Header image: KF in Dall-E
(1675~1750)
Late 17th-century coffee-houses were noted for their egalitarian and democratic character; people of all ranks sat alongside one another, actively engaging in debate with both friends and strangers alike. The layout of many coffee-houses fostered this rich social mixing. Many coffee-houses possessed long communal tables where patrons were expected to sit and engage in conversation. From all walks of life people came to sip from a bowl of coffee and chat with their neighbours, free from the social conventions of class and deference that were usually extended to social superiors in other settings.
Writing in the early 18th century, Swiss visitor Cesare de Saussure noted how the English coffee-house was generally ‘not over clean or well furnished, owing to the quantity of people who resort to these places’. Among the clientele were not only dandies, scholars, wits and politicians, but also workmen and the less well-off, who ‘habitually begin the day by going to coffee-rooms in order to read the latest news’.[10]
The socially ‘levelling’ effects of coffee-house conversations were responsible for the growth of a new ‘public sphere’, in which criticism of the court and government could be freely expressed by all comers, without fear of arrest or prosecution – a focal point for vociferous political edebate that we value as a key feature of democracy today.
(Evidence of women attending coffee-houses is sparse: they were overwhelmingly frequented by a male clientele.)
Contemporary coffee drinkers recognised this ‘civilising’ atmosphere at the time. Joseph Addison, for example (the publisher of The Spectator magazine), believed that by the early 1700s the coffee-house existed as a refuge from the ‘savagery’ and anonymity of bustling urban society, where new standards of genteel behaviour could grow and flourish.[11] Similarly, Richard Steele described the coffee-house as a rendezvous for ‘all that live near it, who are thus turned to relish calm and ordinary Life’, where men of all ranks could evade the rough and tumble of London life.[12]
By the close of the 18th century the popularity of coffee-houses had declined dramatically. Already by the 1750s consumption of tea, which many people found to be a sweeter, more palatable drink of choice, was beginning to eclipse that of coffee.[14] Unlike coffee, tea was also surprisingly cheap and simple to prepare in the comfort of the home, without the need for any complex roasting and grinding.
By the late 1700s the socially mixed and welcoming character of the coffee-house had changed dramatically. Many coffee-houses had become more exclusive in character, and only opened their doors to a well-heeled clientele able to afford expensive subscription fees. After mid-century many popular coffee-houses were transformed into elite private member clubs, in business for the benefit of wealthy and aristocratic gentlemen only.[15] The welcoming hospitality of the late 17th century had been replaced by a more private, individualistic form of social entertainment.