Cafe 18th Century: How Coffee Was Brewed in the 1700s

Cafe 18th century style meant boiled coffee: in the 1700s, most people simmered ground coffee directly in a pot of water, let the grounds settle and poured off the liquid, sometimes adding a “fining” such as isinglass (made from fish swim bladders) or egg to clear it. Cloth bags and strainers came into use later in the century, leading to inventions like the biggin and the first French drip pots around 1800. You can recreate a historical boiled coffee at home with nothing more than a saucepan.

Here is how coffee was really made in the 1700s, why it changed and how to try it yourself.

Boiling: the standard 18th-century method

When coffee reached Europe in the 1600s, it arrived with the method used in the Ottoman world: roast, grind and boil. An early London coffee advertisement from 1652 already describes coffee ground to powder and boiled with spring water. That approach remained the default throughout the 18th century, in homes and coffeehouses alike (we cover the coffeehouses themselves in Penny Universities).

The basic routine looked like this:

1. Roast at home or buy roasted. Many households roasted green beans in a pan or a drum over the fire.
2. Grind or pound. Hand mills existed, but a mortar and pestle was common too.
3. Boil. Ground coffee went into a pot of water over the fire and was boiled, sometimes for many minutes.
4. Settle. The pot was taken off the heat so the grounds could sink.
5. Pour carefully. The coffee was poured off the top, leaving the sludge behind.

The tall, narrow coffee pots of the period, with the spout set above the base, helped by leaving the grounds at the bottom.

Clearing the cup: isinglass, eggs and fish skin

Boiled coffee is cloudy, so cooks used “finings” to help the grounds and fine particles drop out, the same idea used to clarify wine or broth.

These practices lasted a long time. A popular English cookbook from 1806, Maria Rundell’s A New System of Domestic Cookery, tells cooks to boil the coffee, pour off and return a cup a few times, add chips of isinglass, boil again and then let the pot stand by the fire. Late-19th-century American cookbooks were still recommending egg, eggshells or fish skin. The egg method survives today in Scandinavian egg coffee.

Early filters and the biggin

By the second half of the 18th century, people were looking for ways to avoid grounds altogether. The solution was to hold the coffee in cloth.

• Cloth bags. Ground coffee was placed in a linen or muslin bag and steeped in hot water, or hot water was poured through it.
• The biggin. An English pot, usually dated to the late 1700s, with a cloth bag or strainer fitted inside the top so the brewed coffee collected below, mostly free of grounds. The name became a general term for this style of pot.
• French drip pots. Around 1800, drip pots appeared in Paris, the best known associated with Jean-Baptiste de Belloy. These stacked pots let hot water drip through the grounds into a lower chamber.

Drip brewing and, in the 19th century, early percolators gradually pushed boiling out of fashionable kitchens, though boiled coffee carried on in farmhouses, camps and on the trail as cowboy coffee. Plunger brewers came later still, as you can read in Who Invented the French Press?

How to brew cafe 18th century style at home

This adapts the period boiling method for a modern stove. It skips the isinglass, though you can use an egg white if you want the full experience.

Ingredients (makes about 2 cups)

• 30 g (about 4 tbsp) coarsely ground medium-dark or dark roast coffee
• 2 cups plus a splash (500 ml) cold water
• Optional: 1 egg white, or the crushed shell of 1 egg
• Optional: sugar and warm cream, as 18th-century drinkers often enjoyed it

Steps

1. Add the water to a small saucepan, reserving about 2 tbsp (30 ml) cold water.
2. If using egg, mix it into the dry grounds until they look like damp sand.
3. Bring the water to a boil, add the grounds and stir once.
4. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 2–3 minutes. Watch for boil-overs.
5. Remove from the heat and pour in the reserved cold water to help the grounds sink.
6. Let stand for 4–5 minutes, then pour slowly into cups, leaving the sediment behind. For a cleaner cup, pour through a fine strainer or a cloth.

Tips and variations

• Keep the boil short. Historical recipes boiled for longer, but extended boiling makes coffee harsh and bitter.
• Try a cloth “biggin.” Tie the grounds loosely in clean cheesecloth and steep in just-boiled water for 5 minutes.
• Period sweetener. A little raw sugar and cream are closest to how wealthy households served it.

Cafe 18th Century Brewing FAQ

How did people make coffee in the 1700s?

Most boiled ground coffee in water, let the grounds settle and poured off the liquid. Toward the end of the century, cloth bags, biggins and early drip pots offered cleaner alternatives.

What is a biggin coffee pot?

A biggin is an English coffee pot usually dated to the late 18th century, with a cloth bag or strainer inside that holds the grounds. It produced coffee with far less sediment than boiling.

Why did people put fish or eggs in coffee?

They were used as clarifiers. Isinglass, egg and fish skin help fine particles clump and sink, so the boiled coffee pours out clearer.

Did 18th-century coffee taste good?

Probably stronger and more bitter than most modern cups, because of long boiling and inconsistent roasting. Fresh beans and a short simmer get you a much nicer historical cup today.

Taste history

Trying an 18th-century brew is a fun way to appreciate how far coffee has come. For the experiment, choose a bold roast that stands up to boiling, such as our French Roast or the cocoa-and-caramel Cowboy Blend, and serve with a slice of cake while you listen to Bach’s Coffee Cantata from the same century. Every Feel Espresso coffee order is roasted 1–5 days before delivery, so your experiment starts with fresh beans.