and also find out about the latest intellectual knowledge and participate in debates and discussions. (It could be said that coffee has ‘bean’ the grounds of many a heated and strong discussion!) How does Ned’s compare, then? According to Rachel Price, most students and staff visit our very own Penny University for a pick-me-up, espe- cially in the morning, and in addition, some departments use it as a relaxed meeting space. Many British institutions can trace their roots back to cof- feehouses, including the London Stock Exchange, Lloyds of London, and Sotheby’s and Christie’s. King Charles II tried to ban coffeehouses in 1675, fearing that they could be used to help people plan treason – although that wasn’t the reason he advertised! The ban lasted just 11 days. Clearly, the Stuarts didn’t appreciate being unable to buy coffee, chocolate, sherbet or tea. Modern coffee-making has come on leaps and bounds since the 17th century. For starters, many more types of coffee are available, as well as plenty of different meth- ods of preparation. One relatively new, and increasingly popular, method is cold brew, where coffee is left in cold water for 12 to 24 hours. Other methods, such as pour- over and French press, do exist, but I expect most of you, dear readers, will likely stick to your coffees made from
I managed to get an interview with one of Ned’s staff, Rachel Price, who has been working as a barista at Ned’s for 10 years. She told me that, on the whole, staff prefer flat whites, while students prefer lattes. As for syrups, staff rarely take them, with the majority of syrup con- sumption coming from students, who love it in their lattes. If you’re looking to avoid queues at Ned’s, I recommend you do not come in at 8:15 or 10:30, since that is when they are at their busiest. Coffee was first introduced to Britain in the late 16th century, by travellers returning from Turkey and the Middle East. It was first written about in 1637, by Ox- ford academic John Evelyn, before the opening of the first coffeehouse in Britain, in Oxford, in 1650. Originally known as The Angel, the coffeehouse now operates as The Grand Café and is still open, and can be visited to this day. A trader of coffee back then described it as ‘a simple, innocent thing, incomparable good for those that are troubled with melancholy’. This is backed up by mod- ern science: caffeine acts as a mild euphoriant, reducing the rate of dopamine reabsorption (similarly to cocaine!), and is associated with reduced symptoms of depression and a lower risk of suicide. London’s first coffeehouse was established in St Michael’s Alley in the City of London. It is now a pub: the Jamaica Wine House. In its heyday as a coffeehouse, it sold as many as a whopping 600 cups per day. By 1675, there were an estimated 3000 coffee houses in England alone, and they were often referred to as ‘Penny Universities’, because for the price of a penny, you could get a coffee,
FUN FACTS
Arabica and Robusta beans currently make up 99% of coffee consumed worldwide Across the world, nearly 176 million 60kg bags of coffee were consumed in the year 2021 to 2022 Brazil is the world’s largest coffee exporter, followed by Vietnam Penny Universities created a network of information-sharing, with messengers travelling from Penny University to Penny University, and to anywhere else where new knowledge was to be found, such as academic institutions and even dockside areas
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THE ALLEYNIAN 712
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