Article Summary
What this article covers: How coffee and tea cultures began in Ethiopia and China, how they spread across the world, and which rituals, ceremonies and café traditions travellers can still experience today.
Who this is for: Travellers who want to understand local drinking customs before they visit, and culture enthusiasts curious about the history in their cup.
Key takeaway: Coffee and tea cultures are cultures of hospitality. How a country serves its daily drink shows you how its people welcome strangers.
Expert insight: “In a farmhouse kitchen in Donegal, the kettle goes on before anyone asks why you’ve called. I felt exactly the same thing in a small coffee house in Istanbul, where a cup and a glass of water arrived before the conversation even started. The drink changes from one country to the next, but the welcome always comes first.” , Ciaran Connolly, Founder of ConnollyCove
Quick facts:
- Tea drinking in China predates the first reliable records of coffee drinking, in fifteenth-century Yemen, by well over a thousand years.
- UNESCO inscribed Turkish coffee culture and tradition on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.
- The London coffeehouses of the late 1600s earned the nickname “penny universities” because a penny bought coffee, newspapers and a seat in the debate.
Every morning, billions of people start the day with one of two drinks: a roasted seed from the Coffea shrub or a dried leaf from Camellia sinensis. Coffee and tea cultures grew up thousands of kilometres apart. Both turned a hot drink into places to meet, rules for welcoming guests and, now and then, a revolution.
Here in Ireland, we know this better than most. Irish households offer tea the moment a visitor steps through the door. Irish coffee was first served to chilly transatlantic passengers on the Shannon Estuary. At ConnollyCove, an Ireland-based travel and culture platform, we’ve found that the fastest way to understand a destination is often to sit down and drink what the locals drink.
This guide traces coffee and tea cultures from the Ethiopian highlands and the hills of southern China to the coffeehouses of London, Paris and Vienna. It covers the ceremonies still practised in Japan, Ethiopia, Türkiye and South America, and it sits alongside our wider look at the cultural impact of coffee across societies. You’ll also find etiquette notes for when someone hands you a cup.
Table of Contents
Where Did Coffee and Tea Cultures Begin?
Coffee began in the forests of Ethiopia and was first brewed in Yemen. Tea began in southwest China as a medicine long before it became a daily habit. Both stories mix legend with history, and the paper trail tells you how coffee and tea cultures actually spread.
Ethiopia, Yemen and the Legend of Kaldi
Wild coffee plants are native to the highland forests of southwestern Ethiopia, including the old Kaffa region. The best-known origin story tells of Kaldi, a goatherd who noticed his flock dancing with energy after eating red berries from a shrub. It’s a lovely tale, but it was first written down in the seventeenth century, centuries after the events it describes, so treat it as folklore rather than fact.
The first solid evidence of coffee as a brewed drink comes from Yemen in the fifteenth century. Sufi communities there drank it to stay awake through night-time prayers and devotions. The port of Mocha shipped Yemeni beans abroad, and its name became shorthand for coffee.
China, Lu Yu and the Classic of Tea
Chinese legend credits the mythical emperor Shennong with discovering tea when leaves drifted into his boiling water. Whatever the truth of that story, tea was being drunk in China well over two thousand years ago, first as a medicine and later as a daily drink. Around the eighth century CE, the scholar Lu Yu wrote the Cha Jing, or Classic of Tea, the first known book devoted entirely to growing, preparing and drinking tea.
Tea then moved outward along trade routes. Caravans carried compressed tea bricks into Tibet along the ancient Tea Horse Road, trading them for horses. Buddhist monks later carried tea customs to Japan and Korea.
