In the late 17th century, the Dutch Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (the VOC) and the English East India Company would play a role in the life of coffee that not only broke the Ottoman monopoly but also carried the coffee plant to the four corners of the world,

In the early years of the 17th century Yemen's key port of Mocha thrived as the demand for coffee grew exponentially,

Over the decades Yemen's mountainous terrain had been transformed. Where once there had been tiny villages and subsistence farms, a new crop had taken over.