All about coffeeUkers, William H. (William Harrison)
History
All about coffee
Ukers, William H. (William Harrison)
Coffee; Coffee Industry; Drinking customs
In 1671 there appeared in Lyons a book entitled _The Most Excellent
Virtues of the Mulberry, Called Coffee_, showing the need for an
authoritative work on the subject--a need that was ably filled that same
year and in Lyons by the publication of Philippe Sylvestre Dufour's
admirable treatise, _Concerning the Use of Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate_.
Again at Lyons, Dufour published (1684) his more complete work on _The
Manner of Making Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate_. This was followed (1715)
by the publication in Paris of Jean La Roque's _Voyage de l'Arabie
Heureuse_, containing the story of the author's journey to the court of
the king of Yemen in 1711, a description of the coffee tree and its
fruit, and a critical and historical treatise on its first use and
introduction to France.
La Roque's description of his visit to the king's gardens is interesting
because it shows the Arabs still held to the belief that coffee grew
only in Arabia. Here it is:
There was nothing remarkable in the King's Gardens, except the
great pains taken to furnish it with all the kinds of trees that
are common in the country; amongst which there were the coffee
trees, the finest that could be had. When the deputies represented
to the King how much that was contrary to the custom of the Princes
of Europe (who endeavor to stock their gardens chiefly with the
rarest and most uncommon plants that can be found) the King
returned them this answer: That he valued himself as much upon his
good taste and generosity as any Prince in Europe; the coffee tree,
he told them, was indeed common in his country, but it was not the
less dear to him upon that account; the perpetual verdure of it
pleased him extremely; and also the thoughts of its producing a
fruit which was nowhere else to be met with; and when he made a
present of that that came from his own Gardens, it was a great
satisfaction to him to be able to say that he had planted the trees
that produced it with his own hands.
The first merchant licensed to sell coffee in France was one Damame
Francois, a bourgeois of Paris, who secured the privilege through an
edict of 1692. He was given the sole right for ten years to sell coffees
and teas in all the provinces and towns of the kingdom, and in all
territories under the sovereignty of the king, and received also
authority to maintain a warehouse.
To Santo Domingo (1738) and other French colonies the cafe was soon
transported from the homeland, and thrived under special license from
the king.
In 1858 there appeared in France a leaflet-periodical, entitled _The
Cafe, Literary, Artistic, and Commercial_. Ch. Woinez, the editor, said
in announcing it: "The Salon stood for privilege, the Cafe stands for
equality." Its publication was of short duration.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VI
THE INTRODUCTION OF COFFEE INTO ENGLAND
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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