Sea. The Sufi Muslim brotherhood seemed to be the first advocates of the caffeine rich drink we know today as coffee due to its stimulating properties which eased staying awake during long spiritual exercises. In Yemen the raw product was first processed into a beverage called cascara: a tea made from the pulp of the cherry, the beans being neglected until around 1475. Throughout the 15 th century, coffee was introduced into Yemen through cultural and commercial connectivity between Muslim kingdoms where consequentially the ports of Aden, Mocha and Zabid were established. It was in the southern forests of Abyssinia (present-day Ethiopia) where the first wild coffea arabica was identified and used – mainly by grounding the cherry and bean together with animal fat – at an increasing rate amongst the Islamized people of south-eastern Ethiopia. Knowing the history of the production, exchange and usage of coffee is then integral to understanding the history of global connections due to the manner in which ideas, cultures and lifestyles were dispersed along with the trade. The manner in which it was made into a consumable good and its social, cultural and physical importance rests in the versatility of the cherry and bean as well as the areas and societies it was and is exposed to. ![]() The raw product – the cherry and bean – was initially networked through religious medians in the early stages of its finding yet its trade and consumption was restricted partly due to the scarcity and remoteness of the coffea plant. The reality behind today’s average global consumption of 2 billion ‘cups of joe’ stems from the 14 th century.
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