#mark pendergrast

Inka Cola / Holiday Shows

In July 1683, the Turkish army, threatening to invade Europe, massed outside Vienna for a prolonged siege. The count in charge of the Viennese troops desperately needed a messenger who could pass through the Turkish lines to reach nearby Polish troops who would come to the rescue. Franz George Kolschitzky, who had lived in the Arab world for many years, took on the job, disguised in a Turkish uniform. On September 12, in a decisive battle, the Turks were routed. The fleeing Turks left tents, oxen, camels, sheep, honey, rice, grain, gold—and five hundred huge sacks filled with strange-looking beans that the Viennese thought must be camel fodder. Having no use for camels, they began to burn the bags. Kolschitzky, catching a whiff of that familiar odor, intervened. ‘Holy Mary!’ he yelled. ‘That is coffee that you are burning! If you don’t know what coffee is, give the stuff to me. I can find a good use for it.’ Having observed the Turkish customs, he knew the rudiments of roasting, grinding, and brewing, and he soon opened the Blue Bottle, the first Viennese café.

... many French citizens took to cafe au lait, particularly for breakfast. French writer Honore de Balzac did not trifle with such milky coffee, though. He consumed finely pulverized roasted coffee on an empty stomach with virtually no water. The results were spectacular. 'Everything becomes agitated. Ideas quick march into motion like battalions of a grand army to its legendary fighting ground, and the battle rages. Memories charge in, bright flags on high; the cavalry of metaphor deploys with a magnificent gallop.' Finally, his creative juices flowing, Balzac could write. 'Forms and shapes and characters rear up; the paper is spread with ink-- for the nightly labor begins and ends with torrents of this black water, as a battle opens and concludes with black powder.