Catha edulis, commonly called Arabian tea. Khat, qat, gat, is a flowering plant native to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Among communities from these areas, khat chewing has a long history as a social custom dating back thousands of years.
Khat contains a monoamine alkaloid called cathinone, an amphetamine-like stimulant, which is said to cause excitement, loss of appetite and euphoria. In 1980, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified it as a drug of abuse that can produce mild to moderate psychological dependence (less than tobacco or alcohol), although the WHO does not consider khat to be seriously addictive.
Khat's exact place of origin is uncertain. One argument is that it was first grown in Ethiopia.
Everyone chewed leaves as goats chew the cud. People would consume these leaves just as they are; unlike betel leaves, which need certain condiments to go with them, these leaves were just stuffed fully into the mouth and munched.
Khat is so popular in Yemen that its cultivation consumes much of the country's agricultural resources.
One reason for cultivating khat in Yemen so widely is the high income it provides for farmers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khat
The views on qat greatly diverge. For some, qat farming is the perpetuum mobile of Yemen's rural economy and qat chewing an age-old social pursuit that has helped to preserve Yemeni identity in a rapidly changing world. For others, qat is the main inhibitor of human and economic development in Yemen and is to blame for poverty and corruption, the depletion of Yemen's water resources and the country's sloppy approach to fighting Islamist terror.
http://www.qat-yemen.com
Historians say coffee harvesting in Yemen dates back at least to the 15th century. But with qat consumed daily by both men and women, many have opted to grow qat trees instead. Some critics of the drug production say it is soaking up Yemen's withering water supply.
Besides Sudan, Yemen is the only Arab country that produces coffee. Mick Wheeler, a London-based coffee industry expert, says Yemeni coffee has a good global reputation. One of its biggest buyers is coffee behemoth Starbucks.
This noble drive of uprooting of khat trees has been undertaken by the Dawoodi Bohra community at the behest and guidance of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin (TUS). A deadline of 6 mths has been declared by which time all the mumineen locals of Yemen would have given up their khat plantations and substituted with other options like coffee.
