The history of coffee goes at least as far back as the 13th century, with a number of reports and legends surrounding its first use. The native origin of coffee is thought to have been in east Africa, specifically from Ethiopia. It may have been first cultivated by Arabs in the 14th century, but the earliest substantiated evidence of either coffee drinking or knowledge of the coffee tree appears to have been in the middle of the 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen. By the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the middle east, Persia, Turkey and northern Africa. Thus, the correct answer is option C.