In the western world

Coffee appeared in the West during the second half of the seventeenth century: the experts dated its official introduction in the year of defeat and expulsion of the Turks that were besieging the city of Vienna. After the expulsion of the Ottomans, in their camps some bags full of strange dark beans were found. No one had ever seen those beans and no one knew how to use them. Mr. Kolschitzky, a Pole who lived for long time in Turkey, took the beans and opened a Coffee Shop where a black and bitter drink was served to the Viennese. At the beginning this drink was not appreciated but Mr. Kolschitzky didn't resign. He mixed coffee with honey and milk, obtaining a drink that was very similar to our current cappuccino. The success was immediate, and the first European coffee was born with the name "blue bottle". This was the first triumph for coffee in the western world.

Coffee in Italy

Servitore di caffe' stampa veneziana del '700)

In the second half of XVI century coffee crossed the east borders to approach Europe: during the period of the great sailing-vessels ploughing the Mediterranean sea, coffee was introduced in the main countries of our continent.
As already told, coffee appeared in Venice around 1570. The merit for having introduced it in Italy must be assigned to the Paduan Prospero Alpino, well-known botanist and doctor, that brought some bags from East.
The Venetians were the first who learned to appreciate the drink. Anyway, at the beginning the cost of the drink was very expensive and only the rich people could afford to buy it, because it was sold in the chemistries.
After the first Coffee Shop, so many other shops opened in Venice that the owner of the first Coffee Shop was forced, to fight the competitors, to publish a booklet exalting the healthy properties of the product. It was 1716 and this booklet can be considered as the first advertising document of a Coffee Shop.
In 1763 Venice counted 218 shops. In a short time coffee becomes a highly appreciated product, often a sign of friendship and love: in Venice, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, wooers and lovers took the habit to send their favourites some trays full of chocolate and coffee as expression of love.

Also in Italy, as for other countries, the introduction of coffee clashed with the opinion of some exponents of the Church, so that some Christian fanatics instigated Pope Clement VIII to prohibit the "devil drink" to the believers. But the Pope, once tasted a cup, did not prohibit its use. Thanks to the papal approval and benediction, coffee multiplied its success.
Coffee was appreciated by the culture men of eighteenth century who called it "intellectual drink". Coffee was interesting not only for its characteristic of being a "refreshment infusion", but also for its curative properties (a leaflet printed in Milan in 1801 stated the importance attributed to coffee by some doctors who described it as a good medicine).

Coffee for arabs

Coffee in Arab custom		Arabia: men meet to taste the dark drink

Apart from legends and traditions, between the XIV and XV centuries coffee was already largely diffused among the Arabs (Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Egypt) where it was mostly consumed to stay awake during the night prayers.
At the beginning, to avoid the diffusion of a secret of a plant that was considered precious and magic, Arabs prohibited the exportation, also because until 1400 in Arabia the coffee beans were used not only as a drink, but also by doctors with curative purposes. Later its diffusion expanded from one convent to the other up to capture the whole Arab world.
In the Mecca and in Medina, the first public Tap-Rooms were introduced in the XV century. Men could enter and taste a bitter coffee (only later the use of sugar was introduced), dense with frequent exciting effects. In those furnished and coloured shops, according to the east fashion, the meeting used to proceed listening to the music and playing typical popular games.
But in spite of all this, the use of the drink met some obstacles among the Arab population, because its exciting effects clashed with the strict mandatory Islamic laws. Some authorities condemned its use in public places: many coffee shops closed, the shop-keepers were arrested, all the stored stocks were confiscated and publicly burned. But thanks to the Egypt Sultan, who revoked these orders, coffee achieved such a large diffusion that it became more and more popular. But even if the drink continued its diffusion, its destiny suffered many events and contrarieties, mostly due to the hostility of the Islamic religious authorities that observed that the increase of taverns frequency corresponded to the desertion of the believers to the mosques.
They decided to alarm the population informing them of the damages that coffee caused to the human body. Also physical and ideological persecutions took place: from the pulpits they thundered against that drink preaching that, not only it was prohibited by the laws, but also that drinking it was a greater sin than going to the taverns. To intimidate the population, some Islamic religious started informing that, on the Last Judgment Day the face of the ones who tasted that drink would look more black than the pot they used to prepare it. The authorities were afraid of a rebellion growth inside the coffee shops; while the religious, observing a lower participation to the religious practices, were afraid of loosing their importance. But at least privately, people continued consuming coffee: it became the official and more diffused drink, gaining the name of "wine of Islam".

