England: A London Coffee House. 1668 painting of an early centre of political and financial society

Historians define English coffeehouses as public social houses during the 17th and 18th centuries, in which patrons would assemble for conversation and social interaction, while taking part in the newly emerging coffee consumption habits of the time. Travellers introduced coffee as a beverage to England during the mid-17th century.

For the price of a penny, customers purchased a cup of coffee and admission to a coffeehouse, where men engaged in conversation. Topics discussed within the coffeehouses included politics and political scandals, daily gossip, fashion, current events, and debates surrounding philosophy and the natural sciences. Historians often associate English coffeehouses, during the 17th and 18th centuries, to the intellectual and cultural history of the Age of Enlightenment.

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Pictures From History