Reaching Europe

History of Coffee and Coffeehouses

Course 1 · Chapter 3 · Arrival in Europe

European merchants and travellers met coffee in the Ottoman world and brought it home in the seventeenth century. It was at first a curiosity and a medicine, then a fashionable drink. This chapter follows it to Venice, England, Vienna and Paris, and tests two famous stories. Dates are from general knowledge and flagged "check".

Key Ideas

Venice

Venice traded with the Ottomans, and coffee was known there in the early seventeenth century. Coffeehouses are recorded in Venice from the mid-century (check), and Caffè Florian opened in 1720 (check).

England

A coffeehouse is recorded in Oxford in 1650 and one in London in about 1652, often credited to Pasqua Rosée, who worked for a merchant trading with the Levant (check both).

Vienna and Paris

The story that Vienna's coffeehouses began with beans left behind after the siege of 1683 is a popular legend (check). Paris saw coffee grow in fashion from the 1660s, and the Café Procope is dated to 1686 (check).

At a Glance

StoryCheck against evidence
Pasqua Rosée opened the first London coffeehouse.Often repeated; check the earliest sources and whether there were earlier ones.
Vienna coffee began with beans left by the Turks in 1683.A popular legend; coffee was known in Vienna by other routes (check).
Café Procope is the oldest Paris café.Often claimed for 1686; check what has changed since.
Coffee was first sold as medicine.Early European accounts often present it as a remedy (check).
Founding myths of cafés Cities and businesses like to claim the first coffeehouse. A claim to be oldest needs a dated record, and continuity of ownership or use, not a story told by the place itself.

Further Points

  • Import routes. Trade through Venice, the Levant Company and later Dutch and French merchants (check).
  • Resistance. Some Europeans saw coffee as a foreign, even pagan, drink; one story says a Pope approved it, which is also a legend (check).
  • Price. At first it was expensive, and sugar and milk were added later in Europe.
A British comparison The British claim that London's first coffeehouse came in the 1650s is a good test of how the same kind of "first" claim is made by many cities.
Check the details Dates, names and figures here are from general knowledge and flagged "check". Verify them against specialist histories and primary sources, and label unproven stories as "claimed".

Exercises

Exercise 1

Explain what evidence you would need to prove that a given café is the oldest in its city.

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Exercise 2

Why is the story of Vienna and the beans left in 1683 suspicious?

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Exercise 3

Compare how coffee arrived in Venice and in England.

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Quick Reference

  • Venice: early trade link (check)
  • England: Oxford 1650, London c.1652 (check)
  • Vienna 1683: a legend to test
  • Rule: "oldest" needs a dated record