From Mughal Brews to Modern Cafés: A Sip Through Dhaka’s Coffee History
From the private quarters of Mughal elites and the colonial gardens of Ramna to the first coffee houses of New Elephant Road and today's specialty roasters, Dhaka's relationship with coffee has been a long, fascinating journey. Some chapters are documented, others survive through old accounts and local memories. Together, they tell the story of a city gradually discovering a drink that had travelled across continents before finding a place in its everyday life. Before the cafés: Coffee arrives in the Mughal world Long before Dhaka became a city of espresso machines, pour-over brewers and speciality coffee menus, coffee was already travelling through the trading networks of the Islamic world. Its journey into South Asia was closely connected to Yemen, particularly the port of Mocha, which became one of the most important centres of the international coffee trade. Merchants carried coffee across the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, connecting the Arabian Peninsula...
