A Brief Description of the Excellent Vertues of That Sober and Wholesome Drink, Called Coffee (1674)

The expansion of the slave trade in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was directly linked to Europeans’ appetite for the commodities slave labor produced, including coffee. European travelers and merchants had first noticed people drinking coffee in the Middle East in the late sixteenth century, and its consumption slowly spread from there into Europe. With the drink came the rise of a new type of gathering place, the coffeehouse. In 1652, a Greek merchant who had learned to make coffee while working in a Turkish trading port opened the first coffeehouse in western Europe in London. The number of coffeehouses in London, and eventually all over Europe, exploded when western European trading nations moved into the business of coffee production. Coffeehouses became places for men to meet for company and conversation, often with a political bent. The broadsheet transcribed here illuminates the origins of coffeehouse culture as merchants sought to entice customers to partake in the “sober and wholesome drink” and the sociability of the coffeehouse. Composed of two poems, the broadsheet was printed in 1674, most likely as an advertisement for coffee, coffeehouses, and the retail coffee business of Paul Greenwood situated in the heart of London’s textile district. The first poem contrasts the detrimental effects of alcohol with the “sober and merry” effects of coffee. The second describes the rules of behavior coffeehouse patrons were expected to follow. Scholars have suggested that, despite its slightly satirical tone, the poem is an accurate portrayal of the regulations governing coffeehouses and may have been printed on large sheets of paper and posted on the walls of coffeehouses in London.

Transcription of original, as reproduced in Markman Ellis, ed., Eighteenth-Century Coffee-House Culture, vol. 1, Restoration Satire (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2006), 129.

A Brief Description of the Excellent Vertues of that Sober and Wholesome Drink, called Coffee, and its incomparable effects in preventing or curing most diseases incident to humane bodies (London, printed for Paul Greenwood . . . who selleth the best Arabian Coffee-Powder and Chocolate, made in Cake or in Roll, after the Spanish Fashion, &c., 1674).¹

When the sweet Poison of the Treacherous Grape,

Had Acted on the world a General Rape;

Drowning our very Reason and our Souls

In such deep Seas of large o’reflowing Bowls,

That New Philosophers Swore they could feel

The Earth to Stagger, as her Sons did Reel:

When Foggy Ale, leavying up mighty Trains

Of muddy Vapors, had besieg’d our Brains;

And Drink, Rebellion, and Religion too,

Made Men so Mad, they knew not what to do;

Then Heaven in Pity, to Effect our Cure,

And stop the Ragings of that Calenture,

First sent amongst us this All-healing-Berry,

At once to make us both Sober and Merry.

Arabian coffee, a Rich Cordial

To Purse and Person Beneficial,

Which of so many Vertues doth partake

Its Country’s called Felix for its sake.²

From the Rich Chambers of the Rising Sun,

. . .

COFFEE arrives, that Grave and wholesome Liquor,

That heals the Stomack, makes the Genius quicker,

Relieves the Memory, Revives the Sad,

And cheers the Spirits, without making Mad;

. . .

Its constant Use the sullenest Griefs will Rout,

Remove the Dropsie, gives ease to the Gout,³

. . .

A Friendly Entercourse⁴ it doth Maintain

Between the Heart, the Liver, and the Brain,

. . .

Nor have the LADIES reason to Complain,

As fumbling Doe-littles⁵ are apt to Faign;

COFFEE’s no Foe to their obliging Trade,

By it Men rather are more active made;

’Tis stronger Drink, and base adulterate Wine;

Enfeebles Vigor, and makes Nature Pine;

Loaden with which, th’ Impotent Sott is Led

Like a Sowe’d Hogshead to a Misses Bed;⁶

But this Rare Settle-Brain prevents those Harms,⁷

Conquers Old Sherry, and brisk Claret Charms.

Sack, I defie thee with an open Throat,

Whilst Truly COFFEE is my Antedote

. . .

The RULES and ORDERS of the COFFEE-HOUSE.⁸

Enter Sirs Freely, But first if you please,

Peruse our Civil-Orders,⁹ which are these.

First, Gentry, Tradesmen, all are welcome hither,

And may without Affront sit down Together:

Pre-eminence of Place, none here should Mind,¹⁰

But take the next fit Seat that he can find:

Nor need any, if Finer Persons come,

Rise up for to assigne to them his Room;

To limit Mens Expense, we think not fair,

But let him forfeit Twelve-pence that shall Swear:

He that shall any Quarrel begin,

Shall give each Man a Dish t’Atone the Sin;

And so shall He, whose Complements extend

So far to drink in COFFEE to his Friend;

Let Noise of loud Disputes be quite forborn,

No Maudlin Lovers¹¹ here in Corners Mourn,

But all be Brisk, and Talk, but not too much

On Sacred things, Let none presume to touch,

Nor Profane Scripture, or sawcily wrong

Affairs of State¹² with an Irreverent Tongue:

Let Mirth be Innocent, an each Man see,

That all his Jests without Reflection be;

To keep the House more Quiet, and from Blame,

We Banish hence Cards, Dice, and every Game:

Nor can allow of Wagers, that Exceed

Five shillings, which oft-times much Trouble Breed;

Let all that’s lost, or forfeited be spent

In such Good Liquor as the House doth Vent,

And Customers endeavor to their Powers,

For to observe still seasonable Howers.

Lastly, let each Man what he calls for Pay,

And so you’re welcome to come every Day.

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