Coffee, noun: From the Arabic “qahwah,” meaning stimulating drink. It is a (usually) hot, black caffeinated drink made from roasted and ground coffee beans, the seeds from the coffee berry. In 1614, the Dutch started out on a research trip to Aden in Yemen and stole a coffee plant. They succeeded in transporting coffee sprouts to the Netherlands and cultivating these on the island of Java in 1699. Coffee became one of the most popular drinks in the world. Note: In 1660, James Howell wrote: “Tis found already that this coffee drink hath caused a greater sobriety among the Nations. Whereas formerly apprentices and clerks with others, used to take their mornings draught in ale, beer, or wine, which by the dizziness they cause in the brain, make many unfit for businesse, they use now to play the good-fellows in this wakefull and civill drink.”
