America had coffee houses by 1678, in Boston at least.  Since they tended
to be more lavish, British, and cosmoplitan then other taverns, they would
have been more likely to serve as Tory sanctuaries during the War for
American Independence.  Hence the coffee house would not be a fit setting
for myths about the drafting of the Declaration.
 
David Conroy: "Royal officials also contributed to the conscious emulation
of London tastes, fashions, and standards by some tavernkeepers and their
patrons.  One expression of the more cosmopolitan yearnings of Boston's
wealthiest residents is the establishment of coffeehouses modeled after
those of London.  The first coffeehouse was licensed in 1678 . . . . Such
taverns did not become distintively exclusive and specialized in
clientele, however, until the eighteenth century."  (_In Public Houses:
Drink and the Revolution of Authority in Colonial Massachusetts_ (Chapel
Hill: UNC Press, 1995, p. 161).
 
Jon Miller
University of Iowa