Since coffee was introduced to Europe, it has forged an indissoluble bond with countless literati, musicians, and philosophers. Balzac drank over ten thousand cups of coffee while writing The Human Comedy, Beethoven insisted on using exactly 60 beans per cup, and Voltaire downed 50 cups a day... These astonishing stories both reflect coffee's unique charm and record little-known daily habits of famous figures. Front Street Coffee takes you through time and space to review the coffee obsessions and classic quotes of 15 famous figures including Bach, Franklin, Kierkegaard, and Van Gogh, savoring the cultural curiosities behind a cup of coffee.
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Around coffee addicts, all sorts of bizarre anecdotes circulate. The most well-known of these is undoubtedly Balzac—it is said that during the writing of The Human Comedy, he consumed over ten thousand cups of coffee in total, which works out to an average daily consumption of as many as 50 cups. Some research indicates that if a person continuously consumes 80 to 100 cups of coffee, it could be life-threatening, but hopefully no one will test this on themselves.
Ultimately, how much to drink still depends on individual constitution.
1. Bach once composed a short musical play for the coffee craze
Without coffee in the morning, I am like a dried-out roast mutton.
Bach, the great Baroque composer, was a devoted coffee lover. In 1732, he composed a short musical play titled the Coffee Cantata. At that time, Vienna was swept up in a coffee-drinking craze, but the high price meant that drinking coffee was to some extent regarded as a bad habit, and ordinary households often restrained the younger generation from it. It was precisely this social phenomenon that inspired Bach to write this work.
2. Beethoven counted out exactly 60 beans for every cup of coffee he brewed
Won't you have a cup of coffee before you leave?
As everyone knows, Beethoven had an unpredictable temperament. Once, after an argument with a friend, he asked the above question with a sarcastic tone. According to Beethoven's biographer, he insisted on putting exactly 60 coffee beans into every cup he made.
3. Benjamin Franklin loved to spend time in coffeehouses
I love the candid souls I met in London coffeehouses.
While living in London, Benjamin Franklin was a freelancer who frequented coffeehouses. There he discussed politics, played chess, or simply sat and listened to music. He also advised people to remember to bring their own coffee supplies when traveling by boat, because he was very worried that the supply on board would be insufficient.
4. Legend has it that Voltaire drank 40 to 50 cups of coffee a day
If coffee is poison, then it is also a slow poison.
The great literary figure Voltaire was perhaps the most famous coffee addict in history. It is said that he once drank 40 to 50 cups of coffee in a single day, even if it was only a mixture of coffee and chocolate. Although doctors warned him that coffee would eventually kill him, Voltaire still lived to his eighties.
5. Kierkegaard used a giant spoon to add sugar to his coffee, pouring in about 30 sugar cubes each time
One of Kierkegaard's coffee cups
In any case, I cherish coffee.
The Danish philosopher Kierkegaard loved to add sugar to his coffee. Each time, he would first put a large number of sugar cubes into the cup, then pour in black coffee and stir. According to his secretary Israel Levin, Kierkegaard owned 50 different coffee cups, and each time he drank he would carefully select one and offer a philosophical explanation for his choice.
6. Teddy Roosevelt consumed 1 gallon of coffee per day
The 26th President of the United States drank a huge amount of coffee every day (1 gallon is about 3.78 liters). According to his son, Roosevelt's coffee cup looked as big as a bathtub.
7. Frank Baum drank 4 to 5 cups of coffee every morning
The author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz relied heavily on coffee every morning to spark his creative inspiration.
8. Margaret Atwood has her own coffee brand
This Canadian poet licensed her name to "Balzac Coffee," and the "Bird Friendly" brand they launched together aims to raise funds for a bird observatory on Pelee Island in Canada. Atwood drinks coffee every morning at breakfast, with milk or cream, and occasionally has an espresso.
9. David Lynch used to drink at least 20 cups of coffee a day
Even bad coffee is better than no coffee.
David Lynch often revealed his fondness for coffee in his film and television works. He used to drink at least 20 cups a day, and a friend suggested that since he loved it so much, why not create his own brand, so Lynch found a company and naturally launched his own coffee brand—"David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee."
10. William Harvey—loved coffee "even beyond death"
In the 17th century, the famous English physician William Harvey, who discovered the principle of blood circulation, asked his lawyer to bring him a coffee bean on his deathbed. After gazing at it for a long time, he said: "I never expected that this tiny coffee bean is precisely the source of happiness and value."
Afterward, he asked his lawyer to help him make a will, donating to the London College of Surgeons an amount equal to the money he had spent on coffee throughout his life. He also asked the lawyer to tell the recipients that he hoped they would drink coffee on the morning of each monthly memorial for him in his memory.
11. Van Gogh described the night café as: "a place that makes people crazy, makes people destroy themselves, makes people commit crimes"
The painter Van Gogh once described the night café as "a place that makes people crazy, makes people destroy themselves, makes people commit crimes." Perhaps for this reason, he eventually threw an absinthe glass at Gauguin, and Gauguin never set foot in that café again. Half a month later, Van Gogh also left there.
In the end, Van Gogh cut off one of his own ears and completed that portrait. After leaving a will for his brother, who served as his guardian, he ended his own life. In the will he wrote: "I believe that after my death, my exhibition will be held in a café." In 1996, 106 years after his death, a two-month Van Gogh exhibition was held at the Ravoux café where he had taken his own life.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
