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Found a weird coffee fact in an old library book
I was at the Portland library last Tuesday looking for design books and picked up a random history of trade. It said that in the 1700s, some European coffee houses charged one penny for entry and a cup, but refills were free. I always thought the 'bottomless cup' was a modern diner thing. Has anyone else come across old coffee shop rules that seem backwards now?
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torres.mary6mo ago
But what did they do about freeloaders? That model only works if most people buy something extra, so I wonder if they had a time limit or just kicked out obvious loiterers.
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thea_wood866mo ago
That "weird coffee fact" just sounds like a different way to run a cafe. Pay a penny to get in the door and then hang out all day. It was probably more about having a place to meet and talk than the coffee itself. Calling it backwards now is a stretch, it's just a different business model for a different time. I doubt they were losing money on it. People probably bought food or something else once they were inside. It's a neat bit of trivia, but not some huge mystery.
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