a coffee regularly at Amsterdam in 1663; and by 1679 the
French had developed a considerable trade in the berry between the
Levant and the cities of Lyons and Marseilles. Meanwhile, the coffee
drink had become fashionable in Paris, partly through its use by the
Turkish ambassador, and the first Parisian _cafe_ was opened in 1672. It
is significant of its steady popularity since then that the name _cafe_,
which is both French and Spanish for coffee, has come to mean a general
eating or drinking place.

[Illustration: BILL OF PUBLIC SALE OF COFFEE, ETC., 1790

Reproduction of an advertisement by the Dutch East India Company]

Active trading in coffee began in Germany about 1670, and in Sweden
about 1674.

Trading in coffee in England followed swiftly upon the heels of the
opening of the first coffee house in London in 1652. By 1700, the trade
included not only exporting and importing merchants, but wholesale and
retail dealers; the latter succeeding the apothecaries who, up to then,
had enjoyed a kind of monopoly of the business.

Trade and literary authorities[318] on coffee trading tell us that in
the early days of the eighteenth century the chief supplies of coffee
for England and western Europe came from the East Indies and Arabia. The
Arabian, or--as it was more generally known--Turkey berry, was bought
first-hand by Turkish merchants, who were accustomed to travel inland in
Arabia Felix, and to contract with native growers.

It was moved thence by camel transport through Judea to Grand Cairo,
_via_ Suez, to be transhipped down the Nile to Alexandria, then the
great shipping port for Asia and Europe. By 1722, 60,000 to 70,000 bales
of Turkish (Arabian) coffee a year were being received in England, the
sale price at Grand Cairo being fixed by the Bashaw, who "valorized" it
according to the supply. "Indian" coffee, which was also grown in
Arabia, was brought to Bettelfukere (Beit-el-fakih) in the mountains of
southwestern Arabia, where English, Dutch, and French factors went to
buy it and to transport it on camels to Moco (Mocha), whence it was
shipped to Europe around the Cape of Good Hope.

In the beginning, "Indian" coffee was inferior to Turkish coffee;
because it was the refuse, or what remained after the Turkish merchants
had taken the best. But after the European merchants began to make their
own purchases at Bettelfukere, the character of the "Indian" product as
sold in the London and other European mark