History Tour of London's Penny Universities

London's original coffee houses were the 'Penny Universities' where you could read the latest news in the first newspapers (which were not widely distributed and were too expensive for the masses). The 17th-century coffee houses were used as auction rooms, and for business deals, medical treatment and the hiring of servants; these early meeting points were essential to the commercial and political development of London. Early social networking? 'Over a couple of caffeinated beverages, the ideas that shaped the Age of Enlightenment and finally dragged Britain out of the medieval era were discussed. The impact of such places, both in London and elsewhere, is hard to overestimate' - [Coffee Society].

Join actors, musicians, and Dr Matthew Green for a caffeinated tour of London’s original – and best – coffeehouses: from the City’s warren of medieval streets, through St Paul’s Churchyard, down historic Fleet Street, and into the cobbled courtyards of the Temple. Free shots of black and gritty coffee, brewed after the 18th-century fashion, included: Unreal City Audio 

The streets of London are awash with chain coffee shops. But they are a dismal incarnation of London’s historic coffee culture: a heady brew of wit, wisdom, innovation…and crucified crocodiles.

London’s love affair with coffee can be traced back 350 years to a muddy churchyard in the heart of the City of London. Dr Green will meet you in this churchyard for it was here, in 1652, that a Greek visionary with a twirly moustache and shocking English accent first sold a foul-looking liquid to the public. Coffee would transform the face of the metropolis forever, spawning more than 3,000 coffeehouses, triggering a media boom, scientific discoveries, literary excellence, freedom of speech, dolphin dissections, and imperial triumphs.  It was coffee, not tea, that built the British Empire.

Learn about the meteoric rise of the coffeehouses in the 17th century as you weave past their original sites on Cornhill, Cheapside, St Paul’s and Fleet Street; jolt as actors in period costume leap out performing real debates that raged around their candlelit tables hundreds of years ago; hear Dr Green tell stories of the kaleidoscopic activities that went on inside their walls: from dolphin dissections at the Grecian Coffeehouse to lethal duels over Latin grammar at Tom’s; from slave auctions at Garraway’s to ventriloquism and viper decapitations at John’s.

Marvel at a world where you could begin a conversation with anyone you liked simply by asking for the latest news; feel a tinge of nostalgia for this lost world of social conviviality as you gaze through the windows of the cloned coffeehouses that have usurped the City.

Listen to Dr Matt Green's 'Coffeecast' and the world of the 18th-century Hackney coffee house for The Hackney Podcast here

Book (Amazon link): London's Coffee Houses by Antony Clayton

From the London Walks Blog: Pasqua Rosée, an Armenian servant of a coffee importer by the name of Daniel Edwards, opened the first coffee shop in London, just off Cornhill, in 1652. Rosée was also responsible for the first coffee house in Paris in 1672.

By 1675 there were more than 3000 coffeehouses in England (cue another joke about a certain Seattle-based chain of coffee emporia having 3000 in one street). King Charles II, however, wasn’t so keen on ‘em. He believed them to be "places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His Majesty and his Ministers." (ed - Sounds like Facebook...)