How Coffee and Tea Spread Across Continents
By the 1550s, coffeehouses were open in Istanbul, and Ottoman roasting methods shaped how much of the world would drink coffee. Dutch traders brought tea to Europe in the early seventeenth century, and coffee followed through Venice and the Levant trade. The table below gives a simple timeline.
| Region | Drink | Approximate arrival or first record |
|---|---|---|
| Southwest China | Tea | Ancient; drunk for over 2,000 years |
| Japan and Korea | Tea | From around the eighth century CE |
| Yemen | Coffee | Fifteenth century |
| Ottoman Empire | Coffee | Early to mid-sixteenth century |
| Western Europe | Tea and coffee | Early to mid-seventeenth century |
| The Americas | Coffee and tea | Seventeenth and eighteenth centuries |
How Did Coffeehouses and Teahouses Shape Society?
Coffeehouses and teahouses gave people a public space to talk, argue and share news outside the home, the church or the tavern. The social side of coffee and tea cultures changed politics, business and literature, and it matters as much as what goes in the cup.
From Mecca and Istanbul to London’s Penny Universities
Coffeehouses spread through Mecca, Cairo and Istanbul in the early sixteenth century, and they quickly worried the authorities. In 1511, officials in Mecca tried to ban coffee because the houses encouraged gossip and political talk. The ban didn’t last, and the Ottoman kahvehane became a home for news, games and storytelling.
England’s first coffeehouse opened in Oxford in 1650, and London had its own by 1652. For the price of a penny, anyone could buy a dish of coffee and join the conversation, which earned them the nickname “penny universities”. These rooms mattered for commerce too. Lloyd’s of London grew out of Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse, where merchants and ship owners gathered for shipping news in the 1680s. Our full history of coffee houses follows this story in more detail.
Paris Cafés and the French Revolution
Paris took the coffeehouse and turned it into the café. Café Procope opened in 1686 and later drew writers and thinkers of the Enlightenment. On 12 July 1789, the journalist Camille Desmoulins stood on a table outside the Café de Foy in the Palais-Royal and urged the crowd to take up arms. Two days later, the Bastille fell.
Vienna’s Coffeehouses and China’s Teahouses
Vienna developed a coffeehouse culture so distinctive that UNESCO added it to Austria’s national inventory of intangible heritage. Writers and composers treated their regular café as a second office. You can read more about Vienna’s historic coffeehouses and the customs that still survive there.
China’s teahouses played a similar role centuries earlier. They hosted storytellers, opera and quiet conversation between scholars. For a closer look at how these spaces worked, see our guide to the historical teahouses of China. In both cities, the drink brought people in; the conversation kept them there.
Which Coffee and Tea Ceremonies Can Travellers Still Experience?
Many of the oldest coffee and tea cultures are still practised in homes, temples and cafés, and visitors are often welcome to take part. Knowing a few basics before you arrive makes these coffee and tea cultures far easier to enjoy.
The Japanese Tea Ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony, known as chanoyu or sado, centres on the preparation of matcha, a powdered green tea whisked with hot water. The tea master Sen no Rikyū shaped its modern form in the sixteenth century around four principles: harmony, respect, purity and tranquillity.
In Kyoto and Tokyo, many tea houses run short ceremonies for visitors. You’ll usually kneel on a tatami mat and eat a small sweet first. Turn the bowl slightly before drinking so you don’t sip from its front. Our piece on the art of tea preparation looks at how this discipline compares with other tea traditions.
The Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony
In Ethiopia, the coffee ceremony, or buna, is a regular part of family and community life rather than a show for tourists. The host roasts green beans in a flat pan over charcoal, walks the smoking pan around the room so guests can enjoy the aroma, then grinds the beans by hand. The coffee is brewed in a black clay pot called a jebena and poured into small handleless cups.
Frankincense often burns nearby. Guests traditionally stay for three rounds, known as abol, tona and baraka. Leaving after the first cup can seem abrupt, so plan to linger for an hour or more.
Turkish Coffee and Arabian Gahwa
Turkish coffee is finely ground, brewed slowly with sugar in a small pot called a cezve, and served unfiltered with a glass of water. UNESCO’s listing for Turkish coffee culture and tradition describes it as a symbol of hospitality and friendship, drunk in coffeehouses where people meet to talk and share news. After you finish, some hosts will turn your cup upside down on its saucer and read your fortune in the grounds.
