Comments on: Oxford, England http://blog.oup.com/2007/07/oxford/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:14:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: John http://blog.oup.com/2007/07/oxford/comment-page-1/#comment-15653 John Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:05:38 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/2007/07/oxford/#comment-15653 Coffee drinking in Oxford even predates 1650. Steven Runciman says the Cretan Nathaniel Conopius, Protosyncellus of Patriarch Cyril and later Archbishop of Smyrna, was the first to drink coffee in Oxford which would be sometime before the Puritans expelled him in 1647. Runciman quotes Anthony à Wood, who appears to be the source for the Jacob information anyway, speaking about Conopius: "While he continued in Balliol College he made the drink for his own use called coffee, and usually drank it every morning, being the first, so the ancients of that house have informed me, that was ever drunk in Oxon." And John Evelyn at Balliol says: "He was the first I ever saw drink coffee which custom came not into England till some thirty years after." Evelyn's diary on this appears to be dated 1637 which would have Conopius drinking coffee in Oxford long before Jacob opened his shop. Jacob's shop incidentally was "at the Angel in the Parish of St. Peter, East Oxford." Coffee drinking in Oxford even predates 1650. Steven Runciman says the Cretan Nathaniel Conopius, Protosyncellus of Patriarch Cyril and later Archbishop of Smyrna, was the first to drink coffee in Oxford which would be sometime before the Puritans expelled him in 1647.

Runciman quotes Anthony à Wood, who appears to be the source for the Jacob information anyway, speaking about Conopius: “While he continued in Balliol College he made the drink for his own use called coffee, and usually drank it every morning, being the first, so the ancients of that house have informed me, that was ever drunk in Oxon.”

And John Evelyn at Balliol says: “He was the first I ever saw drink coffee which custom came not into England till some thirty years after.”

Evelyn’s diary on this appears to be dated 1637 which would have Conopius drinking coffee in Oxford long before Jacob opened his shop.

Jacob’s shop incidentally was “at the Angel in the Parish of St. Peter, East Oxford.”

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