ALL YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT COFFEE

THE HISTORY OF THE COFFEE SHOP

The coffee shop is an important part of coffee history. It originated in the Middle East where they were called coffee houses. The first recorded coffee house opening sometime in the 15th century in Arabia. Coffee houses spread with the popularity of coffee, popping up in cities such as Mecca, Damascus and Cairo. These coffee houses were often described as lively places where men came to socialise and play games.

The first coffee house in Europe was opened in Venice in 1645 and others soon followed in London, Paris and elsewhere. These were popular public hangouts for men, especially those in fashionable and intellectual circles. For example, the Café Procope in Paris, which opened in 1686 and still operates today, was a major meeting point for great thinkers of the French Enlightenment. The likes of Rousseau and Voltaire could be found there, and later it wasn’t uncommon for revolutionaries like Robespierre and Marat to frequent Café Procope.

America’s first coffee house opened in Boston in 1676. In the politically turbulent 1960s, American coffee houses were visited by folk singers and hippies. By the 1990s, thanks to the establishment of coffee chains, coffee houses had became coffee shops and subsequently were now a mainstream part of American life.