By the early 1500s roasted coffee was traded all over Arabia - from Turkey to North Africa.

During the latter half of the 17th century, coffee became very popular in Europe. Since the Europeans had to buy their coffee from the Arabs, the Arabs were very protective of their coffee plants. In fact, in Arabia it was a crime punishable by death for a European to have a coffee plant in his possession.

Eventually some plants were smuggled out. But, the coffee plant does not tolerate frost and would not grow in the colder European climate. Because of the dramatic increase in demand for coffee, around 1700 AD, the Dutch managed to get coffee plants and started to grow coffee in their colonies in Indonesia. Java, Sumatra, Timor and Bali were all Dutch colonies in which coffee was introduced and grown.

The French and the British soon followed suit, by establishing coffee plantations in the French & English colonies in the Americas and in India. Coffee soon spread to the Spanish colonies throughout all of Central and South America.