Koffie met
Geschiedenis.

Although many have heard that coffee as a plant originates from Ethiopia, coffee as a practice cultivated, brewed, and shared began in Yemen. By the 15th century, Sufi monks discovered that roasting and brewing the Bon beans produced a dark, energizing drink. Known as qahwa, it became part of spiritual life, daily ritual, and economic survival. From the highlands, it travelled to the port of Mocha the origin of the name Mocha still associated with coffee today, the world’s first great coffee trade hub and from there to Cairo, Istanbul, Venice, and eventually Amsterdam.

For nearly two centuries, Yemen was not simply part of the coffee trade. It was the coffee trade.

Its mountains supplied the world. Its farmers built entire communities around the crop. Yemen protected it so carefully that only roasted or ground coffee was allowed to leave in order to prevent cultivation elsewhere.

In the early 17th century, Dutch traders broke that monopoly. Coffee plants and knowledge moved beyond Yemen and into colonial networks. What had once belonged to one origin began to spread across empires, plantations, and ports.

That moment changed coffee forever, it made coffee global. And it pushed Yemen the very place where coffee culture was born to the margins of its own story.

What was once the world’s only coffee source became a forgotten origin. Today, Yemen represents only a tiny share of global coffee production, despite being the place where the story began.

Yet, the heritage never disappeared.

In regions such as Haraz, Dhamar, and Ibb, Yemeni farmers still cultivate coffee on mountain terraces, hand-pick cherries, and preserve methods passed down for generations. Their work protects not only a crop, but one of the oldest coffee cultures on earth.

From the very plant that gave the world coffee, our name takes its meaning.

“Bon” (بن) the Arabic word for coffee beans.

Bon Bonen exists because this story deserves more than remembrance. It deserves restoration.

Centuries ago, coffee traveled from Mocha to Amsterdam and changed the world. Today, from the Netherlands, we begin that journey again.

But to restore value to origin, support Yemeni farmers with fairness and transparency, and return Yemeni coffee to where it has always belonged.