NYC Icons: The Cup of Coffee
An edible history of New York City's most iconic to-go beverage.
This post is part of the New York City Icons series. In the coming months, I’ll be diving into the history of various iconic New York City foods and drinks, in addition to regular Edible History content.
There is a cafe right next to my subway stop that I often frequent before hopping on the train in the morning. Once I’ve got my coffee in hand, I join the others rushing out the door and down the steps into the station. There are hurried glances up at the arrivals board as commuters attempt to balance their coffee cup while retrieving their MetroCard, swiping, pushing through the turnstiles, and racing towards the incoming train in one seamless New York minute.
We New Yorkers are a hurried people. We walk quickly, we talk quickly. We have places to go, things to do. The cup of coffee, that essential caffeinated beverage, is the fuel that powers the frenetic energy of this city. And it has been a part of Gotham’s story since the very beginning.
Back in the 1690s, one of the first places New Yorkers could get a cup of coffee was The King’s Arms. In this tavern setting, locals (and visitors) could have a meal – probably a more meat-and-potato forward menu – and any of the popular beverages of the time: ale, rum or coffee.
The concept of the cafe, a place where people could sit and enjoy a leisurely cup of coffee and perhaps some good conversation too, finds its origins almost a century earlier in Constantinople (today Istanbul). In the 17th century, cafes began to pop up in European cities, where they became centers of intellectual thought (unlike alcohol which dulls the senses, coffee sharpens the mind). Politics and philosophy were discussed over cups of the caffeinated beverage. The stereotype of the cafe-going intellectual hipster – glasses, laptop and book in hand – is nothing new.
Back in the U.S. a revolutionary spirit swept through 18th century New York establishments like the Exchange Coffee House, The Merchant’s Coffee House and Tontine Coffee House. In these coffee houses plans were made to overthrow the British – and then to nation-build once the war was over. Notions of liberty, equality, and justice were discussed and business was practiced. Before 30 story office tower blocks covered the island of Manhattan, merchants and traders operated out of these coffee houses, sort of like an 18th century co-working space. Deals were made and early forms of stocks were traded. In fact the New York Stock Exchange originated at the Tontine Coffee House in 1792, when traders who regularly met there outlined and agreed to a new set of rules and regulations. And so coffee becomes a part of America’s origin story, deeply embedded in two of our most sacred pillars: patriotism and capitalism.