How did Sufi monks use coffee in southern Arabia?

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In southern Arabia, Sufi monks were among the first to brew coffee as a beverage. Tradition holds that they utilized the stimulating properties of the drink to help them remain awake and pray throughout the night.1

While the exact origins of coffee remain a subject of historical legend, it is believed that coffee plants were brought from Ethiopia to Yemen around the 15th century. Some accounts credit a Sufi mystic with the discovery of these stimulating effects, which subsequently led to the establishment of Mokha as a major center for the coffee trade.2134