When coffee is mentioned, all that comes to mind is trendy Western cafes such as Starbucks and Italian cappuccinos or the trendy Dalgona Coffee.

Well, we at Qahwah seek to explore the heritage of coffee and its origins which will turn out to be a country quite close to us and rooted in a faith of which many of us are a part of.

What's in a name?

We have chosen this name in the belief that it will lead all those who hear of it to question and wonder at the origin of coffee. One misconception we would like to address early on is that we Pakistanis normally associate the word qahwah with green tea. Qahwah is not green tea! It is coffee!

Now that that’s out of the way, let us bring to you the wonderful story of qahwah and how it came to be the ubiquitous drink enjoyed worldwide.

Arabian Beginnings

Although it is reported that coffee grew in the wild in Ethiopia, the first place where coffee was cultivated was in Yemen and it was there that it was given the name Qahwah.1 Qahwah, in the Arab world, is used to describe two types of coffees. Specifically, the coffee which is made from the coffee bean(bunn) is called Qahwah al-Bunniyah and when made from the husk(qishr) of the coffee bean, it is called Qahwah al-Qishriyah.2
There in Yemen, according to many literary sources, it was the Muslim sect of Sufis who introduced coffee drinking as they used it in their rituals for increased concentration to stay awake.3 From there this stimulating drink made its way to the rest of the Muslim cities such as Makkah and al-Qahera (Cairo)4 and then finally reaching Istanbul at the height of the Ottoman Empire.5

European Encounter

It was there in Istanbul that Europeans first encountered Coffee and it was, at first, treated as the Muslim drink and rejected by the Christian clergy.6 Then upon tasting it, the Pope Clement VIII approved and blessed it, permitting it for consumption in European countries.7

Yemen was the coffee powerhouse in that day, with much of the coffee grown there consumed in the Middle East. In addition, the port of Mocha had a major part of the trade of coffee with the rest of the world through the English and Dutch East India Companies.8

Qahwah's Pledge

Now, after years of political instability and endless wars, Yemen’s coffee story is much different. We, at Qahwah, aim to make a difference by spreading the fame of Yemeni coffee and by being the first coffee roasters to bring single origin arabica coffee beans from the highlands of Yemen to homes in Pakistan. We also want to make it renowned that coffee was first and foremost a Muslim drink, a beverage rooted in Islam, and to make aware every Pakistani Muslim that they share an intimate and rich relationship with coffee aka qahwah.

This is the story of the birthplace of Qahwah and we hope that you appreciated it and moreover that you share a lot more history with this drink than you may have thought.

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