Coffee

The Persian word for coffee is qahveh and comes from the Arabic meaning something undesirable; in the case of coffee, it removes the appetite for food and sleep. Its first recorded use in the Middle East was in fifteenth-century Yemen, but its origin can be traced to Ethiopia. It is said that a shepherd first discovered coffee when his sheep were eating beans under a coffee tree. Coffee was drunk in mystical Sufi orders, especially zikrs. Thus, it was initially seen as an aid to staying awake for pious purposes. Coffeehouses flourished in the sixteenth century because of the need at the time for social gathering places. With the competition among the various coffeehouses came the provision of entertainment such as storytelling, naqali (recitations from the Shahnameh, the Book of Kings), puppet shows, jugglers, tumblers, and music. Coffeehouses also provided a forum for poets and writers (the precursors of the French café society). Later in nineteenth-century Iran tea replaced coffee as the favorite drink and most coffeehouses were replaced by teahouses, yet the name in Persian continues to remain qahveh khaneh (coffeehouse).