Urban Coffeehouses: Brewers of Controversy
COFFEE: “Qahwa was a word in common use [in Arabic] before coffee itself was known: it has a long pedigree as one of
the epithets of wine. The Arabic root q-h-w/y denotes the idea of making something repugnant, or lessening one's desire
for something. According to one medieval lexicographer (one who compiles dictionaries), qahwa is “wine so named
because it puts the drinker off his food; that is to say, it removes his appetite for it." The application of this term to coffee
was a simple step: just as wine removes one's desire for food, so coffee removes one's desire for sleep. Of course, the
application to coffee of a term originally denoting wine, for which according to some it was a wholesome substitute, and
with which according to others it shared certain noxious and unholy characteristics, it is indeed suggestive of a conscious
attempt at association... One may also consider the happy coincidence of the word qahwa with place name Kaffa, a region
in Ethiopia. It is possible that the berry or beverage was first called after Kaffa and that subsequent to its introduction in
Arabia those who knew of it there could not resist poetical urge to apply to it a near-homophone (a· word having the
same sound but different origin. meaning, and spelling) that had .been a term for wine... " (pp. 18-19) Ralph Hattox,
Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of A Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East (1985)
In the Muslim world, coffee became known as "the wine of Apollo, the beverage of "thought, dreams,
and dialectic."
Packet Table of Contents
I. Background Information
II. Mapping Coffee and Coffeehouses
III. A Coffeehouse Controversy: Placing Coffeehouses on Trial
• Trial Background Information and Trial Directions
IV. Literary Explorations of Coffee
V. Wrapping it up: Good to the Last Drop (Journal questions and extra credit field work)
For additional information:
World That Trade Created pp. 86- 94
Standage, Six Drinks, coffee chapter!
http://www.mrbreakfast.com/article.asp?articleid=26
http://www.ico.org/coffee_story.asp
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URBAN COFFEEHOUSES: BREWERS OF CONTROVERSY
BACKGROUND HISTORY
Early History of Coffee and Coffeehouses in the Near East
While historians are fairly certain that the coffee plant originated in Abyssinia, it is less certain how it
was first discovered as a drink. Popular legend has it that a goat herder named Kaldi noticed his goats
becoming overly frolicsome and dancing about after eating the berries from a particular shrub. He
tasted the berries also and became similarly predisposed. An abbot of the local monastery observed
this and decided to take some of the berries back and experiment with them. He discovered that by
drying and boiling them, he could produce a drink that would keep his monks awake for midnight
prayers. News of the new drink spread throughout the region arriving in Arabia soon after (the dates
are ambiguous but sometime in the 9th century.) In legend, Mohammed is said to have been given the
drink by the archangel Gabriel whereupon after imbibing it, is claimed he "felt able to unseat 40
horsemen and possess 40 women."
Between 1470 and 1500, coffee and coffeehouses had traveled from Yemen to Mecca and Medina and
to Persia, by 1510 to Cairo, and by 1517 to Constantinople. The first controversies brewed here as
religious leaders questioned the piety of the new drink and the propriety of the new establishments
which some viewed as a threat to the mosque. Prohibitions, attempted by the state and by religious
leaders until 1570, were repealed as quickly as they were issued due to the lack of firm medical
evidence that coffee was an intoxicant (and thus prohibited by Islamic law) or harmful to the body.
Spread to Europe and America
Travelers to the Near East brought word back of this strange drink that many Arabs and Turks drank in
coffeehouses and in markets. Their descriptions tell much about the perceptions of Europeans on a
world very different than their own as well as about the social manners and customs of the time.
Leonhard Rauwolf, a doctor of medicine and a botanist, was the first to publish word of coffee in
Europe. Many of the travelers focused upon coffee's medicinal value and it soon aroused the interests
of the medical community in Europe. One of the first to receive coffee beans from the Middle East for
his own beverage needs, as well as for medical experiments, was Dr. William Harvey (famous for his
discovery of the circulation of the blood).
By the late 16th century, 1585 approximately, the first coffee was being drunk in Venice. The first
coffeehouse in "Christendom' was opened in Oxford, England in 1650. By 1660, the drink was in
France, brewing similar controversies as it had in Mecca and Cairo and London. When Vienna was
under siege by the Turks in 1684, it brought back memories of the first siege in 1529 when it is likely
that the Turks boiled coffee over their campfires then as well. The use of this strange drink created a
Magyar saying that,"The Black soup is yet to come," referring to the ominous advances of the Ottoman
troops. Coffee had arrived in the American colonies by 1670 in New England. Here taverns served
coffee and took on the character of a coffeehouse, especially in Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
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Coffee as a Medicinal product
Initially the medical community was divided-some believing that coffee was a panacea for everything
from scurvy to melancholy. Others claimed that there were harmful side effects such as impotency. It
was billed in England as a cure for melancholy and alcoholism, since these were the greatest problems
of the day. Cromwellian England had resulted in economic destitution among many and alcohol had
been the short-term remedy.
To popularize coffee, broadsides were published which advertised the favorable side effects
of the substance. One included the following rhyme:
COFFEE arrives, that Grave and Wholesome Liquor,
That heals the stomach, makes the Genius quicker,
Relieves the memory, Revives the Sad.
Do but this ARABIAN Cordial Use,
And thou may'st all the Doctors slops refuse,
Hush then, dull QUACKS, you Mountebanking cease,
COFFEE's a speedier Cure for each Disease.
As further support, Dutch physician 1680 Cornelius Bontekoe supported coffee drinking comparing
favorably the heathen Turks with the Europeans "although they are not Christians, and on occasion are
of a somewhat wild disposition, nevertheless in this respect they are not foolish or Turkish, indeed they
are said to be superior to the Christians who consume wine, beer and cool drinks, the general custom
demonstrates furthermore that coffee is not unhealthy, and no unpleasant effects are experienced
afterwards, as is the case when drinking wine or beer."
Controversial Nature of Coffeehouses
Despite the favor of some, coffee drinking also inspired much controversy. Women, the government
and local churches all attempted to prohibit coffee and coffeehouses in order to ensure social order
from their perspectives. And that is what the trial is all about!!
Democratic Nature of Early Coffeehouses
One of the qualities that was to initially set the coffeehouses apart from the taverns was the diverse
crowd that the coffeehouse drew. Class, status and profession were irrelevant in seeking admission to a
coffeehouse in part because of the low price of a beverage and in part because they served initially as a
place where all ideas were heard in a time of no press freedom. In 1664, Jean de Thevenot, a French
traveler to a Turkish coffeehouse commented, "there are public coffeehouses where the drink is
prepared in very big pots for the numerous guests. At these places guests mingle without distinction of
rank or creed; nor does anyone thing it amiss to enter such places, where people go to pass their
leisure time."
In 17th century England, coffeehouses played a role in the establishment of individual liberty and
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promotion of democratic participation. For example, the Coffee Club of the Rota was founded in 1659
in the spirit of free speech. This was the home of the first ever balloting box in England where
judgments would differ in discourse and at points in the discussion, the issue would be put to a vote.
Coffeehouses were compared by one writer to Noah's ark where one of every creature could be found
or by another saying it was like being atop St. Paul's steeple from which," I can look down and see all
of London." The rules of the coffeehouse dictated a common code of behavior where "all were to be
equal under one roof." However, the coffeehouse in England declined as the club evolved in the 19th
century and class distinctions prevailed.
