{"product_id":"9781780220550","title":"The Coffee-House: A Cultural History","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow the simple commodity of coffee came to rewrite the experience of metropolitan life\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen the first coffee-house opened in London in 1652, customers were bewildered by this strange new drink from Turkey. But those who tried coffee were soon won over. More coffee-houses were opened across London and, in the following decades, in America and Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor a hundred years the coffee-house occupied the centre of urban life. Merchants held auctions of goods, writers and poets conducted discussions, scientists demonstrated experiments and gave lectures, philanthropists deliberated reforms. Coffee-houses thus played a key role in the explosion of political, financial, scientific and literary change in the 18th century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the 19th century the coffee-house declined, but the 1950s witnessed a dramatic revival in the popularity of coffee with the appearance of espresso machines and the 'coffee bar', and the 1990s saw the arrival of retail chains like Starbucks.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orion Publishing Group, Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47131421737200,"sku":"9781780220550","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781780220550_p0.jpg?v=1763711603","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781780220550","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}