We all know that the spread of coffee came from Arab merchants who traded the drink throughout the Muslim world from Yemen and through several trade routes such as the silk road, the drink became known worldwide.
But the cultivation of coffee itself does not originate from Yemen. It was brought to Yemen from the horn of Africa and through ignorance people believe the coffee drink was first made in Abyssinia and traded to Yemen. In this thread I will be disproving this Ethiopian claim as the first people to cultivate coffee and correct history, complete with sources and such.
YEMENI CLAIM TO COFFEE - Disproved
Yemenis claim that coffee was first discovered in Yemen by sufis and their Sheikh Ali however primary sources tell a different story, in fact the Yemeni sufis were simply introduced to the Coffee drink by Somalis and took it on as a part of their culture;
SULTAN SA'AD AL-DIN DRINKING COFFEE
"Later, coffee became an essential aspect of all dhikr gatherings. Its introduction is associated with a Shādhili called Abu 'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn 'Umar (d. at Mukhā in Yemen in A.D. 1418), who became acquainted with the beverage when he resided at the court of Sa'd ad-din II, sultan of Ifāt-Zaila' in southern Ethiopia. It was taken up by Yemeni and Hadrami Sufis and its subsequent diffusion throughout the Arab world under Sufi auspices was rapid."
This source basically means that the spread of coffee across the Arab world, and eventually to the whole world, especially in the West, happened because the founder of the city of Mocha in Yemen, a Sheikh, discovered the drink at the court of the Somali Walashma Sultan Sa'ad al-Din. This introduction by Yemeni Hadrami Sufis is the reason for the spread of coffee throughout the world.
Now that we have established that the reason for Coffee's spread from Yemen was because of the Yemeni sheikh who founded the city of Mocha was welcomed into the court of the Somali Sultan Sa'ad al-din and soon became acquainted with the drink, bringing it back with him to Yemen and quickly spread.
ETHIOPIAN CLAIM TO COFFEE - Disproved
There has been a recent push from Ethiopians to claim the coffee drink to be their invention, however this is false to the point that even with a great number of Ethiopian scholars trying to push this propaganda out to the world, this made up story is still all over the place and makes little sense so much so that most modern writers acknowledge that the coffee plant originates from the horn but attribute the Coffee drink with Yemen.
First we will look at the invention of Coffee from the Ethiopian perspective:
The source says all that needs to be said, this is a mere legend and only appears in written sources nearly a millennium after the story supposedly takes place.
Another reason which makes the Ethiopian claim to coffee laughable was the fact that the Ethiopian orthodox church had prohibited drinking coffee and saw it as the "drink of the Muslims" and by drinking coffee you are imitating the Muslims which in this case was the Somali kingdom of Awfat-Awdal.
Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=h...+Culture+and+Challenges&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Then the question is, well if coffee doesn't originate from Kaffa, Ethiopia where does it come from?
While Ethiopia's claim that coffee originates in kaffa has no accurate primary sources and is based on oral tales and weak contemporary sources nearly a millennium after, Somalia has several credible medieval sources claiming it as the source of coffee including the renowned Egyptian scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami
Here's the original Arabic source if you are interested;
Adding to Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, there is also archaeological proof that coffee originates in the "Zelia region"
This source helps us further pinpoint the origin of coffee to the ancient town of Abasa In Awdal.
SOMALIWEYN THE SOURCE OF COFFEE
The final nail in the coffee for these langaabs trying to hotep the invention of coffee is disproving the cope that Somalia can't grow coffee.
The reason this is stupid is because Somalia already has fertile lands and has always done widescale agriculture in the south due to the two rivers, and we're talking about Somaliweyn here not just Somalia, we owned hararghe and bale with all it's fertile lands, and many Somali clans, who have not been assimilated by Oromo tribesmen coming from the deep south, to this day still farm there.
But ignoring this desperate last pillar in the argument against Somali's claim to coffee, i will drop a some source about Somalia's coffee production;
Just Somaliland and the "Somali coast" together are only second place to Abyssinia, imagine how the chart would look if it accounted for the total production of the Somali peninsula?
