It is no surprise that at Café Liégeois we are full-out coffee addicts. All we do is think about coffee, talk about coffee, make coffee and, of course, drink coffee. For me, I have a Tradition black coffee and two Magnifico espressos to get the day going. And when I need a pick-me-up after lunch, I often go for a single Kivu espresso. That’s four coffees per day!
I used to be a bit weary of my coffee consumption, but after stumbling upon some coffee history facts, I realized that I am quite moderate in comparison to some of history’s greatest celebrities. Philosophers, writers, politicians and even musicians have depended on this beverage to create the work that has since made them a legacy. Who knows, maybe the world wouldn’t be the same as it is today without the help of a few (dozen) coffees.
From composers to politicians, here is a short list of some of the biggest coffee drinkers of the past five hundred years:
Ludwig Van Beethoven
This famous composer was just as meticulous with the creation of his music as he was with the brewing of his coffee. It has been said that Beethoven would count out exactly 60 coffee beans to make his morning cup of coffee. According to him, this was the perfect dosage to make an exceptional cup.
Voltaire
“If there was no Coffee, it would be necessary to invent it”, am I right? French writer Voltaire is known to be one of the largest coffee drinkers of all time. He is rumoured to have drank forty to fifty coffees mixed with chocolate per day. Though many feared this alarming amount would kill him, Voltaire lived into his mid eighties.
Johann Sebastian Bach
It wasn’t for nothing that the composer created a mini opera based on coffee! The Coffee Cantana is a short story about a father who demands his coffee-addicted daughter to give up the drink in order to get married. Luckily for her, there were plenty of coffee-crazed suitors that would agree to marry her!
Teddy Roosevelt
For those curious to know where the start of the Venti sized coffees came from, it all leads back to former President Roosevelt. The president would drink a full gallon of coffee everyday. Even his son commented on his father’s obsession, noting that his cup was “more in the nature of a bathtub”.