When the first coffeehouse opened in London in 1652, customers were bewildered by this strange new drink from Turkeyhot, bitter, and black as soot....
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reviews
Jun 15, 2009
Angel
rated it: 
I was not particularly impressed by this book. The idea behind it, a history of the coffee house, does sound interesting, but the book itself is a very slow and dry read. A lot of the late 17th century into the 18th in Britain, when the coffee houses were flourishing, simply does not make for engaging reading. At least not with this author who seems to get bogged down in a lot of minutia that is honestly not very interesting. The book will then move to how the coffee houses lost their appeal in
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Feb 04, 2012
Lauren
rated it: 
Did you know that coffee was popular in England before tea? This was in large part because tea was very expensive and so a luxury item. The book covers much more than the history of the coffee house. Ellis narrates the discovery of coffee, features of the early coffee trade and the lore of coffee's medicinal qualities. The book teaches you how the coffee house came to be associated with Republicanism and sedition (because it, well, was associated with republicans and the seditious). The b
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Feb 02, 2009
Scott
rated it:
A very well written and researched book on a phenomenon that has interested me since I first heard about Lloyds Coffee Shop.
Mar 15, 2008
Christopher
rated it:
This is an excellent study of the coffee house in Western history. It traces the emergence of the first coffee houses in London in the 17th century, with the involvement of Turkish immigrants - sometimes in fairly powerful roles, often in marginalized ones. It's good on the development of discussion and debate in the coffee houses as well, but I would have liked more development of this aspect of the book. Still, all in all it's probably the best discussion of the social impact of the coffee hou
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