Reason I say this, I know a lot of my friends are coffee drinkers, plus they have a heavy interest in enjoying themselves at a local or chain coffee shop. Starbucks, Crazy Mocha, etc....
But one that stood out to me was titled: Kiva Han. And, most of you Pittsburgher's have probably heard of it. It's a small little shop on Craig Street, that's literally facing a Starbucks on the opposite side of the street. Yet, it was still packed out.
But, this name intrigued me and sounded familiar, but, I had no idea why. So, I researched it a bit.
Which leads me to telling a history of the coffeehouse or café.
In the United States, the French word for coffeehouse (café) means an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals.
The Ottoman chronicler İbrahim Peçevi reports the opening of the first coffeehouse in Istanbul:
Until the year 1555, in the High, God-Guarded city of Constantinople, as well as in Ottoman lands generally, coffee and coffee-houses did not exist. About that year, a fellow called Hakam from Aleppo and a wag called Shams from Damascus came to the city; they each opened a large shop in the district called Tahtakale, and began to purvey coffee.
Various legends involving the introduction of coffee to Istanbul at a "Kiva Han" in the late 15th century circulate in culinary tradition, but with no documentation.
From this, In the 17th century, coffee appeared for the first time in Europe outside the Ottoman Empire, and coffeehouses were established and quickly became popular. The first coffeehouses reached Western Europe probably through the Kingdom of Hungary (thus this was the mediator between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire) and appeared in Venice, due to the trafficks between La Serenissima and the Ottomans; the very first one is recorded in 1645. The first coffeehouse in England was set up in Oxford in 1650 in a building now known as "The Grand Cafe".
It blows my mind to think that a hobby or the simple enjoyment of relaxing a coffeehouse dates back all the way to the late 1500's. Even the fact that some coffee houses such as 'Kiva Han' in Istanbul and 'The Grand Cafe' in England still stand and are in use.
So, Today I took a trip to Kiva Han for an afternoon 'pick-me-up' and ordered a 'Iced Hawaiian Coffee'. Never heard of anything like that before. It's a regular Iced coffee flavored with Coconut and Pineapple. Three great things I never once though to combine, creating an ambrosial canapé of tropic comfit with a mellow coffee finish. I would recommend at least trying it once.
