The Beginning Of The Coffee House Culture
From the time Pope Clement VIII baptized what was till then called ‘Satan’s drink’, the Western world embraced coffee into their bosoms. So much so that it became a part of the social fabric. Coffee entered France and Britain almost at the same time - in the middle of the seventeenth century. It was a time of ideas, of ideals, of politics and intrigue. Little wonder that as soon as the coffee shops were set up, they became places to gather and discuss anything of value. And not of value too sometimes. However, a cup of coffee became very much a part of this cerebral culture.
Look at London during that period. Every street had a coffee shop. What’s more, certain coffee houses began to be associated with certain pastimes. So if you wanted to talk politics, you went to a particular place, if it was theater, another, if it was business, yet another. Soon, it became the backdrop for the literati and the intellectual set. Of course, the fact that Lloyds, the giant insurance company came into being with its roots in a coffee house of the same name, a place where merchants used to get together, is history. So many poets, scientists and philosophers were part of this coffee house culture.
If we were to go a bit further back in time, the very first recorded instance of coffee being served in a public place was in the mid-fifteenth century in Constantinople. The name of this little Turkish shop was Kiva Han. The coffee served in most of these countries was very strong and black. It was also brewed and served unfiltered.
But it was in Europe and England where accompaniments like bread, biscuits and sweets began to be served with coffee. It was also in England that the first concept of ‘tipping’ originated in a coffee house. If you put a penny into a jar, you would be served much more quickly. The coffee shops soon began to be called ‘penny universities’ because that was where a lot of intellectuals could be found.
Once coffee crossed the Atlantic, it was pretty much the same story with coffee houses being set up all over America. Look at the fact that the New York Stock Exchange grew out of the Tontine Coffee House in New York and you’ll see what we are talking about. From the regular brewed coffee to espresso coffee (once the machines came in) saw the explosion of coffee houses all over. Now the tenor of the coffee shop changed and became more modern. But that’s another story.