Similarly in France, in 1721 Montesquieu said of cafes, " It is one of the virtues of the coffeehouse that
.all day long and throughout the night too, one can sit among people of all classes." And in Germany
circa 1700 a writer remarked, "The coffeehouse should be a place for everybody because such a place
in fact derives its finest nourishment from water, and that water is so long established in its calling, that
the saying goes Usus communis aqarum est. Hence no man who seeks to gain the regard of others
should let himself be vexed when noble and servant, Christian and Jew gather together in the same
coffeehouse and desire to draw water from one well that this is the most laudable of habits, and could
represent the long desired occasion for the uniting of human spirits and coffee-houses of such a form
stand as maisons de bonne esperance, houses of good hope."
Intellectual Atmosphere of Coffeehouses
"Coffee is a revolutionary drink, this beverage sharpens the wits." Montesquieu
"It [coffee] caresses your throat and sets you going. Ideas come crowding in, the
artillery of logic advances, shafts of wit fly through the air."
Balzac (who drank coffee by the pint. )
The coffeehouse is said to have generated much of the intellectual fervor of the 16th through 19th
centuries. Great philosophers such as Goethe, and Voltaire, writers such as Pope, Johnson and Swift,
musicians such as Bach and Beethoven, and journalists such as Defoe and Steele (to mention just those
of European fame) are said to have frequented these establishments being inspired to create their
masterpieces. The Turks called the cafes the "schools of the wise" believing coffee was the "milk of chess
players and thinkers." One writer speculated that, "the Renaissance not only gave England a new
worldview, but coffee, tea and cocoa as well. It must have been rather difficult to consider
revolutionary western thought after the typical medieval breakfast of beer and herring." From 16501850 coffeehouses were referred to as "Penny Universities" in England due to their role in the battle for
freedom and democracy when a free press did not exist. Newspapers were read aloud for the benefit
of the illiterate and kept at the coffeehouses in days of small circulation and higher cost of printing and
paper. The success of early journalists was dependent on coffeehouses and fostered continued close
connection between the press and coffeehouses, as well as booksellers. (Until 1864 when Stamp and
Paper duties (taxes) were repealed making newspapers more affordable for more people.)
Coffeehouses also served as centers of communication and commercial activity. For example, Lloyds of
London was originally a coffeehouse where people engaged in maritime occupations congregated for
information.
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Coffee was labeled a "radical beverage" because the ideas discussed over it promoted change including
Royalist conspiracies during Cromwell's reign at a coffeehouse near Oxford, the prelude to the
Storming of Bastille at the Cafe Foy in Paris and revolutionary activities at the Green Dragon in Boston.
Daniel Webster, John Adams, Paul Revere among others met at the Green Dragon as a "ways and
means committee to secure freedom for the colonies." The Bunch of Grapes in Boston was the site of
the reading of the Declaration of Independence when it first arrived from Philadelphia in 1776. During
the revolutionary climate of .1789, the Cafe de Procope in Paris was the meeting place for Marat,
Robespierre, Danton, and the young Napoleon Bonaparte.
Coffeehouses provided a forum for discussion and discourse where there were not other options. "The
cafe is the people's parliament." said Balzac (speaking of 19th c. French workers cafes.) Of 18 c. Paris
cafes, another writer said, "These were senates in miniature here mighty political questions were
discussed; here peace and war were decided upon; here generals were brought to the bar of justice,
distinguished orators were victoriously refuted, ministers heckled upon their ignorance, their incapacity
their perfidy, their corruption. The cafe is in reality a French institution; in them we find all these
agitations and movements of men, the likes of which is unknown in the English tavern. No
government can go against the sentiment of the cafes. The Revolution took place because they were
for the Revolution. Napoleon reigned because they were for glory. The Restoration was shattered,
because they understood the Charter in a different manner."
Other famous coffeehouses include the following:
• Cafe Florian (italy) Venice (1720) -frequented by Casanova, Byron, Goethe, Rousseau and
others.
• Cafe Greco (1750) in Rome -visited by Goethe, Schopenhauer, Mendolssohn, Gogol, Mark
Twain, and many others.
• Aux Deux Magots in Paris (1875)-literary cafe frequented by Verlaine, Rimbaud, Artaud, Sartre
and Simone de Beauvoir.
• Cafe San Marco (1914) in Trieste -meeting place for Italian nationalists in W.W.I. Cafe de Gijon
in Madrid (1916) -meeting place for artists and writers during the Civil war (1930's).
Social history portrayed by coffeehouses in art, music and literature
Much can learned about social history through a study of coffeehouses as seen in literature, music and
art. Bach's famous Coffee Cantata, written in 1732 illustrates much of emerging German culture at the
time. The poems, songs, and plays also reflect the culture of dialogue and conversation which
prevailed in the coffeehouse amidst this democratic and intellectual backdrop. The art of the time
depicts the fashions, the utensils, technologies, and class of the coffeehouse patrons. As a matter of
cultural trivia the phrase "To Insure Promptness" -"to TIP" originated in English coffeehouses where
there was a box for servants.
The "Coffeehouse" at home and on the plains
For a variety of reasons, there was an increase in the drinking of coffee at home going from the .public
to the private sphere. In Germany, women arranged coffee parties as coffeehouses became less
reputable places to gather in. In the United' States in more recent times, the neighborhood
conversations around the kitchen table over coffee are among my mother's generation most cherished
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memories.
An interesting side-note involves the life of American Cowboys who were defined as 79% coffee and
21 % broken bones. Their lives revolved around the evening campfire and the coffeepot. The brewing
and drinking of coffee inspired much lore and song in the Old West. Coffeehouses reemerged in the
States in the 60's as Beatnik centers of literary creativity and as business watering holes of the 90's.
Clearly much more could be pursued on the continuation of the coffeehouse and on coffee drinking
after the 19th century.
Why Coffee?
As more and more students arrive at school with a cup of Java in their hand, an interesting
conversation starter might be why do Americans drink so much coffee. One author lists 18 reasons why
Americans "jes gotta have my coffee,"
"to wake up, to warm up, for stimulation during work hours, to prove
manhood, to cool off in summer, to be one of the "in" group, to sober up, to
spark one's creativity, to deter warfare (Navajo rebellion forestalled with a
few pounds of coffee), to cure hay fever, to do as Romans do when in Rome,
to encourage romance, to use in cooking, to make for a better community, to
benefit from the curative effects, to improve quality of life, to make the Book
of World Records, and "to soothe the troubled, to stimulate the worn out
and to embolden the fearful."
Conclusions
The early coffeehouses in the Near East as well as in Iran, Europe and America, posed a perceived
threat to the "social order" as seen by governments, the family and religious institutions. The
coffeehouse provided a forum for social gathering which resulted in the acquisition of knowledge
among all classes. The democratic composition of the early coffeehouses helped to propel radical ideas
forward, often instigating change. The literature, music and art that emerged out of coffeehouse culture
conveys a picture of the social urban of the times.
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The Historical Geography of Coffee and Coffeehouses
Directions: Label all under-lined places onto your map as well as arrows indicating movement and
what the connection to coffee in that place is. You may wish to use symbols and develop a key since
the map will otherwise get crowded. As you read each statement, consider the historical information
careful1y in order to answer the questions below.
