SC - Coffee, Tea, and OOP

[david friedman]

At 4:17 PM -0600 2/25/00, Decker, Terry D. wrote:
>  As a beverage, coffee appears to have been used in
>Sufi rituals and entered the mainstream through the efforts of the Mufti of
>Yemen (IIRC).  The earliest evidence for coffee drink in the general
>population is about 1450.  I tend to argue for a general start date of 1250,
>but that is speculative argument.

We've been through this before, but I no longer remember whether 
there was any real evidence for the "Mufti of Yemen" and 1250 
speculation. I thought what you said at the time was that a secondary 
source asserted it, but you had no references to primary sources in 
support. On the other hand, my memory was that you did have support 
for the early date for medicinal mentions.

If so, there really isn't much basis for dates earlier than those 
Hattox gives. And he is describing controversies over coffee which 
imply that it was seen as an innovation at the time.

Am I remembering correctly?

David Friedman
Professor of Law
Santa Clara University
ddfr at best.com
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/