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The new drink quickly spread from Aden to
neighboring towns, and by about the end of the 15th century had reached
the holy city of Mecca. Here, as in Aden, coffee drinking at first
centered around the dervish community at the mosque.
Before long, the citizens were also
regularly drinking coffee at home and in public areas set apart for the
purpose. They did so with obvious enjoyment as an Arab historian
reports: "Thither Crowds of People resorted at all Hours of the Day, to
enjoy the pleasure of Conversation, play at Chess and other games,
dance, sing, and divert themselves all manner of ways, under the
pretence of drinking Coffee".
As the center of the Muslim world,
Mecca's social and cultural practices were inevitably copied by Muslims
in other major cities. Within a relatively short time, therefore, coffee
drinking took hold throughout much of Arabia, spreading west to Egypt,
and north through Syria. The coffee habit was also established further
by the Muslim armies who, at that time, were advancing through southern
Europe, Spain and North Africa, and east to India. Wherever they went,
they took coffee with them.
Coffee thus became an integral part of
Middle Eastern life. So crucial was the drink to the smooth-running of
society that, in many areas, marriage contracts stipulated that a
husband should allow his wife as much coffee as she wanted. Failure to
do so was grounds for a woman to sue for divorce.
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