1. Coffee is first believed to have been grown in Abyssinia, in present day Ethiopia. Coffee is still
grown there today. One legend of how it came to be brewed revolves around a goat herder
named Kaldi who discovered his goats chewing the fruit of a shrub and becoming very
animated. The local monk investigated and discovered that the fruit (the coffee bean), when
dried and boiled, would help monks to stay awake for midnight prayers.
2. Word of this drink spread throughout the Islamic world, first to Yemen where the coffee plant
was cultivated and later traded.
3. By the late 16th century, coffeehouses had sprung up in Mecca, Cairo and Constantinople.
Controversies emerged as the governments felt threatened by this new drink.
4. Pilgrimages to Mecca every year helped to further spread the drinking of coffee to such places
as India.
5. In Persia (now Iran), where coffee also spread, coffeehouses emerged as one of the ways that
the rich, oral tradition of storytelling was retained.
6. Mediterranean trade, as well as travelers, spread the idea of coffee to Europe, first arriving in
Venice.
7. In 1683, the Ottoman Turks tried for a second time unsuccessfully to invade Vienna, laying it
under siege. The Central Europeans have a saying to this day, “The Black soup is yet to come"
which refers to the threat of the coffee-drinking Turks (or some other undesirable event).
8. The first coffeehouse opened in 1650 in Oxford, England. It was opened by a Jew who had
recently been allowed in the country after Oliver Cromwell's government had relaxed antitolerance laws. Many of the students and patrons of this first coffeehouse were Royalist
supporters who discussed how Charles II could be put on the throne.
9. By 1715 in London, England, there were over 2000 coffeehouses, initially advertising a
product which proprietors claimed had healing medicinal properties. C1early, coffeehouses
caught on quickly in a big way!
10. Despite Frederick the Great's initial opposition, believing beer to the preferable drink to
building strong sturdy citizens, Prussia (now Germany) became a nation of coffee-drinkers as
well, particularly for intellectuals and artisans of the 18th and 19th centuries.
11. Coffeehouses were known as cafes in France where Paris soon revolved around coffee
conversations and later revolutionary rhetoric.
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12. Initial opposition in southern France, in Marseilles, a wine drinking city, soon dissipated and
by the reign of Louis XV, the king himself was growing coffee trees at Versailles and preparing
the beverage for his mistresses.
13. Dutch interest in coffee evolved initially through their contacts with the Near East and Venice
and the first coffeehouses opened in Holland (now the Netherlands) around 1664. The Dutch
East India Company was to make its early fortune on the coffee trade, particularly in Java.
14. Coffee was usually served in taverns in the American colonies, but produced the same type of
atmosphere as in the English coffeehouse. In Boston, places such as the Green Dragon tavern
and coffeehouse were centers of revolutionary activity where Paul Revere and John Adams
would rebelliously sip coffee together while boycotting English tea.
15. Paul Revere, among many other artisans in the Americas, the Near East, Europe, and Asia
made coffeepots out of tin, silver, and porcelain. These goods were traded with and inspired
by places such as China where coffee was also introduced.
16. As Europeans began to venture farther from home in search of new lands to settle, coffee was
one of the plants that went with them. The first European coffee plantations in the Americas
were in Martinique.
17. Coffee plantations were an important cash crop in colonies ruled by the Portuguese, Spanish,
French, German, and Dutch. As a result, coffee is still grown in the following places: Brazil,
Colombia, Angola, Zaire, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Java and Sumatra (Indonesia).
18. Life for cowboys on the plains of the American west revolved in the evening around a
campfire where the most important food commodity was coffee. Songs and legends about
coffee are still an important part of American folklore.
19. In the 20th century, coffeehouses continued to play a role in the artistic and intellectual
development of ideas. A coffeehouse in Trieste (Italy) is said to have started the Italian
nationalist movement and one in Madrid (Spain) played a role in the Spanish civil war in the
1930’s.
20. Popular commercials as well as the local supermarket and coffeehouse demonstrate the world
wide origins of today’s coffee supply. In addition to Brazilian and Colombian brands, coffee
connoisseurs look for beans from Kenya, Guatemala, and the Ivory Coast among others.
21. Major importers of coffee include the United States, Canada and many countries in Western
Europe. The rise in coffeehouses is increasing US demand for the bean despite new medical
evidence that caffeine may be harmful to your health.
22. Seattle is home to many international coffee companies including Starbucks, Tully’s, and
Seattle’s Best Coffee. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 15,756
stores in 44 countries.
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Looking at the map, make three OBSERVATIONS that summarize the information you
have read and mapped. For example, coffeehouses created controversy in Cairo, Mecca,
Persia, London, Marseilles, Prussia, Boston, and Paris. (Don’t use this one!)
1.
2.
3.
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A Coffeehouse Controversy
Background Information for the trial
Coffeehouses created controversy initially wherever they were set up. As you read through the
evidence below, think about the nature of coffeehouses in different places, as well as the controversies
that arose in the Near East, Persia, England, Prussia, France and America. Consider why governments,
families, and religious establishments felt threatened by these drinking places. Also consider the
different types of sources historians use to learn more about social history (especially food and cultural
history).
IN THE NEAR EAST (Middle East)
Leonhart Rauwolf, 1582 (the first published description by a European on coffee written after
traveling throughout the Near East)
“Now and then you come across some refuge around which is gathered a multitude, like a
pack of dogs intent on the scent: if one is desirous of some beverage they have large shops
open for both purposes wherein they sit together on the ground or on blankets and carouse
with each other. Among others, they have a good drink which they hold in high regard, and
which they give the name chaube, which resembles ink being so black and is efficacious in
the treatment of ailments particularly those afflicting the stomach. This they are in the habit,
of drinking early in the morning, drinking it on its own in public places, served in deep
earthenware and porcelain bowls as warm as they are able to tolerate it, taking frequent
drinks " but only small sips thereupon passing it on to the next person of the circle in which
they are seated. "To the water they add fruit of a kind which the local inhabitants call bunn
[the coffee bean itself] which in outward appearance in size and colour are extremely similar
to the bay ensconced in two thin skins and which, in accordance with ancient inte11igence
are brought from India [an error on Rauwolf’s part-the beans were from Arabia] .... . This
drink is extremely common among them and hence in the same manner that the spicers sell
the fruit, so too those who serve the drink are not infrequently to be encountered in the
bazaar." (Heise. p. 9)
Hattox (1985) pp. 81-90 quoting in part travelers’ observations of the time:
“But those coffeehouses [grand-style] located in the most important places in town were
apparently quite luxurious. There seems to have been the attempt , especially in Syria and
Iraq, to create a park or garden-like atmosphere, to surround the patron with refreshing
sights ·and sounds unlike those of either the city of the desert: 'All the cafes of Damascus are
beautiful-lots of fountains, nearby rivers" tree-shaded spots, roses .and other flowers; a cool
refreshing and pleasant spot.' .... There were grand coffeehouses along major routes in the
countryside as well, where the park-like atmosphere is even further in evidence. 'In the
countryside, they are shaded by great trees and trellises of vines, with large benches on the
outside: Of course even the large, enclosed type of Istanbul coffeehouse furnished the
opportunity for al fresco enjoyment for those who wished: ' Outside the building as well
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there are benches of masonry, with mats on them, where they can sit who wish to be out in
the open air and watch the passers-by: Quite ' often there would be great lamps placed along
the ceilings of the coffeehouses, because of their popularity at night, particularly at two times
of the year: in summer when the cool of the evening would draw people out; and in
Ramadan, when many would choose to break their fast with a cup or two, and when there
were frequent performances by storytellers. "
Turkish coffeehouse scenes were often depicted on Turkish miniatures (paintings):
They might depict: “in a compressed space, a wide range of activities common to the
coffeehouse. Across the top the usual business of a coffeehouse is conducted. Patrons enter
on the left while those who have already arrived, obviously men of no small rank, are seated
center, drinking coffee from small porcelain cups. On the right, the kahveci (coffee cook)
prepares fresh coffee. The literary activity of the coffeehouse is shown in the central third of
the miniature. The patrons seated on a low sofa are reading aloud to themselves, or are
engaged in discussion. At the bottom, we find the more frivolous and disreputable pastimes.
