History of Coffee.....

[Mark Harris]

Nicolas asks:

>Does anyone have anything on the history of coffee and its use in our 
>period?

Try this file in the BEVERAGES section of my SCA Rialto Files:

coffee-msg        (23K)  7/16/96    Coffee and coffee-type drinks.

Several messages mention this book:
"Coffee and Coffeehouses: the origins of a social beverage
in the Medieval Near East" (ISBN 0-295-96231-3) by Ralph S. Hattox

It doesn't appear to be used in Europe though in our period if you
assume 1600 as the cut-off:

What is your source for this date? C. Anne Wilson, _Food and Drink in
Britain_, dates the first coffeehouse in England to 1650, and I have not
seen evidence for use earlier. The Larousse Gastronomique says that Coffee
reached Italy in 1615--although I would consider it a less reliable source
than Wilson on matters historical.
-- 
David/Cariadoc

Also worth noting is that while there are a number of eyewitness descriptions
of coffee usage by 16th century Europeans, this book provides no support
for the use of coffee outside the Near East pre-1600. Sorry folks.

Keridwen ferch Morgan Glasfryn 

There are other messages in this file though about coffee's origins and it's
use in the Middle East and directions on brewing Turkish coffee.

My files are available at:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/rialto/rialto.html

Ld. Stefan li Rous
Barony of Bryn Gwlad
markh at risc.sps.mot.com