In 1616 the Dutch were the first Europeans to obtain live coffee trees, brought back from Mocha, Yemen by Pieter van der Broecke. The beans from these coffee bushes were then used to begin Dutch coffee cultivation, with the colonies of Java and Suriname eventually becoming major suppliers of coffee to Europe.
Nowadays coffee houses in Amsterdam are well known for serving coffee alongside another specialty item, marijuana, but don’t let that cloud your vision, coffee culture is still strong and rich in the Netherlands. On average the Dutch drink 1.84 cups per day.
Coffee is served in the home for "Koffietijd" (Coffee Time), usually along side cookies and cakes. Interestingly the coffee culture is somewhat split between the north and south and along religious lines. The north was traditionally populated with Protestants who prefer to serve coffee with only one cookie, seen as a gesture of modesty. In the south, traditionally populated by Roman Catholics, Koffietijd typically includes "vlaai," a large sweet pie.