Just as coffee hasn't always existed, coffee shops haven't always existed. To tell how these places of sociality were born we must go back in time to 1400.
We are in Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire, here in 1475 the first place open to the public that served coffee opened, with the name of Kiva Han. Here, Turkish coffee was brewed strong, black and unfiltered, usually in an ibrik. For the Turkish people, this drink was an extremely serious business, so much so that it was legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he did not provide her with enough coffee.
The first coffee house in Europe was founded in the 6th century in Vienna by Franz Georg Kolschitzky. The Austrian capital had been invaded for many years by the Turkish army, when they left they left numerous bags of coffee in the city. Kolschitzky was the only one to recognize the precious value of the beans abandoned by the Ottomans, he claimed the coffee as war booty and opened a coffee shop. Knowing the habits of Europeans, he introduced the idea of filtering coffee and making the drink less strong by adding milk and sugar. the coffee was a resounding success, and when these places also began to serve small pastries their popularity exploded.
In 1652 the first coffee shop opened in Great Britain, thanks to a merchant who traded Turkish goods including coffee. It was here that the word "tips" was born; a jar with the words “To insure prompt service” was on top of the counter. The adventurers put a coin inside to be served more quickly.
From Great Britain, the idea of the coffee shop spread further to continental Europe: to Italy in 1654, to Paris in 1672 and to Germany in 1673 and in the following years to the rest of the world.