Clarification of Answer by
belindalevez-ga
on
01 Apr 2003 04:32 PST
<Under google guidelines, I am restricted as to what I can quote from
websites that provide answers to your questions. I am allowed to
briefly paraphrase small portions of other works and able to use very
short excerpts.
I have found more sources of relevant material as follows:
In England’s coffee houses, a cup of coffee cost a penny and was
thought to cure minor ailments. The coffee houses became a place where
people would meet and discuss contemporary events. By 1659, the
Miles’s coffee-house became a meeting place of James Harrington’s
debating society, ‘Rota’ where politics was discussed. Scholars and
doctors gathered in the Latine coffee-house. The literature of the
time contains references to coffee-houses. News from the Coffee-house
(1667) says that in some places the conversation turned on city
fashions, foibles and affairs of the state. The Coffee-houses
Vindicated (1675) asks ‘
Now whither shall a person, wearied with hard study, or the laborious
turmoils of a tedious day, repair to refresh himself? or where can
young gentlemen, or shop-keepers, more innocently and advantageously
spend an hour or two in the evening, than at a coffee-house? … To read
men is acknowledged more useful than books; but where is there a
better library for that study, generally than here; among such a
variety of humours, all expressing themselves on divers subjects
according to their respective abilities?’ The article continues with
quotes from more literature of the time.
http://www.bartleby.com/217/1613.htmlA number of rumours associated
with coffee are quoted at
http://www.robinsfyi.com/food/rumorcoffee.htmA number of coffee quotes
are given at http://www.foodreference.com/html/qcoffee.htmlIncluding:
"Without my morning coffee I'm just like a dried up piece of roast
goat."Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)"A PROCLAMATION FOR THE
SUPPRESSION OF COFFEE HOUSES: Whereas it is most apparent that the
multitude of Coffee Houses of late years set up and kept within this
Kingdom...and the great resort of idle and disaffected persons to
them, have produced very evil and dangerous effects; as well for that
many tradesmen and others, do herein misspend much of their time,
which might and probably would be employed in and about their Lawful
Calling and Affairs; but also for that in such houses...divers, false,
malitious, and scandalous reports are devised and spread abroad to the
Defamation of His Majesty's Government, and to the disturbance of the
Peace and Quiet of the Realm; his Majesty hath though it fit and
necessary, that the said Coffee Houses be (for the Future) put down
and suppressed..."King Charles II of England, December 23, 1675“As
soon as coffee is in your stomach, there is a general commotion. Ideas
begin to move...similes arise, the paper is covered. Coffee is your
ally and writing ceases to be a struggle.”Honoré de Balzac
(1799-1859)Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their
chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick,
nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water.”The Women's Petition
Against Coffee (1674)"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; if
this is tea, please bring me some coffee."Abraham LincolnThe legend
recounting the discovery of coffee is recounted by Colleen Grove. An
Ethiopian goat herder called Kaldi noticed his goats acting strangely,
frolicking and dancing after eating berries from a tree. Kaldi tried
the berries and felt exhilarated. Monks from a nearby monastery also
tried the berries. They were found to help them stay alert during
night-time prayers leading to the use of the berries spreading
throughout religious communities. The origins of the name coffee and
its early cultivation are also described.
http://www.menumagazine.co.uk/archive/coffeejuly02.htmlAn introduction
to the coffee-house: a discursive model
http://www.kahve-house.com/coffeeebook.pdf gives a number of
contemporary quotes. It includes a copy of the poem ‘The rules and
orders of the coffee-house’Coffee-Houses of Old London gives
contemporary accounts and etchings showing caricatures, an
illustration of Tom’s coffee-house, and Lloyd’s coffee-house
http://www.cwru.edu/edocs/8/5.pdfThe First English
Coffee-Houses.http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1670coffee.htmlThe
early coffee trade is described at
http://www.africa-ata.org/coffee.htm In 1844 a writer, Harris, claimed
that the coffee trade started in Ethiopia some five hundred years
earlier with the transportation of coffee from Ethiopia to Arabia.
This story was confirmed by an Etiopian monk Brother Thomas who
described the trade route.A brief history of coffee tells how coffee
was thought to be introduced to Yemen via trade routes across the Gulf
of Aden. It traces the spread of coffee throughout muslim world.
Jaziri, a 16th century scholar explains "At the beginning of this
century, the news reached us in Egypt that a drink, called qahwa, had
spread in the Yemen and was being used by Sufti shaykhs and others to
help them stay awake during their devotional exercises, which they
perform according to their well-known Way. Then it reached us,
sometime later, that its appearance and spread there had been due to
the efforts of the learned shaykh, imam, mufti, and Sufi...
al-Dhabhani. We heard that he had been in charge of the critical
review of fatwas in Aden, which at that time was a job whose holder
decided whether fatwas were sound or in need of revision, which he
would indicate at the bottom of the document in his own hand. The
reason for his introducing coffee, according to what we heard, was
that some affair had forced him to leave Aden and go to Ethiopia,
where he stayed for some time. He found the people using qahwa, though
he knew nothing of its characteristics. After he had returned to Aden,
he fell ill, and remembering, he drank it and benefited by it. He
found that among its properties was that it drove away fatigue and
lethargy, and brought to the body a certain sprightliness and vigor.
In consequence, when he became a Sufi, he and other Sufis in Aden
began to use the beverage made from it, as we have said. Then the
whole people- both the learned and the common- followed in drinking
it, seeking help in study and other vocations and crafts, so that it
continued to spread." The Turks are thought to have introduced the
drink to Europe. In 1615, a Venetian wrote A Venetian in 1615 wrote,
"The Turks have a drink of black color, which during the summer is
very cooling, whereas in the winter it heats and warms the body,
remaining always the same beverage and not changing its substance.
They swallow it hot as it comes from the fire and they drink it in
long draughts, not at dinner time, but as a kind of dainty and sipped
slowly while talking with one's friends. One cannot find any meetings
among them where they drink it not..."
According to Dr. Jeff Lindenbaum in recent years coffee houses have
become popular with teenagers. He explains how caffeine can affect
teenagers. It is a stimulant drug as it increases activity in the
central nervous system. A dose of over 350 milligrams per day can
result in physical dependency on caffeine. This is equivalent to
approximately three, six ounce cups of coffee. Caffeine causes a range
of symptoms including sleeplessness, jittery sensations, racing
heartbeat, upset stomach and headaches. In greater quantities (600
milligrams per day) it can cause stomach ulcers, irregular heartbeat,
raised blood pressure and insomnia. Caffeine dependency can be
diagnosed by stopping consumption of coffee for one day. If this
results in a throbbing headache that is relieved by a cup of coffee
then this is an indication that the person is caffeine dependant.
The article also goes on to dispel some of the myths about drinking
coffee.
http://www.rockwoodclinic.com/coffee.htm>
<Hope this helps.>
