This book titled, All
About Coffee, is so unique
and one of its kind! Well, it’s all about coffee, and it’s got everything you really wanted to know about your daily brew!
Before we quite begin our
sojourn into this amazing 1923 book [written by
William H. Ukers and runs to a whopping 820 pages], a million thanks are due to
Dr. Shibu for so thoughtfully sending across this book to me, one of
his own ilk on the coffee trove!
And as a prelude to
our journey into this cuppa trove, let me first and foremost take you all
straight to chapter XXXVII of the book, that gives some intense poems on
Coffee, ;-) that would act the real stimulant and excitant on this, our sacred
journey into the divine cuppa!
So here we go with excerpts from this 1923 book! -
Chapter XXXVII
A HISTORY OF COFFEE IN
LITERATURE
The romance of coffee, and its influence on the discourse,
poetry, history, drama, philosophic writing, and fiction of the seventeenth,
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and on the writers of today - Coffee in
Ancient and Modern Verse - In Dramatic Literature - In General Literature -
Coffee Quips and Anecdotes
Any study of the
literature of coffee comprehends a survey of selections from the best thought
of civilized nations, from the time of Rhazes (850–922) to Francis Saltus. Rhazes,
the physician-philosopher, appears to have been the first writer to mention
coffee; and was followed by other great physicians, like Bengiazlah, a
contemporary, and Avicenna (980–1037).
Then arose many
legends about coffee, that served as inspiration for Arabian, French, Italian,
and English poets.
Sheik Gemaleddin,
mufti of Mocha, is said to have discovered the virtues of coffee about 1454,
and to have promoted the use of the drink in Arabia. Knowledge of the new
beverage was given to Europeans by the botanists Rauwolf and Alpini toward the
close of the sixteenth century.
The first authentic
account of the origin of coffee was written by Abd-al-Kâdir in 1587. It is the
famous Arabian manuscript commending the use of coffee, preserved in the
Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris, and catalogued as “Arabe, 4590.”
Abd-al-Kâdir’s book has immortalized coffee. It is in seven chapters. The first
chapter deals with the etymology and significance of the word cahouah (kahwa),
the nature and properties of the bean, where the drink was first used, and
describes its virtues. The other chapters have to do largely with the church
dispute in Mecca in 1511, answer the religious objectors to coffee, and
conclude with a collection of Arabic verses composed during the Mecca
controversy by the best poets of the time.
De Nointel, ambassador
from the court of Louis XIV to the Ottoman Porte, brought back with him to
Paris from Constantinople the Abd-al-Kâdir manuscript, and another by
Bichivili, one of the three general treasurers of the Ottoman Empire. The
latter work is of a later date than the Abd-al-Kâdir manuscript, and is
concerned chiefly with the history of the introduction of coffee into Egypt, Syria,
Damascus, Aleppo, and Constantinople.
The following are two
of the earliest Arabic poems in praise of coffee. They are about the period of
the first coffee persecution in Mecca (1511), and are typical of the best
thought of the day:
In Praise of Coffee
[Translation from the Arabic]
O Coffee! Thou dost
dispel all cares, thou art the object of desire to the scholar.
This is the beverage
of the friends of God; it gives health to those in its service who strive after
wisdom.
Prepared from the
simple shell of the berry, it has the odor of musk and the color of ink.
The intelligent man
who empties these cups of foaming coffee, he alone knows truth.
May God deprive of
this drink the foolish man who condemns it with incurable obstinacy.
Coffee is our gold.
Wherever it is served, one enjoys the society of the noblest and most generous
men.
O drink! As harmless
as pure milk, which differs from it only in its blackness.
Coffee Companionship
[Translation from the Arabic]
Come and enjoy the company
of coffee in the places of its habitation; for the Divine Goodness envelops
those who partake of its feast.
There the elegance of
the rugs, the sweetness of life, the society of the guests, all give a picture
of the abode of the blest.
It is a wine which no
sorrow could resist when the cup-bearer presents thee with the cup which
contains it.
It is not long since
Aden saw thy birth. If thou doubtest this, see the freshness of youth shining
on the faces of thy children.
Grief is not found
within its habitations. Trouble yields humbly to its power.
It is the beverage of
the children of God, it is the source of health.
It is the stream in
which we wash away our sorrows. It is the fire which consumes our griefs.
Whoever has once known
the chafing-dish which prepares this beverage, will feel only aversion for wine
and liquor from casks.
Delicious beverage,
its color is the seal of its purity.
Reason pronounces
favorably on the lawfulness of it.
Drink of it
confidently, and give not ear to the speech of the foolish, who condemn it
without reason.
During the period of
the second religious persecution of coffee in the latter part of the sixteenth
century, other Arabian poets sang the praises of coffee. The learned
Fakr-Eddin-Aboubeckr ben Abid Iesi wrote a book entitled The Triumph of Coffee,
and the poet-sheikh Sherif-Eddin-Omar-ben-Faredh sang of it in harmonious
verse, wherein, discoursing of his mistress, he could find no more flattering
comparison than coffee. He exclaims, “She has made me drink, in long draughts,
the fever, or, rather, the coffee of love!”
To be continued…
image: amazondotcom
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