The Origins of Coffee

By the 1600s, coffee is being seen in Europe as a medicinal product. It's not until the 1650s that it really begins to start being used as a social beverage. Originally, the first people really to move coffee outside are the Dutch. They succeed in finding some coffee seeds in Malabar in India and plant them on the island of Java. The French take enslaved labor over to the Caribbean and plant coffee in their territories.