Across the Arabian Peninsula, gahwa is lightly roasted coffee spiced with cardamom and sometimes saffron. It’s poured from a long-spouted brass pot called a dallah into small cups, usually alongside dates. Hold and accept the cup with your right hand. When you’ve had enough, gently shake the cup from side to side before handing it back; otherwise your host will keep refilling it.
Mate and Café de Olla in the Americas
In Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, yerba mate is shared from one gourd through a metal straw called a bombilla. One person, the cebador, refills the gourd and passes it around the circle. Saying “gracias” when you hand it back means you’ve finished, so only say it when you’re ready to stop.
In Mexico, café de olla is brewed in a clay pot with cinnamon and piloncillo, an unrefined cane sugar. It’s a drink of family kitchens and markets.
| Tradition | Where | Key vessel | One etiquette tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chanoyu | Japan | Tea bowl (chawan) | Turn the bowl before you sip |
| Buna | Ethiopia | Clay pot (jebena) | Stay for all three rounds |
| Turkish coffee | Türkiye | Small pot (cezve) | Drink the water first to clear the palate |
| Gahwa | Arabian Peninsula | Brass pot (dallah) | Shake the cup when you’ve had enough |
| Mate | South America | Gourd and bombilla | Only say “gracias” when you’re finished |
How Do Coffee and Tea Cultures Look in Ireland?
Ireland is firmly a tea nation, yet it also gave the world one of its most famous coffee drinks. For visitors, both sides of Irish coffee and tea cultures are easy to experience.
Ireland’s Everyday Tea Habit
Strong black tea, usually a blend of Assam and African leaves, is the backbone of Irish hospitality. Refusing the first offer of a cup is often seen as politeness rather than a real “no”, so expect to be asked again. Most people take it with milk.
The same instinct for welcome shows up across Irish culture, from the kitchen table to traditional Irish proverbs about friendship and neighbours. When you visit Ireland, accepting that cup of tea is often the start of a proper conversation.
Irish Coffee and the Shannon Estuary
Irish coffee is credited to Joe Sheridan, a chef at the flying boat terminal in Foynes, County Limerick, in the early 1940s. Passengers stepping off cold transatlantic flights were served hot coffee with Irish whiskey, brown sugar and a layer of lightly whipped cream floated on top. The Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum tells this story today and makes a worthwhile stop on the Wild Atlantic Way.
Belfast’s Modern Café Scene
Belfast has built a strong independent café scene, with speciality roasters spread across the city centre and the Cathedral Quarter. You can explore a selection of Belfast’s independent cafés if you’re planning a visit.
Newer arrivals have added global flavours too. Taiwanese bubble tea, invented in the 1980s, now has a loyal following in the city, and our guide to bubble tea in Belfast covers where to try it.
The Business, Brewing and Ethics of the Modern Cup
Coffee and tea are two of the world’s most traded crops, and their history is tied closely to empire and labour. This side of coffee and tea cultures also explains why some countries drink tea while their neighbours drink coffee.
Empire, Trade and Production
Britain’s appetite for Chinese tea in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries created a huge trade imbalance, paid for largely in silver. The British East India Company responded by exporting opium from India into China, which led to the Opium Wars of 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860. To break China’s hold on tea, Britain smuggled tea plants and skilled workers into India and developed large plantations in Assam and Darjeeling.
In the Americas, the 1773 Boston Tea Party turned coffee into a patriotic choice for many colonists. Today, Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer, while China and India lead global tea production.
From Jebena to Espresso: How Brewing Methods Evolved
Traditional brewing methods reflect local materials and habits. The Ethiopian jebena and the Turkish cezve both brew coffee directly with the grounds, producing a thick, strong cup. Chinese gongfu tea uses a small clay pot or lidded bowl, called a gaiwan, with many short infusions of the same leaves.
