By: Alison Cole
For most harried career individuals, a visit to their coffee shops for a nightcap with friends and business associates is their idea of a relaxing evening. But have you ever wondered when the first coffee shop started?
The first coffee shop opened in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1554, while the first coffeehouse opened in Cornhill, London, in 1652. Boston welcomed its own version of this haven for coffee lovers in 1670, while Paris opened the doors of its first-ever coffee shop in 1671. It quickly grew in popularity, and by 1675, three thousand coffeehouses were born in England.
As the legend goes, the first coffeehouse was believed to have opened in Vienna in 1683, after the Battle of Vienna. The coffeehouse was started using supplies left behind by the losing Turks. A more credible version asserts that the first coffee shop opened in Krakow, in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, owing to its close trade ties with the Turks. The first coffee plantation in modern times was started in Brazil, in 1727, using slave laborers from Africa. Its success was akin to that of tobacco in seventeenth-century Europe.
The term “Café” is synonymous with a place where coffee and meals are served together. The Dutch people associate the word with bars and thus relate it more to alcohol. In the Netherlands, the term coffee shop is used to refer to places where marijuana is sold, since one needs fewer permits to open a coffee shop. For the French, Spanish, and German people, a café is a place where a wide variety of beverages are served, ranging from different types of coffee, tea, and alcoholic beverages.
In addition to those blended commercially, a lot of coffeehouses have their own signature house blends. What are you waiting for? Visit your favorite coffee shop and take your pick from among these wonderful concoctions, sure to warm your hearts and lift your spirits.
