Read the following passage and answer the questions given after it.
In 17th and 18th century England, coffeehouses were popular places for people from all walks of life to go and meet, chat, gossip and have fun, whilst enjoying the latest fashion, a drink newly arrived in Europe from Turkey - coffee.
Whilst the taste of 17th century coffee was not very palatable - indeed, it tasted quite disgusting according to accounts of the time but the caffeine in it and the ‘buzz’ it provided, proved quite addictive.
The first coffeehouse in England was opened in Oxford in 1652. In London, the first one was opened later that same year in at St Michael’s Alley, Cornhill, by an eccentric Greek named PasquaRoseé. Soon they were commonplace.
The new coffeehouses became fashionable places for the chattering classes to meet, conduct business, gossip, exchange ideas and debate the news of the day. Unlike public houses, no alcohol was served and women were excluded. Each coffeehouse had a particular clientele, usually defined by occupation, interest or attitude, such as Tories and Whigs, traders and merchants, poets and authors, and men of fashion and leisure.
Polite conversation led to reasoned and sober debate on matters of politics, science, literature and poetry, commerce and religion, so much so that London coffeehouses became known as ‘penny universities’, as that was the price of a cup of coffee. Influential patrons included Samuel Pepys, John Dryden, Alexander Pope and Isaac Newton.
However not all coffeehouses hosted such highbrow clientele: some were haunts for criminals, scoundrels and pimps.
Anyone of any social class could frequent the coffeehouses, and so they became associated with equality and republicanism. So much so that in 1675 an attempt to ban them was made by Charles II, which caused such a public outcry that it was withdrawn.