Trivia

In Saudi Arabia, a woman reportedly may divorce her husband if he does not keep her supplied with coffee.

Coffee continues to be the most popular and traditional hot drink in Saudi Arabia. It was the largest and most dynamic area of the market, accounting for 51% of total market volume in 2002 and 57% of market value. This is a direct result of the popularity and long-existence of Arabic coffee in the Saudi Arabian drinks market. Fresh coffee accounted for 93% of total retail coffee sales in 2002, very marginally down on 1997.

Coffee beans were first roasted in Saudi Arabia around 1000 BCE. By the 13th century CE, the Muslims had already become confirmed coffee-drinkers, the beverage having proved its worth by keeping the devout alert during prayers. Wherever Islam spread, coffee was not long in following: to North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, and India.

Saudi Arabia rendered the beans sterile by means of a drying process or by boiling. Thus no fertile coffee seeds departed the borders of Africa or Saudi Arabia until 1600 CE, when the pilgrim cum smuggler Baba Budan departed Mecca with fertile coffee seeds stuck onto his belly. These seeds eventually bore fruit, leading to the rapid spread of coffee cultivation as far away as Europe.