
A window on Chaucer’s cramped, scary, smelly world - Vigier
http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/books-feature/9414002/a-window-on-chaucers-cramped-scary-smelly-world/
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gcb0
he probably stated writing as an excuse to hang in a cafe with his hipster
laptop equivalent of the time just to not be in this apartment.

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pjc50
Chaucer predates cafe culture. Chaucer predates _coffee_ , at least the
drinking of.

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davidw
I thought you were probably wrong, if one took into account the area coffee
comes from, but it turns out that you're correct:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coffee)

That's surprising that it's so recent - even distilled alcohol is older than
the historical record of coffee consumption.

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pjc50
I checked that exact wikipedia page before posting the comment :) A factoid to
go along with "Oxford university predates the Aztec empire" and so on.

