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 now prepared. Coffee was used by Sufi circles to stay awake for their religious rituals. Accounts differ on the origin of coffee (seeds) prior to its appearance in Yemen. One account credits Muhammad Ibn Sa '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. According to al Shardi, Ali ben Omar may have encountered coffee during his stay with the Adal king Sadadin 's companions in 1401. Famous 16th - century Islamic scholar Ibn Hajar al - Haytami notes in his writings of a beverage called qahwa developed from a tree in the Zeila region.
where did the first coffee bean come from
Arabia Arabia