Coffee originated in the Ethiopian highlands, where its energy-boosting properties were first used as food before being developed into a beverage in the Arab world around the 15th century. Coffee cultivation was once a closely guarded secret, but through smuggling and trade, it spread from Yemen to the Ottoman Empire, then to Europe and the Americas, giving rise to coffeehouses that became centers of social and political life.

Coffee plants are native to Ethiopia, where early East African tribes consumed the coffee beans as a food, mixing them with animal fat to create energy-boosting balls.

A popular legend recounts the discovery of coffee by an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi, who observed his goats' energetic behavior after they ate berries from a specific tree.

By the 11th century, coffee was transformed into a hot drink in the Arabian Peninsula.

Sufi monks in Yemen were among the first to brew coffee as a beverage to stay awake for nighttime devotions, a practice that helped spread its use across the Arabian Peninsula.

The first coffeehouses, or "schools of the cultured," emerged in 15th-century Yemen, becoming popular centers for socializing, discussion, and entertainment.

By the mid-17th century, coffee arrived in Europe, with the first coffee house opening in Venice in 1645.

Coffee houses in England, known as "penny universities," became hubs of intellectual and social activity, fostering the spread of new ideas.

Smuggling by Dutch traders helped to break the Arab monopoly on coffee cultivation, leading to the spread of coffee cultivation to their colonies in Java.

Coffee was eventually introduced to the Americas by French and Dutch colonial efforts.