When you boost your morning with a cup of scalding hot coffee, or sit in a coffee house watching the world go by with your favourite brew, Muslim culture may be the last thing on your mind – but think again.

We can thank an astute Arab called Khalid for this international drink. He noticed that his sheep, which grazed the slopes in Ethiopia, seemed strangely lively after eating a particular berry – and it was this magical coffee berry which was boiled to make al-qahwa.

Al-qahwa drinking spread to the rest of the Muslim world and arrived in the UK with a Turkish merchant called Pasqua Rosee in 1650. He sold it to a coffee house in London’s Lombard Street – and the rest, as they say, is history…