A History of the World in Six Glasses

In the 17th century, educated and wealthy men would go to coffeehouses to learn about business news, politics, gossip, and literature. Businessmen often negotiated new deals over a cup of coffee, while others debated politics and philosophy, using coffee to inspire them. The 19th-century historian Thomas Macauley argued that in the 17th century, wealthy men defined themselves not by where they lived but by which coffeehouses they frequented.

Coffeehouses were public places, except that they excluded women and the poor. Gentlemen and tradesmen (people lower on the social ladder, who didn’t own land), however, were free to discuss intellectual matters with a degree of freedom uncommon elsewhere in their society. Nor were the wealthy afforded more of a voice in coffeehouse conversations because of their power—everyone was given an equal opportunity to speak. Because coffeehouses allowed “everyone” (defined with a narrow spectrum of fairly wealthy men) to pursue their intellectual interests, Standage argues that the coffeehouse was the “Internet” of the Age of Enlightenment.

The first coffeehouse in Western Europe was established at the University of Oxford—a sure sign of the relationship between coffee and intellectual culture. One of the earliest proponents of coffee at Oxford was Christopher Wren, the noted architect, philosopher, and designer of Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London. Wren spread enthusiasm for coffee to many of his friends, including Edmund Halley (the discoverer of Halley’s Comet) and Sir Isaac Newton.

Perhaps the greatest book of the Age of Enlightenment was published because of coffeehouse conversation. Robert Hooke, the noted physicist, was drinking coffee with Halley, Wren, and Newton. Hooke brought up the inverse square law: the mathematical rule that was thought to govern the motion of planets. Newton, inspired by this discussion, decided to publish his book Principia, the foundation of all modern physics. Another key book of the Enlightenment, Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations—the Bible of modern capitalism—was also written largely in a coffeehouse.

Standage argues that science and commerce became heavily intertwined in coffeehouses. Many coffeehouses were patronized primarily by explorers and sailors, and sometimes these patrons would hatch plans to launch new expeditions. Coffeehouses also served as makeshift stock markets, where sellers and buyers would meet to discuss trading. People who defaulted on their payments were often banned from the coffeehouses where they’d made a trade—their names were written on a board. In this way, the coffeehouse took on a kind of authority, promising that all those permitted inside would be trustworthy.

In the mid-1700s, the French philosopher Francois-Marie Arouet de Voltaire rose to prominence for wittily criticizing the foolishness and hypocrisy of the French aristocracy. Voltaire’s books were banned for their supposedly immoral content, yet Voltaire continued to frequent coffeehouses, spending time with such French luminaries as Rousseau and Montesquieu, whose political writings Voltaire influenced.

French coffeehouses were similar to their English counterparts in many ways: they welcomed wealthy and middle-class men (but not women or the poor), and they encouraged open discourse on a wide variety of topics. Yet French coffeehouses were also policed by government authorities, bent on ensuring that the conversation remained civil and respected the king of France. As the century proceeded, however, the coffeehouse increasingly became a place of political revolution. On July 12, 1789, Camille Desmoulins (supposedly) inaugurated the French Revolution at a coffeehouse. Desmoulins stood on a table and cried, “To arms, citizens!” His cries inspired a rapidly-growing mob that soon engulfed the city of Paris.

In contemporary times, coffeehouses remain popular, though they’re far tamer than their ancestors. Coffee is still the drink of conversation and intellectual discourse. Perhaps it’s not entirely a coincidence, Standage suggests, that the American city most associated with coffee, Seattle, is also the seat of many of our largest Internet and software companies—coffee has long been associated with intellectualism, creativity, and innovation.