Mon, May 11th 2009, 11:51
Coffee was initially only used as a beverage to increase stamina and concentration during religious and meditation ceremonies in Arabia. But it was not long before the world’s first coffee shop opened in Constantinople in 1457.
Religious leaders of the day were not happy with the idea of a coffee shop; they were outraged that their sacrament was being misused and fought for a ban to be placed on coffee houses serving coffee to members of the public. In the mid-17th Century there were severe penalities for operating a coffee house - second time offenders were sewn into a leather bag and thrown into the Bosphorus!
The appeal of a drinking house serving coffee was incredibly popular with this non-alcohol consuming muslim nation and even the penalties could not deter eager coffee shop patrons. Soon the authorities gave up on trying to ban the coffee shops and placed heavy taxes on them instead!
Vienna saw Europe's first coffee shop open in 1529. The city had been invaded by the Turkish army who left bags and bags of coffee behind when they fled the city. Franz Georg Kolschitzky had lived in Turkey at one time - he claimed the coffee as spoils of war and opened up a coffee shop to introduce the people of Vienna to the beverage.
Venetian traders were the first to ship coffee into Europe and a coffee shop opened in Venice in 1683. The name of the shop was caffee or café, named simply after the drink to get people used to the idea of this new beverage. Many Europeans were suspicious of this muslim drink believing that drinking coffee would lead people to Satan. They appealed to Pope Clement VIII but once he tasted a cup the pope declared it safe to drink.
Coffee Culture began to take hold in Europe. Coffee Shops were popular venues for congregating; chess was played and philosophy, politics and just about anything worth talking about was discussed. By 1670 there was hardly a street in London without a coffee house; called "penny universities" for the price of a coffee and the calibre of discussion to be had. The small coffee shop run by Edward Lloyd became such a hub of networking, it was here that Lloyd's of London began in 1688, now the largest insurance market in the world.
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water ..."
The 1674 Womens Petition Against Coffee
Coffee houses quickly spread through Europe: By the late 1700s Venice had over 2000 coffee shops. When America was colonised, the coffee house was quick to follow. The Tontine Coffee House, opened in New York in 1792, was the original location for the New York Stock Exchange.
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