The
coffeehouse first make its appearance in Persia during the 16th
century. Known as the qahveh-khaneh, the coffeehouse served as a
social gathering place. Only open to males at the time, the early
coffeehouse was a place where you could go to drink coffee or tea
while listening to music or playing games like chess or backgammon.
Often these early coffee shop dwellers went to the coffeehouse to
listen to a recitation from the Shahnameh.
The
next century, the coffeehouse began to be popularized in Europe. The
first London coffeehouse opened in 1652 and these European
establishments served the same social role as the coffeehouse in the
Middle East. The coffeehouse was a place where people would go to
meet, business was conducted, and newspapers were read. Coffeehouses
throughout Europe became great centers of political activity. They
became one of the freest places for regular people to discuss
politics and exchange ideas. In fact this tradition continues. To
highlight how quickly coffeehouses became popular in Europe, by 1739
there were 551 coffeehouses in London, less than one hundred years
after the first coffee house opened.
It
was from the espresso and pastry styled Italian coffeehouses that
the current form of American immigrant communities there have always
been European styled coffeehouses. Currently coffee shops in America
continue to have a large social resonance. Considering that anybody
under the age of 21 is restricted from entering bars, coffee shops
are now primary social meeting places for America's youth. Often
coffee shops will feature live music and commonly plays the latest
in in die music or jazz classics. In addition to independent coffee
stores that mirror Italian styled coffee houses, there has been
arise of sophisticated coffee chains like Starbucks that have copied
these early American coffeehouse but cleaned up its countercultural
element to create the sophisticated mainstream cafe.
Another recent establishment in the coffeehouse has been the
introduction of cannabis coffee shops where sales of soft drugs like
marijuana or hash is tolerated by local authorities. Particularly
prominent in Amsterdam, the cannabis coffee shop evolution of the
social benefits of coffee.