The musicians on the left, playing on stringed or percussion instruments and singing, provide
the live entertainment. Other patrons are engaged in a variety of games, notably
backgammon and manqala.”
Emergence of Controversies:
Government protests against coffeehouses evolved over the gathering place itself as they
represented a challenge to public order usually occurring in the Muslim world as a new
ruler was trying to exert authority arid were implemented under a broader religious guise
of intoxicants or a decline of mosque visitation.
1511 Mecca: The governor repressed coffeehouses due to the threat they posed to the
authority of the stale but· stated it was because "in these places men and women meet
and play violins, tambourines, chess, and other things contrary to our sacred law." (the
law was rescinded 8 days later)
Legal battles proved that coffee was not in fact prohibited by the Qur'an but only after earlier
jurists had prohibited coffee, a move overturned in Cairo.
1532 and 1539: Cairo's coffeehouses were targeted temporarily. But by the 16th century, the
coffeehouse was an essential urban institution that provided for social interaction "a tavern
without wine."
Public affairs furnished much of the fuel for comment and criticism among coffeehouse patrons.
Historians often use court documents and religious texts to give insight on the values and laws on a
society and how they applied to local people. Since in this case they are only in Arabic, what follows is
only a summary of the originaI case from Mecca in 1511.
"Khair Beg was a person of high religious note as well as a “mustasib". an inspector of the
markets and an "arbiter of public morals' whose job it was to forbid reprehensible things.
(To put in a modem context his job position was a cross between the Bureau of
Consumer Affairs and the vice squad). It had come to his attention (there is discrepancy
on how this occurred) that qahweh (coffee) drinking in the streets and shops of Mecca
was similar to that of intoxicants and that the drinking of coffee, as well as the meeting
places themselves should be prohibited. On June 11, 1511, the council of leading religious
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scholars was convened to hear the case by Khair Beg. The council immediately agreed that
the establishments themselves should be banned with no discussion as to why but
hesitated on whether the drink should be. They requested proof from Kbair Beg that
coffee produced any harm to the body or mind or if it produced intoxication, delight, or
wanton amusement. The mustasib brought in two doctors (of dubious training) who
testified that it was indeed harmful. Upon hearing this, the jurists proclaimed that coffee
itself was forbidden, prohibiting its sale and consumption throughout Mecca. The matter
was then sent on to general authorities in Cairo to enlarge the jurisdiction of the ban.
Cairo reversed the edict, citing no firm evidence of medical harm." (from Hattox pp. 3038)
The Islamic holy text, the Qur’an (Koran) contains two passages within it which dealt with the
drinking of intoxicants. The legal case above dealt with trying to ascertain whether or not
coffee was an intoxicant.
“They ask Thee
Concerning wine and gambling.
Say:” in the is great sin,
And some profit, for men;
But the sin is far greater
Than the profit.”
They ask thee how much
They are to spend;
Say: What is beyond your needs.”
Thus doth Allah make clear to you
His Signs: In order that
Ye may consider-“ 2”219
“O Ye who believe!
Intoxicants and gambling,
(dedication of) stones,
And (dvivination by) arrows,
Are an abomination
Of Satan’s handwork;
Eschew such (abomination),
Tat ye may prosper.” 5:90
IN PERSIA (IRAN)
Matthee, Rudi Coffee in Safavid Iran Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient (1994)
“Coffeehouses convey a picture of leisure and conviviality in a society which evidently was in a
position to afford the importation of the new luxury commodity that coffee was. From all the
information provided b foreign observers, coffee emerges as a drink that was enjoyed by the
upper and middle strata of late Safavid urban society. As in the contemporary Ottoman empire,
in Safavid Iran coffeehouses appear to have been an entirely new phenomenon. They were the
first public places other than mosques where respectable urbanites could interact in a leisurely
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manner. Unlike the mosque, however, the coffeehouse offered an opportunity to socialize
under the enjoyment of stimulants such as coffee and tobacco.” The coffeehouse this strick a
hapy balance between the taverns and the gambling houses which were to be avoided by
upstanding citizens as they served alcohol and provided disreputable entertainment for the
lower classes. Leisure went hand in hand with liveliness, for more than one foreign visitor
describing the spirited atmosphere in the Safavid coffeehouses. The social function of
coffeehouses, places where people gathered to exchange news and gossip, is brought out in the
following description of activities by Chardin (French traveler 1670’s and 1680’s)
“People engage in conversation, for it is here that news is communicated and where
those interested in politics criticize the government in all freedom and without being
fearful, since does the government does not heed what the people say. Innocent games,
resembling checkers, hopscotch, and chess, are played. In addition, mollas, dervishes and
poets take turns telling stories in verse or in prose. The narrations by mollas and the
dervishes are moral lessons, like our sermon, but it is not considered scandalous not to
pay attention to them. No one is forced to give up his game or his conversation because
of it. A mollas will stand up, in the middle, or at the end of the qahveh-khaneh, and
begin to preach in a loud voice, or a dervish , enters all of a sudden and chastises the
assembled on the vanity of the world and its material goods. It often happens that two
or three people talk at the same time, one on one side, the other on the opposite, and
sometimes one will be a preacher and the other a storyteller.” (pp. 23-24)
“As a public place in which the upper segments of society had the opportunity to enjoy a
stimulant in an atmosphere of leisure and conviviality, the coffeehouse was a novelty. Hitherto,
no other outlet for this had existed than the taverns and the mosque, both of which had their
limitations for either respectable Muslims or those who sought more than spiritual enjoyment.
As was true for other parts of the Middle East, a certain association between coffeehouses and
religious circles seems to have existed in Safavid Iran. The location of coffeehouses in the vicinity
of religious colleges and the intellectual character of their clientele indeed suggest a link in a
society in which literacy and learning were virtually synonymous with religious education. It is
clear moreover, that coffeehouses served as a forum for a Sufi dominated counter culture which
expressed itself in the narration of epic folktales by wandering dervishes… After 1645 lewd
dancing and music making disappeared from coffeehouses as a result of an official ban, which
reflected the growing pressure of the religious establishment espousing Shi’i orthodoxy. Instead
coffeehouses turned into gathering places for those who enjoyed public spectacle in the form of
(officially sanctioned) religious harangues or reading of poetry and folk tales, or those who
were wont to engage in board games and intellectual discourse.” Pp. 31-32.
Elements of Controversy:
In 16th century Safavid Iran, the Grand Vizier eradicated immoral actJVJt1es from the early
coffeehouses where young boys aged 10-16 were used to entice and sexually entertain
customers.
Circa 1676 Shah Abas in Persia sought to eliminate potential mutinies evolving from the discussion
of affairs of state in coffeehouses by introducing the custom that a mullah should "engage the
coffee drinkers and tobacco smokers in instruction on some aspect of their laws/or on history or
13
poetry."
