Coffee: superior to that concoction with boiled leaves and juice of the lemon.

I came across a public domain copy of the very first advertisement for coffee, which was published in the Publick Adviser of London on May 26, 1657. (Click on the image for a somewhat larger version.) The full ad (with numerous words in Middle English) reads:

“On Bartholomew Lane, on the back side of the Old Exchange, the drink called Coffee (which is a very wholsom and Physical drink, having many excellent vertues, closes the Orifice of the Stomack, fortifies the heat within, helpeth Digestion, quickneth the Spirits, maketh the heart lightsom, is good against Eye-sores, Coughs or Colds, Rhumes, Consumptions, Head-ach, Dropsie, Gout, Scurvy, Kings Evil, and many others, is to be sold both in the morning, and at three of the clock in the afternoon.)”

I know ads are often deceptive, but I’m drinking coffee as I write this post and my dropsie is much improved. Although it’s true that as of three of the clock in the afternoon, my Kings Evil is worse than ever.