Looking Into The History Of Coffee
History of coffee intro:
Coffee is a global cultural staple with a rich and complex journey from its origins to its role in modern society. This research explores how coffee houses developed into social spaces, how they became a hub of ideas and information, and how the global coffee industry supports millions of communities around the world.
Research & References:
History of coffee and early coffee houses
Source: National Coffee Association – “History of Coffee”
- In this article it describes how early coffee houses in the Middle East functioned as lively public space where people would drink coffee, listen to music and performances, play games and keep up with current news and discussions
- This shows that even in the 15th and 16th century coffee had ties to bringing the community together and exchanging information.
Coffees societal role
Source: Common Coffe – article on coffee and social connection
- This article talked about how English coffee houses became known as “penny universities”, where people from different backgrounds could come together to hear conversations and ideas from scholars for the price of a cup.
- This highlights the role that coffee has had in education, supporting debates, and fostering creativity in shared spaces
Economics and global production
Source: Etonomics – “The Economics of coffee”
- Around 100 million people are supported by the modern coffee trade with countries like Brazil producing around 40% of the world’s coffee.
- This showcases how central coffee has become to numerous developing nations as the global trade continually increases and has moved from its origin in Ethiopia.
Visual Representation:
From the Ottoman empire to the modern day, how coffee shops have changed but stayed the same.
My experience:
Over my time at University of Southampton these coffee shops have acted as a study space, date location, friendship meetup and as a coffee shop. This highlights the social & economic impact coffee shops have continued to have over the years.