IN ENGLAND
Concerning coffeehouses in 17thl 18th c. England
Samuel Johnson, writer of the 18th century most well known for the first modern English
dictionary,
“The coffeehouse is a place where people of all quality and conditions meet to trade in
coffee, foreign news, smoke, and controversy. There is no distinction of persons, but
gentleman, mechanic, lord and scoundrel mix to discuss the same principles.”
Signage on the Interior of a Coffeehouse
17th Century England Rules of the House
Enter Sirs, freely, but first if you please,
Peruse our civil orders, which are these,
First, gentry, tradesmen, all are welcome hither,
And may without affront sit down together.
Pre-eminence of place none here should mind,
But take the next fit seat that he can find:
Nor need any, if finer persons come,
Rise up for to assign them his room,
To limit men’s expense, we think not fair,
But let him forfeit twelve-pence that shall swear
He that shall any quarrel her begin.
Shall give man a dish t’atone the sin;
And so shall he, whose compliments extend
So far to drink in coffee to his friend;
Let noise of loud disputes be quite forborne,
Nor maudlin lovers here in corners mourn,
But all be brisk and talk, but none too much,
On sacred things, let none presume to touch,
Nor profane Scripture, nor saucily wrong,
Affairs of State with an irreverent tongue
Let mirth be innocent, and each man see
That all his jests without reflection be
To keep his house more quiet and free from blame
We banish hence cards, dice and every game
Nor can allow of wagers that exceed
Five shillings which oftimes do troubles breed
Let all that’s lost or forfeited be spent
In such good liquor as the house doth vent
And customers endeavor to their powers
For to observe still seasonable hours
14
Lastly, let each man what he calls for pay
And so you’re welcome to come every day.
Hauber (1950) speaking of coffeehouses in England from 1650- 1850pp. 34-35
“The coffeehouse was a convivial, inviting place in which to while away time. It had its trim
hostess, neatly sanded floor, bare-topped tables, pictures and open fire on it with a kettle
humming over it. Pipes and coffee were incidental to the real business, which was talk.
Interchange of opinions was the glory of the coffeehouse. Because genuine conversation could
best thrive among men of kindred minds, many of the coffeehouses automatically became
centers of informal clubs. Practically all of the active-minded men of the day frequented and
belonged to from one to four of these open congresses. Coffeehouses were places of interesting
talk and discussion. Men went there to read newspapers in an age when newspapers were
expensive to buy. They wrote letters there. Frequently, these resorts were the source and
inspiration of much of London’s literature. The enormous increase in the clubs points to the
growing interest in learning, in literature and in politics, a characteristic of the age.”
Besant (1893) found on p. 271 Ellis
“Rich merchants alone ventured to enter certain of the coffeehouses, where they transacted
business more privately and more expeditiously than on the Exchange. There were coffeehouses
where officers of the army alone were found; where the city shopkeeper met his chums; where
actors congregated; where only divines, only lawyers, only physicians only wits and those who
came to hear them were found. In all alike the visitor put down his penny and went in, taking
his own seat as if he was an habitué, he called for a sip of tea or coffee and paid his two pence
for it; he could call also, if he pleased for a cordial; he was expected to talk to his neighbor
whether he knew him or not. Men went to certain coffeehouses in order to meet the well
known poets and writer who were to be found there, as Pope went in search of Dryden. The
daily papers and the pamphlets of the day were taken in. Some of the coffeehouses, but not the
more respectable, allowed the use of tobacco.”
1675 Broadside “Coffeehouses Vindicated" found on pp. 268-269 Ellis, detailing the advantages
of a coffeehouses compared with a "publick-house" ( tavern):
First. In regard to easy expense. Being to wait for or meet a friend, a tavern-reckoning soon
breeds a purse- :consumption; in an ale-house. You must gorge yourself with pot after pot...
But here,for a penny or two, you may spend two or three hours, have the shelter of a house,
the warmth of a fire, the diversion of company; and conveniency, if you please, of taking a
pipe of tobacco; and all this without any grumbling or repining.
Secondly, For sobriety. It is grown, by the ill influence if I know not what hydropick stars,
almost a general custom amongst us, that no bargain can be drove, or business concluded
between man and man, but it must be transacted at some pub lick-house ... where continual
sippings ... would be apt to fly up into their brains and render them drowsy and indisposed ...
whereas, having now the opportunity of a coffeehouse, they repair hither, take each man a
dish or two (so far from causing, that it cures any dizziness or disturbant fumes): and so
dispatching their business, go out more sprightly about their affairs, than before ...
Lastly; for Diversion ... where can a young gentlemen, or shopkeepers, more innocently and
advantageously spend an hour or two in the evening than at a coffeehouse? Where they shall
15
be sure to meet company, and by the custom of the house, not such as at other places stingy
and reserved to themselves, but free and 'communicative, where every man may modestly
begin his story, or propose to, or answer another, as he sees fit... So that, upon the whole
matter, spight of the idle , sarcasm and paltry reproaches thrown upon it, we may, with no less
truth than plainness, give this brief character of a well-regulated coffeehouse, (for our pen
disdains to be an advocate of any sordid holes, that assume that name to cloke the practice of
debauchery), that it is the sanctuary of health, the nursery of temperance, the delight of
frugality, and the academy of civility, the free-school of ingenuity."
Controversy:
Protests originated from women first, representing family interests as well as representing the aJe
industry (the "alewives") as their businesses' or their husband's businesses were threatened by the new
competition. Remember in England women were not even allowed into coffeehouses.
Women's Petition against Coffee (London,1674)
This "Base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking, nauseous Puddle water" causes impotence in the
male, turns men into . gossips and tattletales, and takes pennies away from bread for children.
The humble petition and address of several thousands of buxome good women, languishing in
extremity of want. Since it is reckoned among the glories of our native country to be a paradise
for women: the same in our apprehension can consist in nothing more than the brisk activity of
our men who in former ages were justly esteemed the ablest performers in Christendom. But to
our unspeakable grief we find of late a very sensible decay of that true Old English vigour; our
Gallants being every way so Frenchified, that they are become mere Cock-sparrows, fluttering
things that come Sa fa, with a world of fury, but are not able to stand to it, and in the very first
Charge fall down flat before us. Never did Men wear Greater Breeches, or carry less in them of
any Mettle whatsoever The occasion of which we can attribute to nothing more than the
excessive use of that new-fangled abominable, heathenish liquor called coffee, which ridding
nature of here choicest treasures and drying up the radical moisture has so eunoched our
husbands and crippled our more kind gallants that they become as impotent as age, and are as
unfruitful as those deserts from whence that unhappy Berry is said to be brought.”
