The evolution of the coffee house is an interesting story and today, I will narrate to you how the coffee house was born. If today, someone asks you - how do you idealise a coffee house, you would most naturally start picturing a cozy place with comfy couches, which has the choicest espresso drinks and gourmet coffees on the menu. That’s exactly how I or anyone else in your shoes would imagine a coffee house to be. But today, my story on the evolution of coffee house will take you to a different place in flashback and you will picturise coffee houses, which are not very talked about but deserve special mention. 

The story on how did the coffee house evolve

Turkish City of Constantinople, 1475

According to the earliest record found, the first coffee house that was ever started was called “Kiva Han”. This story takes you to the year 1475 to the Turkish City – Constantinople (now Istanbul). Coffee used to have so much importance in the city in those times, that if a woman wasn’t supplied enough coffee by her husband, she could divorce him anytime! While you are thanking God for not belonging to that place and era, let me acquaint you with the fact that the Turkish people loved their coffee unfiltered, strong and brewed in ibrik.

Europe, 1529

It was in the year 1529, when Europe popularized the concept of drinking coffee with sweetener and cream added to it. This was also the year when the first coffee was born in the continent. In the hurry of leaving the Vienna city they had invaded, the Turkish left behind bags of coffee. These were later restored by Franz Georg Kolschitzky, who introduced the locals to filtered coffee. Soon a new coffee was born and spread throughout the continent as more coffee shops mushroomed. An English merchant who traded in Turkish items, introduced coffee in England and the first English coffee shop was established in 1652. It is from one of the oldest English coffee houses that the term “tips” (a word for gratuities) originated. Soon Italy, Paris and Germany followed suit.

America, 1792

Do you know which is the original location of the New York Stock Exchange? Well, it’s the Tontine Coffee House of New York, which was opened in 1792 at the city’s business hub. And, this is where the business associates liked to gather and discuss stocks over cups of coffee! The espresso coffee came to America after 1946, when the Italian coffee bar “Gaggia” introduced the piston espresso machine. Then came America’s very own “Starbucks” in 1971and since then, it has taken the whole world by a coffee storm with its reach in over 8,000 locations.

Picture Source: serendipityteam.wordpress.com