Abstract
ABSTRACT This article maps out the largely unknown history of poor women’s dealings with coffee in Stockholm during the coffee prohibitions of 1794–1796 and 1799–1802 drawing on the city’s extensive police records. A total of 536 cases have been identified that involved the illegal selling, preparation, and consumption of coffee. These cases are analysed in the context of the separate but intertwined research fields of the global underground, household work, and the consumption of new exotic goods in the early modern period. The results from the study reveal the complex networks that facilitated the trade in coffee beans and coffee beverages during the prohibition, and the multifaceted processes which promoted the status of coffee to a common consumer good. It also reveals the extent to which coffee brought labour opportunities and income to poor women, but also how, by the end of the eighteenth century, the consumption of coffee had gained new connotations associated with work and leisure.
Highlights
When she was arrested, the 18 pounds (7,7 kg) of coffee discovered at the dwellings of Maria Kiempe in October 1794 would form only one part of the evidence used against her in Stockholm Police Court
It reveals the extent to which coffee brought labour opportunities and income to poor women, and how, by the end of the eighteenth century, the consumption of coffee had gained new connotations associated with work and leisure
Before the modern retail practice of selling pre-roasted and ground coffee, coffee beans were largely sold raw and their preparation into a drink was a household chore. This is one example of how household work has changed throughout history, and marks an important point of departure in recent research into how women contributed to early modern economies in England and Sweden, as developed by historians such as Jane Whittle and Maria Ågren and their research teams (Ågren, 2017; Whittle, 2019; Whittle & Hailwood, 2020)
Summary
The 18 pounds (7,7 kg) of coffee discovered at the dwellings of Maria Kiempe in October 1794 would form only one part of the evidence used against her in Stockholm Police Court. Before the modern retail practice of selling pre-roasted and ground coffee, coffee beans were largely sold raw and their preparation into a drink was a household chore This is one example of how household work has changed throughout history, and marks an important point of departure in recent research into how women contributed to early modern economies in England and Sweden, as developed by historians such as Jane Whittle and Maria Ågren and their research teams (Ågren, 2017; Whittle, 2019; Whittle & Hailwood, 2020). The contours of the contexts that can be derived from these judicial materials are perhaps the most important results informing this study, as they point towards the different roles that the consumption of coffee came to play in the shift between the early modern and modern world
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