The Men’s Answer to Women’s Petition Against Coffee Vindicating Their Own performances, and the
Vertues of that Liquor from the Undeserved Aspersions lately cast upon them by their scandalous
pamphlet (London, 1674)
“Could it be imagined, that ungrateful women, after so much laborious Drudgery both by Day
and Night, and the best of our Blood and Spirits spent in your Service, you should thus publickly
complain? …But why must innocent COFFEE be the object of your spleen? That harmless and
healing liquor, which Indulgent Providence first sent amongst us, at a time when Brimmers of
Rebellion, and Fanetick Zeal had intoxicated the Nation, and we wanted a Drink at once to
make us Sober and Merry: ‘Tis base adulterate wine and surcharges of Muddy Ale that enfeeble
nature, makes a man as falatious as a goat and yet as impotent as Age, whereas Coffee Collects
and settles the Spirits, makes the erection more Vigorous, the Ejaculation more full, adds a
spiritualescency to the Sperme, and renders it more firm and suitable to the gusto of the womb,
and proportionate to the ardours and expectations too of the female paramour… As for our
taking Tobacco you have no reasons to object, since most of your own sex are so skilled in
16
managing a pipe.. You may well permit us to talk abroad, for at home we have scarce time to
utter a word for the insufferable din of your ever active tongues… [While we work you go
away] to the playhouses, where after a lascivious dance, a bawdy song and the Petulant
Gallants tickling of your hand, having made an insurrection in your Blood, you go to allay it
with an Evenings exercise at the Tavern, there you can spend freely, yet being rob’d of nothing
we can miss, home you come in a Railing humour and at last, give us nothing for supper but a
Butter’d Bun… Cease then for the future, your clamours against our civil follies. Alas! Alas! Dear
hearts, the coffeehouse is the Citizen’s Academy, where he learns more Wit than ever his
Grannum taught him… Tis Coffee that both keeps us Sober, or can make us so; and Let all our
Wives that hereafter shall presume to Petition against, be confined to lied alone all night, and in
the Day time drink nothing but Bonny Clabber.”
Others also wrote “In Defense of Coffee”
“When the sweet Poison of the treacherous Grape
Had Acted on the World a General Rape
Drowning our very Reason and our Souls
In such deep Seas of large o’reflowing Bowls,
When foggy Ale, leavying up mighty trains
Of muddy Vapours, had beseig’d our Brains;
Then heaven in Pity, to effect our Cure,
First sent amongst us this All-healing Berry,
At once to make us both Sober and Merry.”
King Charles II Proclamation for the Suppression of Coffeehouses 1675
Called coffeehouses “seminaries of sedition”
1672 English lawyers in support of the king declared, “Retailing coffee might be an innocent
trade, as it might be exercised, but as it is used at present, in the matter of a common
assembly, to discuss matters of State, news and great Persons, as they are Nurseries of
idleness and Pragmaticalness, and hinder the expence of our native provisions, they might be
thought common nuisances.”
And in the 1675 Proclamation, Charles stated, “that in such coffeehouses divers false, malitious
and scandalous reports are devised and spread abroad to the Defamation of his Majestie’s
government; and to the Disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm.”
(law revoked 11 days later due to protests)
IN FRANCE
In 1644 in wine drinking Marseilles -a debate arose among the medical community on the supposed ill
effects of coffee drinking. Coffee temporarily lost this battle due to the support of the wine merchants.
• Reaction in France to the state monopoly established by Louis XIV after coffee's popularity
increased. The following satirical response was well received.
Parisian Fables, Picander:
17
"The news comes from Paris a few short days ago
An edict was issued. The king, you Germans must know,
Declared his will thus-wise: "We have, to our great grief and pain,
Learned that coffee wreaks ruin and does terrific bane.
To heal the grievous disaster, We hereby declare
That none to drink this same coffee in future shall dare,
Save Us and Our court, and the greatly privileged few
To whom, in Our royal kindness, We leave may undue
Without such a permit, the drink is unlawful."
Hereupon there resounded a clamour most awful.
"Alas! cried the women, "take rather our bread.
Can't live without coffee- We'll all soon be dead!"
But the king would 'not budge, nor his edict revise;
And, lo, as predicted, his subjects died off like flies;
Interments were wholesale, as if from the pest;
Girls, grannies, and mothers with babes at the breast,
Until the king, becoming more and more afraid, At length canceled his edict, and then the plague was
stayed."
Much later: Heise (1987) speaking of 19th century Paris on pp. 187-188:
“Not least the cafes were of importance for those artists from Europe and overseas who with
the aid of a stipend or at their own expense, had made their way to what they regarded as the
art metropolis. In 1855 and 1856, the Café Moliere became the daily meeting placed for the
followers of Gustave Courbet, who had experienced rejection from the Salon. Assembled were
Courbet himself, Fantin-Latour, Manet, Degas, and the Anglo-American painter James Whistler.
The Café Guerbois was frequented by Eduard Manet, a dominant figure who during the course
of the 1860’s gathered around himself everyone who subsequent art historians have come to
refer to as embodying the birth of impressionism, whose repercussions affected artistic trends all
over Europe. This group included such artists as Degas, Monet, and Renoir. By the time Vincent
Van Gogh arrived in the city, Manet was already dead, but in the artists' quarter a dozen
coffeehouse had sprung up to become the established rendezvous of impressionist painters .
Shortly after the turn of the century, the Cafe aux Deux Magots which since its inception in 1875
had been an informal rendezvous for intellectuals and writers of all shades, became the haunt of
Pablo Picasso and George Braques, where they called the Cubist movement to life. [ Part of the
Picasso legend involves the many sketches he made in cafes throughout France, but especially in
Paris which he gave to pay his bill.]"
IN PRUSSIA
Frederick the Great (1777)
"It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subjects. and the
amount of money that goes out of the country in: consequence. Everybody is using coffee. If
possible, this must be prevented. My people must drink beer. His Majesty was brought up on
beer, and so were his ancestors, and his offIcers. Many battles have been (ought and won by
soldiers who have been nourished on beer; and the King does not believe· that coffee-drinking
18
soldiers can be depended upon to endure hardship or to beat his enemies in case of the
occurrence of another war."
In Germany
Paraphrased from Heise (1987) pp. 106, ]26, 132, 137, 139, 153, 231 on Leipzig: The twice
yearly international book and trade fairs inspired enterprising merchants to set up coffeehouses
in this southern German city. As early as 1704, they were serving coffee. in addition to tea,
chocolate, and wine in the same establishment. Here, the coffeehouses played no role at all in
the evolution or distribution of newspapers, unlike in England, however, much of the publishing
trade was commenced within these establishments as well as the inception of new book ideas.
One newspaper wrote “in particular, however in the year 1782 the population were infused
with a new spirit which emanated primarily from Richters coffee-house, renowned not only in
Germany, not only in Europe but in America and Asia too ... Here, among others, the most
important foreign personages gathered during the city's trade fairs, here business of the greatest
significance was conducted, and here the setting up of the great association of German
booksellers first took root.” In the 18th century the German coffeehouse increased in popularity
and local citizens would try to eavesdrop on the conversations of Goethe and others to gain a
flavor of the latest debates. The coffeehouses of Leipzig were key in the birth of public
appreciation for music where part of the entertainment were regular concerts, particularly after
the 1734 performance of Bach's "Kaffeekantate." Leipzig today continues to be a center of the
book trade and the "Kunstlercafe" is the regular meeting place of the city's book publishers.
On coffeehouses in America
Ukers (l93?) oil pp. 106-107:
"The Green Dragon ...was the most celebrated of Boston's coffee-house taverns, It stood· on
Union Street, in the heart of the town's business center, for 135 years, from 1697 to 1832 and.
figured in practice ally all the important local and national events during its long career. Redcoated British soldiers, colonial governors, bewigged crown officers, earls and dukes, citizens of
high estate, plotting revolutionists of lesser degree, conspirators in the Boston Tea Party, patriots
and generals of the Revolution-all these were wont to gather at the Green Dragon to discuss
their various interests over their cups of coffee, and stronger drinks. In the words of Daniel
Webster, this famous coffeehouse tavern was the "headquarters of the Revolution." It was here
that Warren, John Adams, James Otis, and Paul Revere met as a ways and means committee" to
secure freedom for the American colonies ...The old tavern was a two -storied brick structure
with a sharply pitched roof. Above its entrance hung a sign bearing the figure of a green
dragon."
