Coffee reached Saint Helena from Yemen on an East India Company ship in 1732. The variety is known as Green-Tipped Bourbon.
During his exile on the island, Napoleon began his days with the local coffee and praised it highly. It enjoyed brief popularity afterwards, then faded.
Old feral trees, some up to 10 m tall, still grow on the island, alongside newer plantings.
What time is taking away
Feral Green-Tipped Bourbon trees
Coffee brought from Yemen in 1732 went feral on the island; ancient trees up to 10 m tall survive alongside new plantings such as those at Rosemary Gate.1
What the record says
- The first coffee seeds came to Saint Helena from Yemen on an East India merchantman in 1732.1
- The island's variety is Green-Tipped Bourbon, and its isolation is said to have preserved Yemeni traits.1
- Napoleon began his days with the island's coffee during his exile and praised it highly.1
- After Napoleon's endorsement, Saint Helena coffee had a brief spell of popularity before fading.1
- Some feral coffee trees on the island reach 10 m tall.1
Weak sourcing: one 2013 coffee-magazine blog. Other sites give 1733, name the ship Houghton, and quote Napoleon; none of those could be opened and checked, and the famous quote has no primary source, so it was left out. Sweet Maria's page returned 403. Worth another pass with a government or museum source.
- St. Helena: Is this what Napoleon drank? · Coffee Magazine, 2013 in the bibliography
