The earliest known writings about coffee come from the Persian physician Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (also known as Rhazes or Razi), who lived between 850 and 922 A.D.. A prolific scholar who authored more than 200 medical works, Razi described coffee as “dry and very good for the stomach.”
About two centuries later, around 1000 A.D., another renowned Persian doctor and philosopher, Avicenna of Bukhara, expanded on coffee’s medicinal qualities. He wrote that coffee “strengthens the body, purifies the skin, removes excess moisture beneath it, and gives a pleasant fragrance to the body.”
Although some of these early claims don’t align with modern science, they mark the beginning of a long tradition of exploring coffee’s health effects — a subject that has inspired thousands of studies over the centuries.