In the France of King Louis XIV

Coffee during the Napoleonic period

In France coffee was introduced in 1644 by some merchants of Marseille coming from the East. A good success of the drink dates back to 1660 in Marseille where, in 1671, some private citizens opened, following the model of Constantinople, the first public Coffee Shop. This shop was located in the district attended by the richest merchants and sailors who met in that shop not only to drink a cup of steaming coffee, but also to play, smoke and organize their business travels.
Some French vine-growers, seeing that the sale of their product was compromised, started a negative propaganda about coffee with the support of some doctors.
They diffused a Persian tale that demonstrated that it caused impotency and that for this reason coffee was an enemy of love. Also the Town Council of Marseille declared that the drink was "very pernicious to health". On the contrary, the population, knowing the impetuous nature of Arabs, that were the first using coffee, was not persuaded by those rumours and continued drinking the oriental elixir.
As Marseille, also Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Paris had their coffee shops. The only thing that did not immediately meet the public approval was the bitter taste of coffee, because the habit of using sugar did not instantly diffuse. But when the drink appeared in the court of Louis XIV, the shops had a better luck. Louis XIV felt so much in love with the drink that he used to prepare it personally, even when it was offered to his guests. Being held in great consideration by the king, coffee became a fashion for all of the members of the court.
The first coffee shops arose around the famous theatre of the "Comedie Francaise": the first one, opened in 1679, was the first example of theatre coffee shop, a prototype of the future European coffee shops.
More important was the second shop opened in 1686 and located in front of the "Comedie Francaise", that was known for the name of its founder "Cafe' Procope". This shop was an important destination for philosophers, artists, sociologists, politicians, literary men: Diderot, Fontanelle, Voltaire and others attended it and in Europe its name represented an important politic - literary centre. From this one, other coffee shops started receiving artists and intellectuals that met there to exchange their opinions and sometimes to launch new ideas.
In Paris, popular was also the "Cafe' de la Regence", that opened at the end of the eighteenth century and become popular because many famous writers used to meet there. Founded by a Florentine, it was, for importance, the second Cafe' of Paris, with very popular sorbets and ice-creams.
That was a period of such splendour for coffee that also Napoleon was told to be a great estimator of the warm and steaming drink. In coincidence with the block imposed from 1806 to 1813 by the allies against France, some indispensable goods were missing, among which also coffee. The emperor suggested to the population to use a surrogate with a basis of chicory and prohibited the use of coffee. But this lasted for a short time: soon coffee gained again its usual place in the daily habits of the French.

In Germany

The diffusion of coffee in Germany started some years later due to the strong predilection of the population for beer, but then its success caused a recession of the beer consumption.
The first German Coffee Shop dates back to 1679 and was opened by an English merchant in Hamburg.
Other cities with these kind of shops were Frankfurt, Leipzig, Nuremberg and Berlin.
Coffee had such a success to arouse the complaints of the bier-makers and to cause some problems to the state balance. Frederic II of Prussia had to take strict precautions to restrain the blooming coffee market and to raise the state balance. He issued a law stating that the exclusivity of the beans roasting had to be controlled by the State. This law was obviously not appreciated by the population because the richest classes could easily get the authorization.
The law, issued on the 21st of January 1781, prohibited to everyone to get or sell coffee, roasted or to be roasted, with a penalty of ten pounds. He also prohibited to anyone that was not authorised to roast inside his own house or in someone else's granary. Moreover, who was already in possession of bean coffee was forced to inform, within eight days, the government permissions office.
A particular episode shows the importance of coffee. In the suburbs of Berlin some refreshment places were born, where the tourists could stop and get some milk and coffee. But this clashed with the law and the owners had soon to stop the coffee sale. To obviate that obstacle, the owners decided to offer to the travellers only cups and hot water informing them that they could prepare their own coffee by themselves. When the king died, the prohibiting law was fortunately abrogated.

