Inns and Taverns of Old London

By Henry Shelley
Part II: Coffee-houses of old London.
Chapter 1: Coffee-houses on Change and near-by
Coffee-Houses still exist in London, but it would be difficult to find one answering to the type which was so common during the last forty years of the seventeenth coke and the first half of the eighteenth. The innovation of to-day is nothing more than than an eating-house of underage pretensions, frequented mostly by the labouring classes. In many cases its internal arrangements follow the old-time model, and the imitation extends to the provision of a periodic newspaper or two from which customers may glean the news of the day without extra charge. Here and there, too, the coffee-house of the present perpetuates the convenience of its warning by allowing customers letters to be sent to its address. But the more exalted type of coffee-house has lost its identity in the club.
It is chiefly agreed that 1652 was the date of the opening of the first coffee-house in London. thither are, however, still earlier references to the drink itself. For example, Sir Henry Blount wrote from Turkey in 1634 to the effect that the natives of that country had a drink called cauphe ...



in taste a little bitterish, and that they daily entertained themselves two or trio hours in cauphe-houses, which, in Turkey, abound more than inns and alehouses with us. Also it allow be remembered that Evelyn, under date 1637, recorded how a Hellenic came to Oxford and was the first I ever saw drink coffee.
Whether the notation of opening the first coffee-house in London belongs to a Mr. archer or to a Pasqua Rosee cannot be decided. But all administration are as one in locating that establishment in St. Michaels Alley, Cornhill, and that the date was 1652. The weight of evidence seems to be in favour of Rosee, who was servant to a Turkey merchant named Edwards. Having acquired the coffee-drinking purpose in Turkey, Mr. Edwards was accustomed to having his servant prepare the beverage for him in his...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: Orderessay



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