19
Trial Directions: A Coffeehouse Controversy
The Year is 1789. The place is Amsterdam. You have all been brought together today to give and
hear testimony on the impact of coffeehouses in Europe today. Heads of state have temporarily put
aside differences, territorial and religious disputes. Leaders from Persia,. Cairo, England, Prussia,
France and the newly formed United States have sent representatives to argue their cases. Time travel
has been permitted for today in this courtroom to allow witnesses from the past (and the future) to
testify on both sides. This will allows the jury to hear the impact of coffeehouses on different people,
at different times, and in different places, without the misrepresentation of history.
THE CHARGE:
The existence of coffeehouses poses a threat to the social order worldwide,
as these establishments:
1. Disrupt traditional patterns of life
2. Result in an adverse economic effect
3. Serve an unhealthy drink
4. Provide a forum for sedition against the government
ROLES
Judge
Prosecuting Attorneys
Defense Attorneys
Key Prosecution Witnesses:
Khair Beg (1511)
Alewife (1650)
French nobleperson (1789)
Surprise witness
Key Defense Witnesses:
Islamic scholar (1511)
Jean Chardin (1643-1712)
Voltaire (1694-1778)
Surprise witness
Jury
There will be limited preparation time.
Courtroom Agenda
Opening prepared statements by Prosecution and Defense (2-3 minutes
each)
Prosecution witnesses (3 minutes each by attorney, then cross ex, 2
minutes each)
Defense witnesses (3 minutes each by attorney, then cross ex, 2 minutes
each)
Closing Statements by Prosecution and Defense (4-5 minutes each)
20
Rules of the Court
1. Questions may only be asked by attorneys and judge.
2. Jury cannot make comments or ask questions, but they may take
notes
3. Time travel is permitted to retrieve witnesses from the past. They
may be asked questions only from their time.
4. "Leading" -witnesses is not allowed -they must come to their own
conclusions.
5. Absences during this time are strongly discouraged as it could affect
your grade especially if you are a key witness.
6. Order shall be maintained at all times.
7. The jury does not need to make a unanimous decision. They can
vote separately on each charge. They may "split the question"
whereby their ruling may only apply to a particular place not to all
locations.
EVALUATION
Attorneys:
• Written preparation : Content, reasoning, and form
• Preparation for and of witnesses. Remember, it is your job to make sure that your witnesses
understand your questions in advance and know what you want them-to answer as well as
what they might have to answer from the opposing side. You need to make them look good.
• Oral presentation: Delivery persuasiveness, knowledge of content and cross examination
Witnesses:
• Ability to answer the attorney's questions including cross-examination.
• Written statement to be prepared in advance which describes who you are, what you believe in
and why your testimony helps your side.(one page max)
• At least 5 questions submitted to your attorney with answers that they might consider.
Jury Instructions
In preparation for the trial, review all notes and materials on coffeehouses. Remember you live in 1789
and have the attitudes of a variety of people of the time. Decide before the beginning of the trial,
where you are from and who you wish to represent: a peasant, a worker, an intellectual, an aristocrat,
yourself, etc. and base your verdict upon your identity. Turn in a ½ page bio-sketch that describes who
you are and what your connection might be (or not) to coffeehouses prior to the beginning of the
trial. Take notes during the trial. You must use specific references in your verdict. Remember you
could decide that the same rule need not apply in all places. The verdict does not have to be
unanimous. The judge will arbitrate any split decisions. A 1 page verdict is due 24 hours following the
conclusion of the trial.
21
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: LITERATURE and COFFEE
"1 believe it was the Irish writer George Moore-or was it Stendhal? who in reply to the question how might art
be best promoted, gave the remarkable answer, "Establish cafes!" Rene Prevot 1922
19th c. poet-historian Jules Michelet, " Henceforth is the tavern dethroned, the monstrous tavern is dethroned,
which even half a century earlier had sent youths wallowing 'twixt casks and wenches, is dethroned. Fewer
liquor-drenched songs on night air, fewer noblemen sprawled in the gutter. Coffee, the sober drink, the
mighty nourishment of the brain, which unlike other spirits, heightens purity and lucidity; coffee, which
clears the clouds of the imagination and their weight; which illuminates the reality of things suddenly with a
flash of truth. "
Of coffee improving literary ability (from a pamphet by Addison in the Lion's Head coffeehouse):
"To those of little wit, Coffee is a brightener. The most barren of authors, is thereby
made fertile. It has in it a virtue, strengthening the memory, So that a pedant can
talk, without rhyme or reason, Spouting fable and history Coffee works a miracle,
sharpening the brains of the stupid. No author refreshed thereby need languish in
silence. Coffee's strength and virtue double the memory. Every drop empowers us
to gabble without pause, And discarding the crutches of rhyme, to spout fable as
history."
From a French poem 1718 by Guillaume Massieu (excerpt):
On Coffee :
And in the entire East this custom of coffee drinking Has been, accep1ted. And now
France; you adopt the foreign custom, So that public shops, one after another, are
opened for Drinking Coffee. A hanging sign of either ivy or laurel invites the
passers-by. Hither in crowds from the entire city they assemble, and While away the
time in pleasant drinking. And when once the feelings have grown warm, acted upon
by The gentle heat, then good-humored laughter, and pleasant Arguments increase.
General gaiety ensues, the places about resound with joyous applause. But never
does the liquid imbibed overpower weary minds, but Rather, if ever slumber presses
their heavy eyes and dulls The brain; and their strength, blunted, grows torpid in the
Body, coffee puts sleep to flight from the eyes, and slothful inactivity from the
whole frame. Therefore to absorb the sweet draught would be an advantage For
those whom a great deal of long-continued labor awaits And those who need to
extend their study far into the night.... O plant, given to the human race by the gift of
the Gods! No other out of the entire list of plants has ever vied with you. On your
account sailors sail from our shores And fearlessly conquer the threatening winds,
sandbanks, and Dreadful rocks. With your nourishing growth you surpass dittany,
Ambrosia, and fragrant panacea. Grim diseases flee from you. To You trusting
health clings as a companion, and also the merry Crowd, conversation, amusing
jokes, and sweet whisperings."
22
Arab Defense of Coffee, Poem 1511 Mecca:
"In Praise of Coffee
O Coffee! Thou doust dispel all cares, thou art the object of desire to the scholar.
This is the beverage of the friends of God; it gives health to those in service who strive after wisdom.
Prepared from the simple shell of the berry, it has the odor of musk and the color of ink.
The intelligent man who empties these cups of foaming coffee, he alone. knows truth.
May God deprive of this drink the foolish man who condemns it with incurable obstinacy.
Coffee is our gold. Wherever it is served, one enjoys the society of the noblest and most generous men.
O drink! As harmless as pure milk, which differs from it only in its blackness."
Peter Alternberg (Vienna Poet) 17th century:
To the Coffee House!
"When you are worried, have trouble of one sort or another-to the coffeehouse!
When she did not keep her appointment, for one reason or another-to the coffee house!
