Club Life of London, Vol. 2 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th CenturiesTimbs, John
History
Club Life of London, Vol. 2 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries
Timbs, John
Clubs -- England -- London; Literary landmarks -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
A manuscript note, written by Oldys, the celebrated antiquary, states
that "The use of coffee in England was first known in 1657. [It will
be seen, as above, that Oldys is incorrect.] Mr. Edwards, a Turkey
merchant, brought from Smyrna to London one Pasqua Rosee, a Ragusan
youth, who prepared this drink for him every morning. But the novelty
thereof drawing too much company to him, he allowed his said servant,
with another of his son-in-law, to sell it publicly, and they set up
the first coffee-house in London, in St. Michael's alley, in Cornhill.
The sign was Pasqua Rosee's own head." Oldys is slightly in error
here; Rosee commenced his coffee-house in 1652, and one Jacobs, a Jew,
as we have just seen, had established a similar undertaking at Oxford,
two years earlier. One of Rosee's original shop or hand-bills, the
only mode of advertising in those days, is as follows:--
"THE VERTUE OF THE COFFEE DRINK,
"_First made and publickly sold in England by Pasqua Rosee._
"The grain or berry called coffee, groweth upon little trees
only in the deserts of Arabia. It is brought from thence,
and drunk generally throughout all the Grand Seignour's
dominions. It is a simple, innocent thing, composed into a
drink, by being dried in an oven, and ground to powder, and
boiled up with spring water, and about half a pint of it to
be drunk fasting an hour before, and not eating an hour
after, and to be taken as hot as possibly can be endured;
the which will never fetch the skin off the mouth, or raise
any blisters by reason of that heat.
"The Turks' drink at meals and other times is usually water,
and their diet consists much of fruit; the crudities whereof
are very much corrected by this drink.
"The quality of this drink is cold and dry; and though it be
a drier, yet it neither heats nor inflames more than hot
posset. It so incloseth the orifice of the stomach, and
fortifies the heat within, that it is very good to help
digestion; and therefore of great use to be taken about
three or four o'clock afternoon, as well as in the morning.
It much quickens the spirits, and makes the heart lightsome;
it is good against sore eyes, and the better if you hold
your head over it and take in the steam that way. It
suppresseth fumes exceedingly, and therefore is good against
the head-ache, and will very much stop any defluxion of
rheums, that distil from the head upon the stomach, and so
prevent and help consumptions and the cough of the lungs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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