The History of Coffee — The French Colony That Became the World's Coffee Powerhouse

Right now, roughly 2 billion cups of coffee are being poured somewhere on Earth — behind that simple drink lies a monastery that tried to burn it as the Devil's work, a two-century monopoly guarded by law, and seven seeds smuggled beneath a pilgrim's robes. But the strangest chapter of coffee's history belongs to an unexpected country that spent a generation defined by war before quietly becoming one of the largest coffee producers on the planet. Subscribe to Quiet Empires for more hidden histories behind the foods and drinks that quietly shaped the world. Which surprised you more — that a pope once had to personally taste coffee to decide if it was evil, or that a country once known mainly for war is now behind a huge share of your morning cup? #CoffeeHistory #HistoryOfCoffee #YemenMonopoly #HiddenHistory #HistoryDocumentary #ColonialHistory #WorldHistory #FoodHistory #FacelessHistory #QuietEmpires 00:00 Cold Open 01:07 Origins in Ethiopia 02:54 Yemen's Coffee Monopoly 04:19 Coffee Reaches Europe 06:49 Suppression & Colonial Expansion 08:01 The Unexpected Coffee Powerhouse 09:52 Legacy