The History of the Coffee House

It is a common mistake for many modern day coffee drinkers to believe that the café was created for them in their generation, and for a large percentage of them, with the advent of the Starbucks franchise. Coffee shops have been around since 1555, and possibly even earlier.

The first coffeehouses or kaveh kanes opened in Mecca and quickly spread throughout the Arab world, thriving as places where chess was played, gossip was exchanged and singing, dancing and music were enjoyed. Nothing quite like this had existed before: a place where social and business life could be conducted in comfortable surroundings and where - for the price of a cup of coffee - anyone could venture. Perhaps predictably, the Arabian coffeehouse soon became a center of political activity and was suppressed. Over the next few decades coffee and coffeehouses were banned numerous times but kept reappearing until eventually an acceptable way out was found when a tax was introduced on both.

The first recorded coffee house was Kiva Han in what was then Constantinople (now Istanbul) by Shemsi of Damascus and Hekem of Aleppo, who are generally acknowledged as the proprietors of this coffee house which was opened in Talchtacalah, Constantinople in 1555.

The first European coffeehouse opened in Venice in 1683, with the most famous, Caffe Florian in Piazza San Marco, opening in 1720. It is still open for business today. It is a prime contender for the world’s longest continuing coffee house with its 287 years of coffee service to its Venetian, Italian and international patrons and takes its place amongst the city's chief symbols. Much of the paintings, wood carvings, high ornate mirrors, cozy booths and naked woods come from the refurbishments done in 1859. It is also home to the Venice Biennial, an exhibition of contemporary art that has been running since 1893. Famous patrons included Marcel Proust, Charles Dickens and the Venice born womanizer Giovanni Giacomo Casanova.

St. Michael’s Alley Coffee House is England’s first coffee house and was opened in Cornhill London in 1652. It is still unclear to this day whether it was opened by a Mr. Bowman or Pasqua Rosee although the weight of evidence suggests Pasqua Rosee. It is also uncertain as to whether he was a native of Armenia, a Greek from the Republic of Ragusa or from Ottoman Smyrna, a port in Western Turkey. What is clear is that he was a man-servant or employee to a Turkish merchant trader (one who dealt in coffee and other such luxury items) named Daniel Edwards. Some researchers also claim that Pasqua went into business with a coachman who was a relative of Mr. Edwards. The coffee house is famous for being the first known coffee advertising or prospectus in England with the original document, ‘The Virtue of the Coffee Drink’, still being on display in the British Museum.

The first literary reference to coffee being drunk in North America is from 1668 and, soon after, coffee houses were established in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and other towns. The Boston Tea Party Of 1773 was planned in a coffee house, the Green Dragon. Both the New York Stock Exchange and the Bank of New York started in coffeehouses in what is today known as Wall Street.

Café Reggio (still trading) a small coffee house in New York’s Greenwich Village, opened in 1927. It claims the title of “the original Cappuccino bar” because the owner Domenico Parisi imported and installed the first espresso machine in the United States. By the mid 50’s the Italian “La Pavoni” espresso machine, built in 1902, began offering espresso made the Italian way to a clientele including the Beats, Bob Dylan and the poet Joseph Brodsky. The original machine, an ornate brass-decorated beauty, still holds pride of place at Cafe Reggio’s today.

Coffee Cupping: A Rising Trend

Coffee cupping, it’s not just for aficionados anymore. Just like wine tastings, coffee cuppings have become a fun way to get out there and try new coffees and learn about their origins, their flavor compositions, and how to describe them.

In the not so distant past, it was only coffee buyers, roasters, and baristas who spent their time sniffing, slurping, and finding the best words to describe their findings with patient dedication. But now cuppings at independent cafes attract connoisseurs and newbies alike to rub elbows together and learn from each other.

“Though wine tastings seem to have become less pretentious in recent years, it’s still rare to hear a top varietal compared to Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. But at coffee tastings — known to aficionados as cuppings — there is no prescribed lexicon, and a lot more room for whimsy,” says Hannah Wallace of The New York Times in her article Do I Detect a Hint of…Joe?

If you have never heard of cupping, by now you are starting to get the idea of what we are talking about here, but you may still be wondering, what is it and why do we do it? Essentially, cupping is a method of assessing different characteristics of a particular coffee bean. It allows us to compare coffees by using our basic senses to grasp their basic taste and appreciate some of its finer points or point out its flaws. The method by which we do this is fairly simple, and there is no right or wrong way to do it.

When you go to a coffee cupping, they will have the coffees brewed for you, leaving you to simply enjoy yourself. The first step is to smell it. Often, cuppers will take a spoon and do something called “breaking the crust.” During the brewing process, a thick “crust” of grounds will settle on top of the sample cup. Here you will place your nose very close to the cup and puncture the crust with a spoon and inhale the aroma that wafts up. Once you have broken the crust on all the samples, the remaining top grounds are skimmed off the top. Then the tasting begins.

Now the cuppers will take their spoon and slurp it into their mouths while inhaling gently. This allows the coffee to “spray” across the tongue while the aroma wafts up into the nose (this is very similar to what happens in wine tastings). It is perfectly acceptable to spit your coffee out as you go along, but often swallowing will give one insight into aftertaste and finish.

During a cupping session, most pros like to keep silent while tasting and jotting down notes, and only after everyone has tasted each sample, will they get together and discuss their findings. This is done mostly because the human mind is susceptible to suggestion, and if someone says “this tastes like caramel,” you might instantly taste caramel as well.

The biggest challenge beginning cuppers have is coming up with good descriptions of what they are tasting, and although there is absolutely no right or wrong answer, there are some good guidelines to start with when tasting and then you can let your imagination take you from there. To see these terms visit http://www.coffeeterms.com/coffee-cupping-and-tasting.htm and then go out there and find a cupping, or have a cupping party right in your home!

Written by Krysti Kokot for Maui Coffee Roasters