[rustynails]

If you're looking for a more insightful history to the "penny university", the Wikipedia page contains much more detail about coffee houses and some analysis of the pamphlet.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_coffeehouses_in_the_...

It's a fascinating read. Trying to capture how people lived and thought a few hundred years ago is very difficult today because much history is now overlaid with politics and filters. The Wikipedia page paints a picture that seems feasible based on my wide reading of history.

The resobscura speculates (without evidence) that the pamphlet was most probably written by a man. This view is not shared by the Wikipedia article for multiple reasons that anybody can speculate over.

[benbreen]

Re: whether the pamphlet was written by a man or a woman, if you reread you'll see that I simply note that others have speculated, but there's no evidence either way. Suffice to say, 17th century pamphlets aren't always what they purport to be, so I think it's best to be agnostic about claims of authorship without additional documentation.

[pilsetnieks]

Either way, authorship doesn't really matter that much. At the time, printing these pamphlets still cost some money, it wasn't something done entirely on a whim; therefore, if a pamphlet exists, there was someone with a purpose behind it, either religious, or political, or economic motivation but it wasn't just someone expressing an opinion, it was someone hoping to somewhat influence the public narrative.

[galago]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemileia_vastatrix#History

From the recent discussion about banana monoculture, I read an article suggesting that Coffee Leaf Rust destroyed coffee production in British held Sri Lanka, initiating the switch to tea. Its a silly conjecture, but maybe the lower amounts of caffeine contributed to the decline of coffeehouses.

[trendia]

non-mobile:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_coffeehouses_in_the_17...