Coffee as we know it, the drink that shaped the world, was birthed in Yemen. For over 500 years, Yemenis have enjoyed the finest coffee the world has to offer—no exaggeration. The original coffee plant, coffee arabica, originated in the Great Kingdom of Sheba, at a time when Yemen and Ethiopia were united as one. While there are legends as to how the coffee plant came to be brewed the way we know it, most believe it started in Yemen. Enjoying a night of reverie-like prayers was made all the more delightful by coffee for Islamic mystics, who were the first to popularize the drink in Yemeni society. It was forbidden for the beans to leave Yemen without being roasted to prevent germination, and for two centuries Yemen was the only place that produced coffee enjoyed all over the world. Yemeni coffee changed the arch of world history, forever, in many ways. The first coffee houses, called “qahwas,” showed up in the Ottoman Empire by the mid-1500s, creating a new idea: third spaces, where people of all kinds and backgrounds could meet to have intellectual discussions, debate, and exchange stories. A new public life, which continues in the area until this day, was born. In Europe, many drank weak beer or wine throughout the day since it was safer than water until coffee was introduced. In this way, Yemen’s coffee would go on to catalyze the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution, creating the clarity of mind and spaces that people needed to foster the future. Imagine had Voltaire and Rousseau not met to discuss philosophy over coffee! And, history changed coffee. Yemen’s prize crop came to play a key role in the colonization of the Americas and beyond. In a plot twist, coffee was stolen by Europeans to mass produce. Unable to grow the plant in Europe, a more bitter coffee robusta eventually came to be, grown in European colonies such as those in Brazil and Indonesia, furthering the slave trade. This is the coffee most people know today. …That is, unless you’ve visited Dearborn, Michigan. While Yemen’s coffee moved around the world for centuries, in the 1900s, Yemeni people would start to move to Michigan, first largely to work in the automotive industry, and later, seeking home and peace after war erupted. Our founder Mohamed Elgahmi was one of them. Just how do you create a home away from home? This question may have been on the mind of many Yemenis at the time. The answer was simple: share some space, and tell a story. Coffee, anyone?