Although coffee drinking is viewed as a western habit, earliest confirmation of coffee consumption dates back to 15th century Yemen. Coffee drinking later spread to Cairo and Mecca by the late 15th century and early 16th century. Imams in Mecca became really concerned about the proliferation of coffee houses in the city. They viewed them as places where people would gather to drink and discuss politics. So, they banned all the coffee houses for Muslims in 1512, which lasted till 1524. First coffee house in Syria opened in 1530, in Damascus. According to some reports, the first evidence of a public place serving coffee dates back to 1475 in Constantinople (now Istanbul), Turkey. The coffee house was called Kiva Han. The Ottoman chronicler Ibrahim Pecevi reports in his writings (1642–49) about the opening of the first coffeehouse in Istanbul: “Until the year 962 [1555 AD], in the High, God-Guarded city of Constantinople, as well as in Ottoman lands generally, coffee and coffee-houses did not exist. About that year, a fellow called Hakam from Aleppo and a wag called Shams from Damascus came to the city; they each opened a large shop in the district called Tahtakale, and began to purvey coffee.” During that period, coffee was an important commodity. It was so important that in Turkey a woman could legally divorce her husband if he failed to supply her with enough coffee. Turkish coffee was very strong, and served black and unfiltered, usually brewed in an ibrik. [Read more Coffee: it’s more than just a cup of energy-boosting libation] Adding sugar and cream to coffee started in Europe around 1529. It was the time when the first coffee house in Europe opened. When Vienna was invaded by Turkey in the 17th century, the Turkish army, defeated in the Battle of Vienna, left many bags of coffee behind while fleeing the city. Franz Georg Kolschitzky, who singlehandedly saved Europe from the Ottoman hordes in 1683 during the second siege of Vienna, claimed the coffee as the spoils of war and opened a coffee house. Franz Georg previously lived in Turkey and at that time he was the only person who recognized the value of the coffee beans. He introduced the idea of filtering coffee, as well as the softening the brew with milk and sugar. The beverage became quite a hit, and the popularity of coffee houses exploded when the cafes also started serving sweet pastries and other confectionery treats. [Read more Coffee drinkers may live longer, scientists explain why] The word “tips” was first used for gratuities in England. In 17th century England the price of a cup of coffee was a penny. So, the British called coffee houses “penny universities.” The coffee houses were the hangouts for social upper-class of businessmen. A small coffee shop run by Edward Lloyd in 1668 was such a business hub, it eventually became the still-operating Lloyd's of London insurance company. From England, the coffee houses spread further through Europe, to Italy in 1654 and Paris in 1672. The first coffee house in Germany opened in 1673. And the Americans? The colonial rulers introduced coffee to America. Like in Europe American coffee houses were also the hotspots for the business community. The Tontine Coffee House, opened in 1792, was the original of the New York Stock Exchange. The commercial piston Espresso machine was invented by Gaggia in 1946. The first Espresso machine was first used in Gaggia coffee bar in Italy. And it was the birth of the modern coffee house.
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AuthorSalahuddin Ahmed Azad is a freelance medical writer and blogger, who's been writing about health and medicine for more than a decade. A former New York transplant, he now lives in his native Dhaka. Salahuddin finished his SSC from St. Gregory's High School and HSC from Notre Dame College in Dhaka. Then he went to the United States and received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Louisiana. He received a diploma on eTechnology from NIIT, Dhaka. Azad bleeds coffee - a disorder he got from living in America for twenty years. ArchivesCategories |