{"id":96973,"date":"2026-08-25T14:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/?post_type=tribe_events&p=96973"},"modified":"2026-08-26T07:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T11:00:48","slug":"the-birth-of-coffee-sufra-time-at-mocha-box-coffeehouse","status":"publish","type":"tribe_events","link":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/event\/the-birth-of-coffee-sufra-time-at-mocha-box-coffeehouse\/","title":{"rendered":"The Birth of Coffee – Sufra Time at Mocha Box Coffeehouse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long before coffee became a morning ritual, a drive-through convenience or a global obsession, it was a mysterious red fruit growing in the mountains of Ethiopia\u2014and a sacred drink embraced by Sufi mystics in Yemen.<\/p>\n

In **The Birth of Coffee**, the opening experience in the **Sufra Time: An Immersive Yemeni Dining Journey** series, you\u2019ll travel back to coffee\u2019s astonishing beginnings. Discover the legend of Kaldi and his dancing goats, meet the Yemeni Sufis who used coffee to remain awake during nights of prayer, and explore how the ancient port of Mocha became the guarded gateway through which coffee conquered the world.<\/p>\n

Along the way, you\u2019ll discover the surprising kinship between Arabia and Appalachia\u2014two mountainous cultures shaped by strong families, oral storytelling, community music and hospitality treated not merely as good manners, but as a social obligation. Across oceans and centuries, these traditions reveal how much seemingly distant cultures can share.<\/p>\n

This is far more than a history lesson. Through dramatic storytelling, striking imagery, audience participation, Arabian food and\u2014of course\u2014exceptional coffee, Sufra Time transforms one of history\u2019s greatest cultural adventures into an evening you can see, hear, taste and experience.<\/p>\n

You may drink coffee every day. But after this unforgettable journey, you\u2019ll never look at your cup\u2014or the connections between Arabia and Appalachia\u2014the same way again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Long before coffee became a morning ritual, a drive-through convenience or a global obsession, it was a mysterious red fruit growing in the mountains of Ethiopia\u2014and a sacred drink embraced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":96977,"template":"","meta":{"_tribe_events_status":"","_tribe_events_status_reason":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"tribe_events_cat":[],"class_list":["post-96973","tribe_events","type-tribe_events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Birth of Coffee - Sufra Time at Mocha Box Coffeehouse - The Laurel of Asheville<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/event\/the-birth-of-coffee-sufra-time-at-mocha-box-coffeehouse\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Birth of Coffee - 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