In the 17th century, coffee appeared for the first time in Europe outside the Ottoman Empire, and coffeehouses were established and quickly became popular. The first coffeehouses reached Western Europe probably through the Kingdom of Hungary, (thus this was the mediator between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire) and appeared in Venice, due to the trafficks between La Serenissima and the Ottomans; the very first one is recorded in 1645. The first coffeehouse in England was set up in Oxford in 1652 by a Jewish man named Jacob at the Angel in the parish of St Peter in the East in a building now known as "The Grand Cafe"....researchers involved in an ongoing 22-year study by the Harvard School of Public Health state that "the overall balance of risks and benefits [of coffee consumption] are on the side of benefits." For example, men who drank six or more cups of coffee per day were found to have a 20% reduction in developing prostate cancer.
Other studies suggest coffee consumption reduces the risk of being affected by Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, cirrhosis of the liver, and gout. A longitudinal study in 2009 showed that those who consumed a moderate amount of coffee or tea (3–5 cups per day) at midlife were less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer's disease in late-life compared with those who drank little coffee or avoided it altogether. It increases the risk of acid reflux and associated diseases. Most of coffee's beneficial effects against type 2 diabetes are not due to its caffeine content, as the positive effects of consumption are greater in those who drink decaffeinated coffee. The presence of antioxidants in coffee has been shown to prevent free radicals from causing cell damage. A recent study showed that roast coffee, high in lipophilic antioxidants and chlorogenic acid lactones, protected primary neuronal cell cultures against hydrogen peroxide-induced cell death.
Caffeine has been associated with its ability to act as an antidepressant. A review by de Paulis and Martin indicated a link between a decrease in suicide rates and coffee consumption, and suggested that the action of caffeine in blocking the inhibitory effects of adenosine on dopamine nerves in the brain reduced feelings of depression. A 1992 study concluded that about 10% of people with a moderate daily intake (235 mg per day) experienced increased depression and anxiety when caffeine was withdrawn.
A plaque on the wall still commemorates this and the cafe is now a trendy cocktail bar. Oxford's Queen's Lane Coffee House, established in 1654, is also still in existence today. The first coffeehouse in London was opened in 1652 in St Michael's Alley, Cornhill. The proprietor was Pasqua Rosée, the Armenian servant of a trader in Turkish goods named Daniel Edwards, who imported the coffee and assisted Rosée in setting up the establishment in St Michael's Alley, Cornhill. By 1675, there were more than 3,000 coffeehouses in England.
Pasqua Rosée also established Paris' first coffeehouse in 1672 and held a city-wide coffee monopoly until Procopio Cutò opened the Café Procope in 1686. This coffeehouse still exists today and was a major meeting place of the French Enlightenment; Voltaire, Rousseau, and Denis Diderot frequented it, and it is arguably the birthplace of the Encyclopédie, the first modern encyclopedia. America had its first coffeehouse in Boston, in 1676.
A rebuted tale of Vienna's first cafeteria said that it was founded in 1683 by a Polish resident, Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki. In general, the first Polish cafes were founded in Warsaw in 1724 by one of the courtiers of Polish King August II Sass. However the whole culture of drinking coffee was itself widespread in the country in the second half of XVIII century. The first registered coffee house in Vienna was founded by the Greek Johannes Theodat (also known as Johannes Diodato) in 1685. Fifteen years later, four Greek owned coffeehouses had the privilege to serve coffee.
Johann Sebastian Bach was once heard to say: "Bring me a bowl of coffee before I turn into a goat!"
M4