But the cultivation of coffee itself does not originate from Yemen. It was brought to Yemen from the horn of Africa and through ignorance people believe the coffee drink was first made in Abyssinia and traded to Yemen. In this thread I will be disproving this Ethiopian claim as the first people to cultivate coffee and correct history, complete with sources and such.
YEMENI CLAIM TO COFFEE - Disproved
Yemenis claim that coffee was first discovered in Yemen by sufis and their Sheikh Ali however primary sources tell a different story, in fact the Yemeni sufis were simply introduced to the Coffee drink by Somalis and took it on as a part of their culture;
SULTAN SA'AD AL-DIN DRINKING COFFEE
"Later, coffee became an essential aspect of all dhikr gatherings. Its introduction is associated with a Shādhili called Abu 'l-Hasan 'Ali ibn 'Umar (d. at Mukhā in Yemen in A.D. 1418), who became acquainted with the beverage when he resided at the court of Sa'd ad-din II, sultan of Ifāt-Zaila' in southern Ethiopia. It was taken up by Yemeni and Hadrami Sufis and its subsequent diffusion throughout the Arab world under Sufi auspices was rapid."
This source basically means that the spread of coffee across the Arab world, and eventually to the whole world, especially in the West, happened because the founder of the city of Mocha in Yemen, a Sheikh, discovered the drink at the court of the Somali Walashma Sultan Sa'ad al-Din. This introduction by Yemeni Hadrami Sufis is the reason for the spread of coffee throughout the world.
Now that we have established that the reason for Coffee's spread from Yemen was because of the Yemeni sheikh who founded the city of Mocha was welcomed into the court of the Somali Sultan Sa'ad al-din and soon became acquainted with the drink, bringing it back with him to Yemen and quickly spread.
ETHIOPIAN CLAIM TO COFFEE - Disproved
There has been a recent push from Ethiopians to claim the coffee drink to be their invention, however this is false to the point that even with a great number of Ethiopian scholars trying to push this propaganda out to the world, this made up story is still all over the place and makes little sense so much so that most modern writers acknowledge that the coffee plant originates from the horn but attribute the Coffee drink with Yemen.
First we will look at the invention of Coffee from the Ethiopian perspective:
Equity Capital
Capitalism is historically pervasive. Despite attempts through the centuries to suppress or control the private ownership of commercial assets, production and trade for profit has survived and, ultimately, flourished. Against this backdrop, accounting provides a fundamental insight: the ‘value’...
books.google.co.uk
The source says all that needs to be said, this is a mere legend and only appears in written sources nearly a millennium after the story supposedly takes place.
Another reason which makes the Ethiopian claim to coffee laughable was the fact that the Ethiopian orthodox church had prohibited drinking coffee and saw it as the "drink of the Muslims" and by drinking coffee you are imitating the Muslims which in this case was the Somali kingdom of Awfat-Awdal.
Source: https://books.google.com/books?id=h...+Culture+and+Challenges&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Then the question is, well if coffee doesn't originate from Kaffa, Ethiopia where does it come from?
While Ethiopia's claim that coffee originates in kaffa has no accurate primary sources and is based on oral tales and weak contemporary sources nearly a millennium after, Somalia has several credible medieval sources claiming it as the source of coffee including the renowned Egyptian scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami
Here's the original Arabic source if you are interested;
Adding to Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, there is also archaeological proof that coffee originates in the "Zelia region"
This source helps us further pinpoint the origin of coffee to the ancient town of Abasa In Awdal.
SOMALIWEYN THE SOURCE OF COFFEE
The final nail in the coffee for these langaabs trying to hotep the invention of coffee is disproving the cope that Somalia can't grow coffee.
The reason this is stupid is because Somalia already has fertile lands and has always done widescale agriculture in the south due to the two rivers, and we're talking about Somaliweyn here not just Somalia, we owned hararghe and bale with all it's fertile lands, and many Somali clans, who have not been assimilated by Oromo tribesmen coming from the deep south, to this day still farm there.
But ignoring this desperate last pillar in the argument against Somali's claim to coffee, i will drop a some source about Somalia's coffee production;
Just Somaliland and the "Somali coast" together are only second place to Abyssinia, imagine how the chart would look if it accounted for the total production of the Somali peninsula?
Last edited:
