Western merchants controlled even basic Middle Eastern consumption goods by the late 1700s

Evidence

By the late 18th century, when a Turk or an Arab indulged in a cup of sweetened coffee, in all probability the coffee was brought by Dutch merchants from Java, and the sugar by French or British merchants from the West Indies. Only the hot water was of local provenance. In the course of the 19th century, even that was doubtful, as Western companies dominated the rapidly expanding utilities in Middle Eastern cities. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1748

Categorization

• SHARE: A clean, evocative data point — the coffee-and-sugar vignette with only local hot water is vivid enough for a Middle East history buff.
• CANDY: The image of a Turk drinking Java coffee with West Indies sugar, only the hot water local, is a fun party-fact worthy micro-narrative.
• XREF: connects to: European merchants came to supply even the coffee and sugar in Ottoman cups