The history of Coffee in Germany - part 2

Germany...
 Coffee was prohibited from the working classes on the grounds that it caused sterility, but this simply gave rise to a lively black market trade. The king finally outlawed the roasting of beans in private homes, even appointing "coffee sniffers" to track down illicit aromas to their source. This ludicrous state of affairs was short-lived, though, and by beginning of the 19th century, coffee had been reinstated.
 Germany now took the lead in European coffee consumption. Coffee was served at mealtimes and at family get-togethers on Sunday afternoons. Coffee houses nevertheless remained no-go areas to respectable women. However, in public parks there were pavilions and special tents ( Zelte) to which families could bring  their own pre-ground coffee, and the patrons simply provided hot water. The turn of the century saw the rise of another family-style institution - the Cafe - which sold cakes as well as hot drinks. At first these Konditorein were used as an alternative to the coffee houses, but eventually they took over and the old-style coffee house gradually disappeared.

 resources: ""The World Encyclopedia of Coffee"" 

The history of Coffee in Germany

Germany...
 Coffee was introduced in 1675 to the court in Brandenburg in northern Germany by a Dutch physician. He was encouraged by Frederick William , a ruler known for his Calvinistic attitudes and temperate habits. Around the same time , the first coffee houses opened in Bremen, Hanover and Hamburg. Other cities rapidly follow suit and by the early 18th century, there were eight in Leipzig and ten or more in Berlin alone.
 Coffee remained a drink of the aristocratic classes for some time. The middle and lower classes did not take to it until the early 18th century and it was even later before coffee was drunk at home.
 Since the coffee houses were a male stronghold, middle-class women set up Kaffeekränzschen (coffee clubs)- referred to by their uneasy husbands as Kaffeeklatch ( coffee gossip).
 In 1777, in an ill-concealed  attempt to protect the breweries and to stem the flow of income to foreign dealers, Frederick the Great, rather hypocritically, issued a manifesto, part of which reads:
 "It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee used by my subject...My people must drink beer...Many battles were fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer; ans the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be depended upon to endure hardship or to beat his enemies..."
 .....to be continued......


resources: "The world Encyclopedia of Coffee"- Mary Banks, Christine McFadden, Catherine Atkinson/