By 1570 there were over 600 coffeehouses in Istanbul.

Ottoman coffeehouses were luxurious – consciously modelled on the Arabic vision of Paradise.

The new coffeehouses that had arrived in the late 16th century were a key part of the new model city that was taking shape.

Civil and secular society had come of age and needed a place to congregate.

Turkish Coffeehouse in 17th century

In the 17th Century the Ottoman world was at the pinnacle of its power, symbolized in a sense by its ability to control the lucrative coffee trade.