London's first coffee house
In 1652 London’s first coffee house was opened by the eccentric Pasqua Roseé, who was probably born in Greek in the early seventeenth century. Roseé was a servant for the British merchant Daniel Edwards in Smyrna (Turkey) and there he developed a taste for the exotic, Arabic, caffeinated drink and made the excellent decision to import it to England, after he and Edwards had to leave Smyrna because of the outbreak of the plague. Back in London the merchant helped Roseé to establish his own business in St. Michael’s Alley in Cornhill, known as the “The Turk’s Head” because its sign was Pasqua’s own head. In his establishment Roseé sold coffee to the public and this was an instant success – he sold over 600 dishes of coffee a day and triggered an explicit coffee house boom in London. Coffee developed to a respectable alternative to the standard breakfast drinks of this time – wine and small beer- and many people swarmed to his shop to meet, to drink the new coffee, think , write and exchange the latest gossip. Also Samuel Pepys is reputed to be a customer of “The Turk’s Head”. On Monday 10th December 1660 he visited it and entered into his diary: “He and I in the evening to the Coffee House in Cornhill, the first time that ever I was there, and I found much pleasure in it, through the diversity of company and discourse.” (http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1660/12/10/).
Roseé as a good businessman also advertised his new drink in a handbill entitled “The Vertue of the Coffee Drink” (1652); there he claimed e. g. that coffee is good against sore eyes, will prevent drowsiness, and makes one fit for business. Unfortunately Pasqua Roseé hadn’t experienced a lifelong career with his “Turk’s Head”. The foreign coffee house owner was persecuted for much of his stay and career in London by tavern owners who didn’t like the competition with the successful businessman at all. They finally drove him out of the country. There is no record of his life after his had left the British capital, but speculations suggest that he went to the Netherlands and introduced the coffee house concept to Holland in 1664. London tourists and inhabitants can still visit the place of London’s first coffee house by Roseé. Today it is a pub, a wine bar, called the “Jamaica Wine House”, which is still situated in St. Michael’s Alley, Cornhill. A plaque on the wall of the pub reminds the visitor of the special historic background of the place. It tells about the founder: “Here stood the first London coffee House at the sign of Pasqua Rosee’s head 1652."(http://www.citypubs.co.uk/pubs/thejamaicawinehouse.html).
Sources:
http://blog.oup.com/2012/10/pasqua-rosee-and-the-coffee-shop/ (16.6.13)
http://londonparticulars.wordpress.com/tag/pasqua-rosee/ (16.6.13)
http://hoydensandfirebrands.blogspot.de/2010/08/london-coffee-houses.html (16.6.13)
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/printable/92862 (16.6.13)
http://www.citypubs.co.uk/pubs/thejamaicawinehouse.html (16.6.13)