Coffee Smuggling Broke Yemen's Monopoly

Coffee as a drink first appeared in confirmed records in 15th-century Yemen, where Sufi Muslims used it to remain alert during nighttime devotions. Yemen then controlled almost the entire global supply through the port of Mocha. In 1616, a Dutch merchant named Pieter van den Broecke obtained closely guarded coffee bushes from Mocha and carried them to Amsterdam. The Dutch later established plantations in Java, and by 1719, the Dutch East India Company supplied Europe with Java coffee.

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