Coffeehouses

First of all, in order to know about coffee houses, you must first know about coffee. Following is a brief history of its popularity and uses. The first known record of a coffee house took place in 1475 in Constantinople. This is a rather historic city in Turkey. This country, in turn, was very obsessed with coffee. So obsessed, in fact, that it was completely legal for a Turkish woman to become divorced because her husband did not supply enough coffee to fulfill her needs. Using sugar and sweeteners in your coffee became popular around 1529, when the Turkish army left behind bags of coffee after an invasion. After that, coffee became the thing to drink in Europe. The French invented a new way to drink it that resulted in little to no coffee grinds being left behind- the grinds were boiled inside a bag instead of being placed directly in the boiling water. This became the inspiration for our modern tea bags and this technique is now being applied to nearly every cup of coffee being brewed. Coffee houses sprang up in Europe in the 1600s, and almost completely took over London life. They became popular meeting places for everything from business discussions to crime preparation. A fair number of authorities became suspicious about these houses- any one of them could be run by a major crime operator! Parliament even tried to suppress them in 1675 with a proclamation. But coffee houses were all the rage, and one didn't just barge in and close them down. The houses had become so popular, in fact, that Islamic dress (Islam being the origin of their coffee) even took it's turn as the new fashion in the city. Besides, even if they hadn't been so popular, the coffee houses were nothing to be wary of. It is thought that the worst that happened there was a little over-caffination that may or may not remind us of certain classmates. The coffee houses were mainly places to share ideas and allowed friends to get together in places that weren't all too familiar. Speaking of sharing ideas, the houses were main post offices, in a manner of speaking. Many pamphlet and newspaper owners passed out their products in the houses to get word around to others who didn't want to search too long for a decent source of news. There were also several different varieties of coffee house. Different groups held meetings there and adopted it as their own. Scientists chose a place called The Graecian, Whigs (a political party) took some and Loyalists took others. A company called Lloyd's of London began in Lloyd's Coffee House. Artists took several coffee houses, though exact names are debated upon. However popular they may have been, the houses didn't travel to America until the early 1700s. Some of the first houses were London Coffee House, Gutteridge Coffee House, and the Green Dragon, which is also the site where the Boston Tea Party was planned. But coffee houses were shoved aside by the new trend of tea in the late 1800s, and less coffee houses were built.