That coffee was an object of pleasure is emphasized by English coffeehouse literature that either associated or dissociated coffee with sexual desire. In either case, however, the linkage is clear. Thus, one finds Michelet, for example proclaiming the antierotic attributes of coffee, arguing that it clears the mind and stimulates the intellect instead of the libido.(Schivelbusch,Tastes of Paradise, 37.)¹¹ Similarly, a notorious and amusing exchange of pamphlets, The Women's Petition Against Coffee and The Men's Answer emphasize theses linkages. For their part, the women's protest may be motivated by anger against their exclusion from English coffeehouses. The women complained:

". . .we find of late a very sensible Decay of that true old English Vigor; our Gallants being every way so Frenchified , that they are become mere Cock-sparrows. . . but are not able to stand to it, and in the very first charge fall down flat before us. . . . The Occasion of which Insufferable Disaster. . . we can Attribute to nothing more than the Excessive use of that Newfangled Abominable, Heathenish Liquor called Coffee." (From Miniature Books, 11.)¹²

To which the men answered:

"But why must innocent Coffee be the object of your spleen? That harmless and healing Liquor. . . and we wonder you should take these exceptions, since so many of the little Houses, with the Turkish Woman straddling on their signs are but Emblems of what is to be done within for your Conveniences. . . . Coffee collects and settles the Spirits, makes the erection more Vigorous, and the Ejaculation more full, adds spiritualescency to the Sperme. . suitable to the Gusto of the womb, and proportionate to the ardours and expectations too of the female Paramour."(Ibid., 21-22.)¹³

On the continent, the sexualization of the coffee ritual lasted throughout the 19th Century as legends associated with coffee gained popularity. An example of this is depicted in the second image on the left showing a damsel offering a steaming cup of coffee, loaded with innuendo, to her lover freezing in the cold. Conations connecting coffee to love affairs have lasted up until the present and are evidenced by the two following images, adding a fuller dimension to "Will you join me for a cup of coffee?"