The espresso machine, developed in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Italy, forced hot water through finely ground coffee under pressure. More recently, manual pour-over has become popular with speciality drinkers who want control over temperature and pouring speed.
Fair Trade and Sustainable Sourcing
Ethical sourcing has become a larger part of modern coffee and tea cultures. Certification schemes such as those run by the Fairtrade Foundation set minimum prices and fund community projects for smallholder farmers. Some roasters and tea merchants also use direct trade, buying straight from farms and paying above market rates.
Climate change is a real concern for both crops, and buying from traceable sources is one practical step drinkers can take.
Where Are Coffee and Tea Cultures Heading?
Modern coffee and tea cultures are blending global trends with older traditions rather than replacing them. Cafés are busier than ever, yet interest in traditional ceremonies has grown too.
The Third Place and Modern Café Culture
The sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term “third place” in his 1989 book The Great Good Place. He described spaces beyond home (the first place) and work (the second) where people gather informally, and cafés became the classic example. Today’s cafés serve as offices, meeting rooms and study spaces.
Fusion, Tradition and Innovation
Fusion drinks show how freely coffee and tea cultures now borrow from each other. Hong Kong’s yuanyang mixes coffee with milk tea in a single cup. Spiced chai lattes combine Indian masala chai with café-style steamed milk. In Malaysia and Singapore, the kopitiam serves strong local coffee and tea side by side, often sweetened with condensed milk.
Regional customs are holding their own too. East Frisia in northern Germany still pours strong black tea over rock sugar, known as kluntje, then adds a swirl of cream that you don’t stir. Sweden’s fika, a daily coffee break with cake, remains a workplace habit. These traditions suggest that coffee and tea cultures will keep changing without losing their local character.
Planning a Trip Around Coffee and Tea Cultures
Exploring coffee and tea cultures is one of the easiest ways to connect with local life when you travel. A tea ceremony in Kyoto, a buna in Addis Ababa or a pot of tea in a Kerry farmhouse will teach you more about hospitality than any guidebook. Learn the basic etiquette, accept the cup when it’s offered and give yourself time to stay for a second round.
Explore More Cultural Traditions
ConnollyCove covers travel destinations and cultural traditions from Ireland and across the globe, helping travellers find meaning in the places they visit. Explore our guide to coffee and culture in Bristol for a closer look at one city’s café scene, or watch our YouTube travel videos documenting cultural experiences firsthand.
FAQs
Which came first, coffee or tea?
Tea came first. It was drunk in China more than two thousand years ago, while the earliest reliable evidence of coffee as a brewed drink comes from fifteenth-century Yemen.
How did coffee houses originate?
Coffee houses began in the Middle East in the early sixteenth century, spreading through Mecca, Cairo and Istanbul. They reached Europe in the seventeenth century and became centres for news, business and political debate.
How do different countries enjoy their coffee?
Italians drink quick espressos standing at the bar, Turks brew thick coffee in a cezve, and Ethiopians share coffee over a three-round ceremony. Arabian gahwa is lightly roasted and spiced with cardamom.
What is café de olla?
Café de olla is a traditional Mexican coffee brewed in a clay pot with cinnamon and piloncillo, an unrefined cane sugar. It’s usually served at family gatherings and in markets.
What is the difference between tea and coffee cultures?
Tea cultures often emphasise calm ritual and slow preparation, while coffee cultures are often linked with conversation, debate and energy. Ethiopia’s unhurried coffee ceremony is a clear exception.
Where can travellers experience a traditional tea ceremony?
Kyoto and Tokyo have the most accessible Japanese tea ceremonies for visitors. China, Taiwan and Korea also offer tea house experiences, and Morocco serves mint tea as a daily welcome to guests.
Is Ireland a tea or coffee country?
Ireland is mainly a tea country, with one of the highest rates of tea drinking per head in the world. Coffee has grown in popularity, and Ireland is famous for inventing Irish coffee.
