Just for the moment, until I get a few pieces written, I'm going to have links here. And what better article to start with than with this from The Economist, December 2003, which gives a short history of coffee (and has a few more links besides).

JavaRepublic, one of the leading coffee companies in Ireland, has an interesting article on a trip to Ethiopia's Sidamo and Yirgacheffe regions to look at the methods used by the local farmers to produce the unique bean...

The Observer Saturday magazine (29th October, 2005) had an excellent article on the prevalence of coffee shops and how coffee is replacing tea as the beverage of choice throughout the UK

"Turkish law permitted a wife to divorce her husband for
failing to keep the family 'Ibrik', or coffeepot, filled"