The Role of Chemistry in History

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Coffee Creates a Social Lifestyle in Europe

May 7th, 2008 · 7 Comments ·

Introduction | What is Caffeine: Molecule Structure | Stimulating Science: The Properties of Caffeine | Discovery: The Magical Bean | Coffee Creates a Social Lifestyle in Europe |Colonization and Coffee|Coffee’s Impact on the Nation of Brazil|Coffee Industry Today| Conclusions

 

By the early seventeenth century, the Ottoman Empire began to slowly crumble and European expansion of the time caused the ties between cialis online prescriptions the two areas to strengthen. As European travel to the Arab world increased, European merchants and traders soon fell under the spell of the exotic Arabic beverage known as coffee. It was at this time that Italian traders, who were based in Venice, brought coffee to Europe.

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The coffee trade between Europeans and Arabic countries had begun.

 

As it had in Africa and the Middle East, the popularity of coffee spread quickly throughout Europe. Initially coffee was sold by vendors on the streets of Venice, but with its increased popularity, the first coffeehouses of Europe began to form. In 1650 the first coffeehouse was opened in Oxford, England. Other coffeehouses sprung up in cities such as Amsterdam, Marseilles, and Paris. And by 1715, around 2,000 coffeehouses existed in London alone. Images of London coffeehouses can be seen below.

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Coffeehouses were seen as social clubs, where people would gather to sit and sip coffee while conversing for hours. Open to members of different social classes, coffeehouses were unique locations. As Dicum notes, the coffeehouses were “crowed with people from all walks of life discussing politics and cultural matters, coffeehouses become centers for urban social life” (Dicum &Luttinger, 1999, p 13).

As coffeehouses aided in defining social life in Europe, they were simultaneously creating a new market in the economy. The powerful nations of Europe realized they could stand to gain from the ever increasing demand for the coffee bean.

Tags: Caffeine