in which beverages alter the course of history and it is awesome
So, I'm falling asleep for no good reason, which leads me to finally get out my special mug (it's all Art Nouveau-tastic!) and fill it with coffee. Er, twice. And while I'm raving to myself about how coffee is a magical elixir the inventors of which should be canonised and given lifetime supplies of fresh baked goods and cosy quilts, it occurs to me to find out whom I ought to be canonising.
Turns out that coffee is pretty much badass. There are legends about the discovery of coffee, dear readers. Which can be worded as: The origins of coffee are shrouded in legend. ("IN A WORLD...") It probably originated in Ethiopia, it seems, but the first proper record of coffee drinking is in fifteenth-century Sufi monasteries in Yemen. It was used in religious ceremonies in Africa and Yemen, which led to it being suspect as a "Muslim drink" until Pope Clement VIII deemed it a Christian beverage safe for consumption in 1600. The Ethiopian Church, however, frowned upon coffee officially until 1889. Coffee was also put on trial by Mecca for possibly being a heretical drink, due to its association with the Sufi branch of Islam. Charles II tried to suppress the coffeehouses of London as "places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His Majesty and his Ministers", but largely failed (because coffee is awesome). Some of the earliest coffeehouses in England still stand.
Plus, the Arabs kept a total monopoly on coffee beans (sort of like the Chinese and silk) for about a thousand years -- until Dutch traders managed to steal several coffee plants and take them to be planted in Java. (Three words: Dutch coffee smugglers.) A shoot was presented to King Louis XIV of France in 1713, but ten years later, a French officer broke into the Jardin Royale with the help of his mistress and kidnapped stole that coffee plant and escaped with it to Martinique. He planted it and protected it with thorns and guards. (Meanwhile, his girlfriend broke up with him because he eloped with the coffee, and the thorns grew up around the plant and imaginative young princes tried to break through in order to claim the sleeping coffee with a kiss. Or something.) Coffee is serious business, you guys.
And coffeehouses in England apparently had a huge effect on culture, writing, politics... I nearly started rattling off this article verbatim, so I'll link you instead.
In conclusion: coffee pwns you. Though I wouldn't mind watching coffee and tea duel to the death with contrasting facts as to which is more awesome (I like both, which is why I will watch gleefully), kind of like a more metaphysical and delicious Chuck Norris vs. Mr T.
Turns out that coffee is pretty much badass. There are legends about the discovery of coffee, dear readers. Which can be worded as: The origins of coffee are shrouded in legend. ("IN A WORLD...") It probably originated in Ethiopia, it seems, but the first proper record of coffee drinking is in fifteenth-century Sufi monasteries in Yemen. It was used in religious ceremonies in Africa and Yemen, which led to it being suspect as a "Muslim drink" until Pope Clement VIII deemed it a Christian beverage safe for consumption in 1600. The Ethiopian Church, however, frowned upon coffee officially until 1889. Coffee was also put on trial by Mecca for possibly being a heretical drink, due to its association with the Sufi branch of Islam. Charles II tried to suppress the coffeehouses of London as "places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His Majesty and his Ministers", but largely failed (because coffee is awesome). Some of the earliest coffeehouses in England still stand.
Plus, the Arabs kept a total monopoly on coffee beans (sort of like the Chinese and silk) for about a thousand years -- until Dutch traders managed to steal several coffee plants and take them to be planted in Java. (Three words: Dutch coffee smugglers.) A shoot was presented to King Louis XIV of France in 1713, but ten years later, a French officer broke into the Jardin Royale with the help of his mistress and kidnapped stole that coffee plant and escaped with it to Martinique. He planted it and protected it with thorns and guards. (Meanwhile, his girlfriend broke up with him because he eloped with the coffee, and the thorns grew up around the plant and imaginative young princes tried to break through in order to claim the sleeping coffee with a kiss. Or something.) Coffee is serious business, you guys.
And coffeehouses in England apparently had a huge effect on culture, writing, politics... I nearly started rattling off this article verbatim, so I'll link you instead.
In conclusion: coffee pwns you. Though I wouldn't mind watching coffee and tea duel to the death with contrasting facts as to which is more awesome (I like both, which is why I will watch gleefully), kind of like a more metaphysical and delicious Chuck Norris vs. Mr T.