Historical record · Plants, trade and shared cups

Coffee

Follow coffee from African botanical ancestry through cultivation, coffeehouses, plantations, machines and living traditions.

Primary topic: Culture & Everyday Life

Explore the interactive road →

Scope of this guide

A selective history of plants, cultivation, labour, technology and culture. Genetic origin estimates are uncertain; Kaldi is a legend, and the first human use is undated. Modern research is bounded to the 2021 study discussed here, not a complete account through 2026.

Actual source-review status

10 completed · 0 partial · 0 pending chapter reviews in this subject.

The factual audit is unfinished. These counts come from recorded chapter reviews, not legacy “reviewed” wording, confidence labels or image checks. A completed source review retains scientific and historical uncertainty.

Key chapters

15th–16th centuries
Cultivation takes root in Yemen →
Yemen becomes a key early centre of Arabica cultivation and later maritime distribution.
Chapter source review completed: 2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review. Scientific uncertainty is retained in the evidence note.
1901
Pressure changes coffee preparation →
Bezzera's patented machines mark a stage in espresso technology.
Chapter source review completed: 2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review. Scientific uncertainty is retained in the evidence note.
19 April 2021
Wild diversity offers new possibilities →
Research on Coffea stenophylla links warmer growing conditions with promising flavour.
Chapter source review completed: 2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review. Scientific uncertainty is retained in the evidence note.

Connected roads

These are authored connections in the existing catalogue, not an automatically inferred family tree.

No additional outgoing subject connections are authored for this road yet.

All chapters & review records

Arabica's African ancestrycompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review
Cultivation takes root in Yemencompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review
Coffeehouses in Istanbulcompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review
London's first coffee sellercompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review
A plantation crop across oceanscompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review
Brazil abolishes slaverycompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review
Pressure changes coffee preparationcompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review
Governments negotiate coffee tradecompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review
Coffee culture becomes recognized heritagecompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review
Wild diversity offers new possibilitiescompleted2026-10-11 · Codex expansion source review

Sources

Sources cited by the existing chapters. Listing a source does not mean every claim has been verified.