In England

England, known as the country of tea consumers, increased the influence of coffee among the population since the second half of XVII century.
In 1652, the shop-keeper Daniel Eduard, coming back from a travel to East, introduced the coffee beans to his friends, offering them the drink in his house. Following his example, many intellectuals started having meetings in their houses, forming clubs, to taste it while discussing about art, literature and politics. The appreciation of the drink encouraged some people to introduce coffee to London, to public places. Daniel Eduard was the first who opened the popular public coffee shop called "Michael's Alley".
After a quarter of a century from the opening of the first coffee shop, London counted ever 300 places. To attract more customers in the first public place they diffused a leaflet that is currently exposed in the British Museum.
The luck of coffee in England was due to the fact that it helped fighting the problem of alcoholism, which was very diffused in the English society around the second half of the seventeenth century. The propaganda against alcohol handled by the doctors marked the diseases caused by the abuse of high gradation drinks facilitated the success of coffee and its consumption reduced remarkably the vice of drunkenness. Anyway in this country coffee had some periods of uncertainty. In fact, due to the growing popularity of the new public places, women felt neglected by their men that often used to meet in the coffee-shops. For this reason in 1674 they diffused a petition against the drink. As reply to this action, men printed a document aimed to confute those calumnious insinuations.
More drastic effects, even if for a short time, were caused by a real measure against coffee. King Charles II of England, thinking that coffee-shops were places where people could organize subversive demonstrations, in December of 1675, ordered the closure of the shops. This action raised a discontent among the population and the king was forced to revoke it after one week. These two episodes remarked a defeat of the coffee enemies and the success of individual freedom of the citizens and a new input to appreciate the drink in the coffee-shops.

In The United States

In those countries coffee was introduced in 1670 by the colonizers who imposed European habits and customs. Even if not very diffused, coffee achieved its success after the second half of the eighteenth century, gaining the markets of the most important American cities in a short time.

Sweden: an incredible episode

An anecdote concerning coffee takes place is Sweden where in the eighteenth century two groups of citizens stated arguing violently. One of them affirmed that coffee was a better drink than tea while the other one affirmed the contrary. To solve the problem, king Gustav III of Sweden ordered to give only coffee and only tea to two twin brothers sentenced to death in the Stockholm prison. In a short time facts would demonstrate which one would die first.
Observed by doctors and judges, the experiment started, while different citizens bet and predicted which one would resist. Paradoxically both of them survived for many years, while their observing doctors, judges, the king and betters died before the two convicts.
Of the two, the first one who died more than 50 years later than the experiment, was the brother who drank tea, not due to the drink but to the age of 83 years. It is told that the other one died almost centenarian.

Coffee in Turkey

When coffee started its diffusion among the Turkish population, probably due to the ones who had a profit from its consumption, a rumour stated that Allah had some coffee before creation, some tea during the resting day, and some wine when Adam and Eve disobeyed him. The story intended to mean that coffee, sharpening intelligence, stimulated creativity and fantasy.
Some places were opened in the city of Constantinople during the kingdom of Solyman the Magnificent: the first "Cafe' for refined people" that were named "schools of cultured people" or "wisdom schools" where coffee was denominated "milk of the chess players and thinkers".
In this way they soon became places for an elite, more and more numerous, where many diplomatists, intellectual, artists, poets, writes, literary men and public officers met. At any time of the day and night they could taste the invigorating drink. Still today the Turkish way of preparing coffee is very popular. The time passed tasting the warm and dark drink was not only a relax moment, but also moment of communication and discussion: the period during which coffee was looked with disfavour was finished.