THE word "coffee" comes from the Turkish word "kahveh" and Arabic "qahwah", meaning coffee, though it is said to have originally meant "wine" or coming from the Kaffa region of Ethiopia (the home of the coffee plant).

There have been various different spellings, including chaoua.

Yemen was the first great exporter of coffee. The country passed a law that made it illegal for any living plant to leave its borders to protect its coffee trade.

In the 16th century a Muslim pilgrim brought some coffee beans from Yemen and planted them in India.

It first appeared in Europe in about 1515 and was introduced to England in about 1650 (by 1675 there were about 3000 coffee houses in thecountry).

etymonline.com; wikipedia.org;