by Markman Ellis (Author)
When the first coffee-house opened in London in 1652, customers were bewildered by this strange new drink from Turkey. But those who tried coffee were soon won over. More coffee-houses were opened across London and, in the following decades, in America and Europe. For a hundred years the coffee-house occupied the centre of urban life. Merchants held auctions of goods, writers and poets conducted discussions, scientists demonstrated experiments and gave lectures, philanthropists deliberated reforms. Coffee-houses thus played a key role in the explosion of political, financial, scientific and literary change in the 18th century. In the 19th century the coffee-house declined, but the 1950s witnessed a dramatic revival in the popularity of coffee with the appearance of espresso machines and the coffee bar', and the 1990s saw the arrival of retail chains like Starbucks.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Phoenix
Published: 03 Nov 2005
ISBN 10: 0753818981
ISBN 13: 9780753818985
Book Overview: Unusual and wide-ranging social history in the tradition of books on cod, coca-cola, salt, ice, etc. London in its colourful 17th and 18th-century heyday is at the centre of this story The London coffee-houses were a key factor in Britain's rapid commercial, political and scientific progress between 1650 and 1750