When your shoes are torn and dilapidated-coffeehouse!
When your income is four hundred crowns and you spend five hundred-coffee house!
You are chair warmer in some office, while your ambition led you to seek professional honors-coffee
house!
You could not find a mate to suit you-coffee house!
You feel like committing suicide-coffee house!
You hate and despise human beings, and at the same time you can not be happy without them-coffee
house!
You compose a poem which you can not inflict upon friends you meet in the street-coffee house!
When your coal scuttle is empty, and your gas ration exhausted-coffee house!
When you need money for cigarettes, you touch the head waiter in the coffee house!
When you are locked out and haven't the money to pay for unlocking the house
door-coffee house!
When you acquire a new flame, and intend provoking the old one, you take the new one to the old one's
-coffee house!
When you feel like hiding you dive into a-coffee house!
When you want to be seen in a new suit-coffee house!
When you can not get anything on trust anywhere else-coffee house! "
23
MUSIC
• The world of music was sharply influenced by events that transpired in the coffee house.
One author writes, "If Mozart visited a coffeehouse to play billiards, or .Beethoven sat hidden in a backroom reading a newspaper, this clearly contains no significance in terms of music history, But where Robert
Schumann and his circle of "Davidsbundler" regularly sat down in the "Kaffeebaum" in Leipzig to discuss
the current unfavorable state of music, then it can be said in retrospect that such occasions played an
extremely important role in the birth of German music criticism." Heise p. 184
•
Triumphs of London, 1675 song (Jordan)
"You that delight in wit and mirth,
And love to hear such news
That come from all parts of the earth,
Turks, Dutch, and Danes, and Jews:
I'll send you to the rendezvous,
Where it is smoking new;
Go hear it at a coffeehouse,
It cannot but be true.
There battails and sea-fights are fought,
And bloody plots displaid;
They know more things than e'er was thought,
Or ever was bewray'd
No money in the minting house
Is half so bright and new;
And coming from the Coffee-house,
It cannot but be true...
There's nothing done in all the world,
From monarcb to the mouse;
But every day of night 'tis hurl'd
Into the coffeehouse:
What Lilly * or 'what Booker * cou'd
By art not bring about,
At Coffee-house you'll find a brood,
Can quickly find it out."
They know who shall in times to come,
Be either made or undone,
From great St. Peter's street in Rome,
To Turnbal-street in London.
They know al that is good or hurt,
To damn ye or to save ye;
There is the college and the court,
The country, camp, and navy.
So Great a Universitie
I think there ne' er was any
In which you may a scholar be
For spending of a penny.
Here men do talk of everything,
With large and liberal lungs,
Like women at a gossiping,
With double tire of tongues,
They'll give a broadside presently,
'Soon as you are in view:
With stories that you'll wonder at.
Which they will swear are true.
You shall know there what fashions are,
How periwigs are curl'd;
And for a penny you shall hear
All novels in the world;
Both old and young, and great and small,
Therefore let's to the Coffee all,
Come all away with me."
* Respectively a famed astrologer and a popular predictor of the time]
24
• Bach's Coffee Cantata
Secular cantata with a satirical moral written in 1734 and performed in Leipzig, Germany as a comedic opera of sorts.'
(Narrator)
Continued from bottom:
"Hush don't chatter.
(Schlendrian)
and hear the story:
You willful Liesgen, you,
Herr Schlendrian' scorning
So you accept it, do you!
with Liesgen, his daughter,
Hard Spirited girls
He grumbles like a bear.
Don't give up easily
Listen for yourselves what she's done to him.
But if you find their weakness
( Schlendrian)
ho! one ca obtain successful results.
Aren't children the cause
Now, listen to your father!
of a hundred thousand vexations?
( Liesgen)
My daily words
Always! Except concerning coffee!
(Schlendrian)
to my daughter Liesgen,
Then you must accept
Are cast fruitlessly to the earth
Never having a husband.
Wicked child! Willful girl,
(Liesgen)
ah! when will you listen to me
Oh, yes! My father, a husband!
Cut out the coffee!
( Schlendrian)
( Liesgen)
I promise that it will never happen.
Father, stop being so hard!
(Liesgen)
If, three times a day,
Until I give up coffee?
I don't drink my bowls of coffee,
From now one I swear off coffee!
Then in agony, I'll wither away
My father, I don't drink it any more.
Like a dried -out chunk of roasted goat!
( Schlendrian)
Yum! so sweet is the taste of coffee
So then in the end,
more beloved than a thousand kisses,
you shall get a husband!
smoother than muscatel wine.
( Liesgen)
Coffee- I must have it
Today, even do it, dear Father!
And someone who wants to please me
Ah! a husband!
ah- he will just present me with coffee!
That suits me just fine!
( Schlendrian)
Let it be soon that,
If you don't stop this coffee drinking
in lieu of coffee at bed-time
You can't do to the Wedding celebration
I get a valiant lover. '
or go out strolling
(Narrator)
( Liesgen)
Thus the old Schlendrian departs
Fine! Just let me have my coffee!
To see if a husband can be found
(Schlendrian)
for his daughter Liesgen;
Now I have the little monkey!
but Liesgen discreetly puts out the word:
I will not give you a whalebone skirt
"No suitor will be admitted to this house
Of the mot fashionable style.
unless he declares to me
( Liesgen)
and puts it in our marriage vows
I can stand that.
that I shall be allowed
( Schlendrian)
whenever I want, to prepare
nd you can't stand at the window
coffee for myself'
looking at the passersby.
(A ll)
(Liesgen)
The cat won't give up catching mice
Also that- but I beseech you
and young ladies stay loyal to their coffee
Just let me keep my coffee!
The mother loves her coffee
( Schlendrian)
the grandma· drank it too '
From my hand you shall not receive
so who can blame the daughters!"
any silver or gold trimmings for your cap.
( Liesgen)
Yes, yes! Just let me have
my only pleasure!
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The Last Drop…Wrapping it Up (due after the trial)
In your journal, answer at least TWO of the following questions:
1. In order to understand the social history of coffeehouses, what did you need to know (or learn)
about the political, economic, and military events of the 1500-1700’s?
2. What proof would you need to be convinced that coffee was/ is unique in its creating
controversy, and its role in the intellectual development of a society? Why not tea?
3. Originally making coffee was a labor intensive activity hence easing people’s life if it were
prepared fresh for them in a public venue. What impact do you think the technological
development of machines for the grinding and brewing of coffee had on the public
consumption of coffee? How is that trend seemingly been reversed as evidenced by
coffeehouses on every corner of Seattle?
4. What role did and does class have with respect to coffeehouses then and now? Did this differ
based on the place?
5. Now that you have studied coffee in more depth, would you change your verdict from last
September on what might be the most important beverage in world history, why or why not?
6. Why is studying coffee good world history?
Fieldwork (Extra credit)
Think of your neighborhood (city). How many coffeehouses are there? Are there any bookstores
which have cafes in them? What else is served besides coffee? What hours are busiest? Visit one. Are
the patrons to each of these establishments recognizable by occupational interests, age, race, class or
religion? What types of activities happen at the coffeehouse? Do strangers talk to each other regularly
across tables? Did you sit down next to a stranger and strike up a conversation?
The Burke Museum of Natural History is opening an exhibit on Coffee from January 24th – June 7th.
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/. Attend. Write up a page of how it connected to what
you learned in class. Due before break.
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