The spread of coffee along the ancient arteries of the Levant, stretched from Mecca to Aleppo and then on to Baghdad and Mosul to the east and Alexandria and Cairo to the west

A nascent coffee culture began to take root in cities and towns throughout the Middle East.

In the Ottoman world a phenomenon was brewing that catapulted coffee into a new dimension and, almost overnight, would forever transform the landscape of urban culture.

Bazaar of the Silk Mercers in Cairo The space between two walls of the Sultan al-Ghuri complex is shown roofed over and used as a space for a silk-market, with much gathering for gossip, coffee, and smoking as well as for manufacture and sale of goods. Today the buildings are still there but the market has disappeared, and the unroofed space is a through-road for car traffic. c.1848 David Robert. Wellcome Images