c. 600 AD Eureka! Coffee, originally discovered in central Ethiopia, is brought by Arab traders to what is now Yemen and used as medicine.

1582 No Ordinary Cup Writing from Assyria, Leonhart Rauwolf refers to a "black beverage" with apparent astonishing effects on the brain called "Chaube."

Early 1600ās A new drink in town A London merchant introduces coffee, imported from the Ottoman Empire immediately praised as an antidote to drunkenness.

1652 Strong Enough for a Man... Londonās first known coffee house, "Angel", opens in Oxford. Women are not allowed.

c 1680 The "Sun" king Franceās Louis XIV is presented with coffee by the Grand Turk. An ardent drinker, his thirst for the beverage was only slightly exceeded by his thirst to extend Franceās borders to Germany.

1683 "A Macchiato and a band of plundering marauders, bitte" Turks invade Vienna - and bring coffee with them. Cafe Koschitsky becomes the first coffee house on the European continent.

1697 "A Macchiato and three shares of Enron, if you please" Coffee houses become central to everyday London social life, housing everything from client meetings to auctions and stock trading.

1750 The Toast of Paris Coffee becomes a hit in Paris, where elegant cafes in and around the Palais Royale serve wealthy intelligentsia and politicians. Featuring marble top tables, paneling, gilding, and painted glass they become central to the intellectual and social life.

c 1800 "Let them Drink Lattes" After the French Revolution many cafes are destroyed by an angry proletariat. Coffee goes underground in France for half a century.

1815 Birth of a Concept When the Russians defeat Napoleon at Waterloo they descend on Paris insisting on their food and drink Ībistro, bistroā (Īfast, fastā in Russian). The name sticks and Ībistrosā, where peasants sell coal and wood for heating as well as wine and small meals, are born.

1848 Revolution Cafe Pilvaz in Budapest becomes headquarters of the National Revolution against Austria.

1850s Vive le Café! After nearly fifty years, French cafes are opened outside towns and villages, and the number of cafes grows tremendously with the Law of 1880 liberalizing drinking.

1850s Vive Paris! In Paris, Baron Hausmann begins to rebuild the Right Bank giving birth to 24,000 cafes. As in London 200 years earlier, the café becomes central to French daily life.

1850s This Moment in Brewing History The primary means of making coffee is still via the Turkish method (bringing grounds and coffee to boil three times) or the infusion method (steep coffee in boiled water).

1855 Will the First Espresso Machine Please Stand Up? The first espresso machine is exhibited at the Paris fair. (Or so the history books say).

1866 Inspiration in them there Leaves Societe Anonyme des Artistes begins using Cafe Guerbois as a favorite meeting place. Members include Manet, Degas, Monet, Renoir, Bazille, Cezanne, Zola and many more.

1880s Been There, Done That Over 200 cafe-concerts such as Folies-Bergere and Cafe des Ambassadeurs exist throughout Paris.

1890s Café as Architectural Coup Architects begin to specialize in café design: Marjorelle, Sauvage, Guimard, Joseph Hoffman and the Wiener Werkstatte emerge as leaders of the new field.

1890s Meanwhile, in Hungary Budapest's Cafe New York employs the same architect that managed the reconstruction of the Royal Palace. Writers, journalists, intellectuals, and artists habituate this Art Nouveau masterpiece.

1890s This Moment in Brewing History Percolation (passing boiling water through ground coffee) is introduced, as is the Mocha method (boiling water in a lower chamber and force steam through metal filter filled with coffee into upper chamber).

1901 Will the First Espresso Machine Please Stand Up? Luigi Bezzerra, Italian entrepreneur, invents and commercially manufactures the first espresso machine. (Or so the history books say).

1900 Meanwhile, in Hungary Budapest boasts 600 coffee houses, many of which are open 24 hours a day, every day.

1910 Meanwhile, in Austria With nearly 1200 coffee houses (up from 200 just 30 years before) serving 28 different varieties, Vienna cements its reputation as the cafe capital of Europe.

1914-1917 Brewing a Revolution During the first World War, Trotsky can be found every evening at Viennaās Cafe Central.

1920ās Paris when it Sizzles Parisā Le Select opens and becomes a favorite of Americans, as well as avant-garde heavyweights Cocteau, Stravinsky and Satie.

1920s 1500 bottles of champagne on the wall... La Coupole, opens across the street from Le Select and becomes the outstanding event of the 1920's with magnificent chandeliers, pillars painted by Leger and his students, and 1500 bottles of champagne.

1920s In a less festive mood? Verlaine, Rimbaud and Apollinaire are frequent Closerie de Lilas, giving poetry readings on Tuesday nights.

1933 Meanwhile, in Italy Francesco Illy founds Illycaffe in Trieste, Italy. Two years later he produces "Illetta" the first machine to measure water automatically and use compressed air rather than steam.

1938 Meanwhile, in New York A new inclusive venue haunted by bohemians, intellectuals, new dealers and artists including Billie Holliday (who sang her haunting composition "Strange Fruit" there) opens in New York City's Greenwich Village. The name of this place? Café Society.

1945 This Moment in Brewing History Gaggia, an Italian firm, introduces an espresso machine with a spring-loaded lever to drive a piston and compress the water

1950s But What Makes you So Sure Paris undergoes a post-war revolution in intellectualism. Grab a seat at St. Germainās famed Deux Magots and youāre sure to find Sartre and de Beauvoir quarrelling about some Existential crisis or another.

1961 This Moment in Brewing History Ernesto Valente invents the Faema E61 espresso machine which compresses cold water passed across a heat exchanger to reach the ground coffee at the optimum 90C

2000 Café Society reborn The Cafe SOCIETY showroom bringing the lively European café lifestyle to architects, their clients and you opens in San Francisco.

2002 Café Society takes Napa The Cafe SOCIETY store opens in Napa Valley offering exclusive European lines and antique one-of-a-kind café accoutrements.