The proliferation of coffee houses in seventeenth century London made King Charles II nervous. Coffee houses were ideal places to chew the political fat, which could perhaps include ideas of dissent and decapitation – so in view of his father’s fate, Charles’ reaction is not surprising. So what is a King to do? Ban them of course, which Charles attempted to do by a Proclamation issued on this day in 1675.

Naturally, it does not do for a King to publicly proclaim insecurity about his head, so Charles’ argument was that coffee houses disturbed the peace of the realm and promoted idleness and some scurrilous and defamatory rumor-mongering.
[from http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2006/12/king-bans-coffee.html]

The post A Note from the Master: A Ban on Coffee appeared first on Caravan Coffee.