London Coffee Houses: Guest - Gina Black

This week we are delighted to welcome GINA BLACK as a guest blogger on Hoydens and Firebrands. Gina has always been a lover of European History and is the author of a romantic tale of highwaymen and revenge set in 1663 - THE RAVEN'S REVENGE. 

I begin,"Once upon a time, a long time ago (before 1650) there was no coffee to be had in the entire realm of England. A sad tale but true--"

"Then let them have tea," you interrupt no doubt afraid I'm going to start bombarding you with Boring Historical Facts.

"Sorry," I respond. "They didn't have any of that either."

"Whatever did those poor people drink?" you wonder reluctantly, glad you weren't around those smelly, caffeine-deprived people. You take another sip of your morning cuppa.

"They started out the day with ale."

"But isn't ale alcoholic?" You make a small chortle. "It gives a whole new spin to the phrase Jolly Olde England doesn't it?"

"Well, as I understand it, ale in those days was thin, weak stuff, and drunk soon after brewing, not the strong drink it is now."

"Sounds nasty," you say.

"Not as bad as the water. That was far too dirty to drink. It was much safer to drink something that had been brewed, and so ale was it."

You shake your head and drain your coffee mug, wondering how people ever survived without coffee, thinking of a time when the choice wasn't between French Roast and Guatemalan and when Free Trade or organic didn't matter.

Then--seeing my opening--I proceed to tell you all about it. Having written a paper about this back in my college days and being so impressed with the import of The Bean to England, I researched it again and included references to coffee in my book, The Raven's Revenge. Although my story was set in 1663 before coffee drinking was widespread, the hero had come back from parts east so he knew about coffee.

While some people might think that coffee arriving in England has about as much drama as a new Starbucks opening up in their neighborhood, it actually heralded a New Age: the age of the Penny University, for that was what coffee houses came to be called.

The first coffeehouse in England was opened in Oxford in 1650. The first one opened in London two years later in St. Michael's Alley in Cornhill. The proprietor was Pasqua Rosée, a man who has earned his place in history.

Whereas taverns and ale-houses were rough and rowdy places, coffee houses were not. They were democratic in nature (read the rules reprinted below) and places of intellectual discussion and debate. The reason they were called Penny Universities is that for the price of a penny a man (yes a man--this was the seventeenth century after all) could gain entrance, get his cup of coffee (some doctors even prescribed it for rheumatism and other ills) and either read or--if he couldn't read--someone would read the newspaper to him.

The proliferation of coffee houses coincided with a rising middle class. By 1700 there were probably over 2000 coffeehouses in London. Even the plague and the Great Fire failed to lessen its attraction.

Several important institutions had their origins in the English coffee house. Stockbrokers used to meet at Garraways which became the London Stock Exchange. And Lloyd’s had its origins in the coffee house owned by Edward Lloyd, where ship owners, captains and merchants came to discuss the latest shipping news. Later, Lloyds became a place for obtaining marine insurance.

So, next time you sit down with your latte and laptop, the earphones of your MP3 player tucked into your ears, think of the famous poet Dryden a fixture at Wills, expounding to a rapt audience. Not quite the same thing, now, is it?

THE RULES AND ORDERS OF THE COFFEE 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 to 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 here begin,


Shall give each 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 not 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 the house more quiet and from blame,


We banish hence cards, dice, and every game;


Nor can allow of wagers, that exceed.


Five shillings, which ofttimes do troubles breed;


Let all that 's lost or forfeited be spent


In such good liquor as the house cloth vent,


And customers endeavour, to their powers,


For to observe still, seasonable hours.


Lastly, let each man what he calls for pay,


And so you 're welcome to come every day.

To find out more about Gina and her books, visit her WEBSITE.

London Coffee Houses

Family legend says I come from a long line of German carpenters [well OK, three] and that my grandfather fashioned the elaborate ornate woodwork that graces Victorian public houses throughout London. Some of these still exist, notably The Jamaica Wine House, a 19th century building with an oak-panelled bar, high partitions and ornate ceilings. I visited this pub recently, and although I have no evidence Grandad worked on this bar, the design is reminiscent of his style.

