Matt Green

Revealing the truth that the British empire was built on coffee and not on tea, Matt tells the fascinating story of London’s original coffeehouses: a heady brew of greed, gossip, idleness… and crucified crocodiles.

Having recently completed a PhD from Oxford University examining how the media shaped the ideas, worldviews, and personalities of 18th-century London diarists, Matt is shamelessly taking the most readable element of that – the history of London’s early coffeehouses – and turning it into a popular history book. The London coffeehouse tradition stretches back 350 years to a muddy churchyard in the heart of the City of London, where a Greek visionary with a twirly moustache and shocking English accent dispensed a foul-looking liquid from a smoky wooden shack. From these humble beginnings arose a cultural phenomenon that would transform the face of the metropolis – and then vanish without a trace.

unrealcityaudio.co.uk/tours/the-coffeehouse-tour