This brought me to my own area of interest, as The Jamaica Wine House was originally The Turks Head, London’s first coffee house that opened between 1650 and 1652.

Coffee is believed to have come to Britain around 100 years after the first coffee-houses opened in Turkey. However, the Elizabethan essayist Francis Bacon, in his Historia Vitae et Mortis, published in 1605, warned the public against the dangerous properties of coffee. Thus the implication being that some contact existed prior to the establishing of coffee-houses.

A man named Pasqua Rosee arrived from Ottoman Smyrna with his employer, a Mr Daniel Edwards, a “Turkey merchant”. He fell out with Mr Edwards and teaming up with his former employer’s coachman, they established a coffee-house in St Michael’s Alley. Set amongst a labyrinth of medieval courts and alleys off Cornhill and Lombard Street, this establishment was known by some as “The Turk’s Head” It opened between 1650 and 1652, and Samuel Pepys is reputed to be a customer.


By 1660, there were 500 coffeehouses in London alone, although various sources claim this number is between 200 and 2,000. What with the Great Fire of 1666 having destroyed many and with no existing records, the numbers cannot be verified.

Grouped mainly around the Royal Exchange, Custom House, Post-Houses and the court, these all-male preserves apart from the lady at the counter, admitted anyone who laid down a penny at the bar, or a token stamped with the emblem of the establishment, as an entrance fee.

They provided a gathering place to exchange news, gossip and conduct business in a sober environment, a genteel atmosphere that contrasted with public houses attended in the evenings where people would go for entertainment.

Some coffee-houses served tobacco and hookah pipes, chocolate and a range of sherbets, which, according to the Mercurius Publicus (12-19 March 1662), were “made in Turkie, of lemons, roses, and violets perfumed”. Advertisements found in pamphlets and newspapers of the time refer to coffee as “the right Turkie berry”, which implies its introduction by way of the Ottomans, or Mediterranean trading routes.


China Tea was also served, and negro boys seeking refuge from the West Indies was sometimes employed a star attraction to customers. The signs outside, and the coffee tokens used to gain entry, were often be-turbaned. Of the most famous are:

Jonathon's Coffee House in Change Alley: a favourite meeting place for stockbrokers and eventually became the London Stock Exchange.
Edward Lloyd's Coffee House: a haunt for ship owners and marine insurers and became Lloyd's of London
The “Great Turk Coffee House”, also known as “Morat Ye Great”, in Exchange Alley in 1662, apparently boasted a bust of “Sultan Almurath IV”, “the most detestable tyrant that ever ruled the Ottoman Empire”.

Coffee-houses became venues for artists and writers to congregate and hold business meetings. Freemasons had their Lodge meetings in them. Some, due to their sea-born connections, set up a postal system for collecting and carrying letters abroad, which annoyed the struggling Postal Service no end. Some gained a reputation for being meeting places for religious or political dissidents, and hence at one point in the mid to late seventeenth century were “under suspicion as being centres of intrigue and treasonable-talk”.

Intellectuals and scientists used them to launch their latest projects to the Press; and the sea-born trading companies such as the East India Company, the African Company and the Levant Company all made use of coffee-houses, often to store their records. Newspapers, journals and pamphlets were circulated. They also went hand in hand with Turkish baths, which were also becoming a popular London feature. Whatever the local ethos of the area, whether it be one of literary prowess or ill-repute, the coffee-house became the main focal-point for all of this activity.

Many believed coffee to have several medicinal properties in this period. A 1661 tract entitled "A character of coffee and coffee-houses", states:

'Tis extolled for drying up the Crudities of the Stomack, and for expelling Fumes out of the Head. Excellent Berry! which can cleanse the English-man's Stomak of Flegm, and expel Giddinesse out of his Head. '

Not everyone was in favour of coffee, however and in 1674 the anonymous, "Women's Petition Against Coffee" declared:

'...the Excessive Use of that Newfangled, Abominable, Heathenish Liquor called COFFEE [...] has [...] Eunucht our Husbands, and Crippled our more kind Gallants, that they are become as Impotent, as Age.'

In 1675, Charles II 'called for the suppression of all coffee-houses in London as being places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of his Majesty and his Ministers'. The uproar that followed forced King Charles to cancel this edict.