Coffee and Famous Frenchmen
Louis XV was passionate about coffee, which he made himself. The king’s exclusive use of the coffee was raised by Lenormand, Versailles’ head gardener. Coffee and Mme are two of the king’s favorite things. Many serious writers accepted the anecdote of Louveciennes as true due to the work of Du Barry.
This is how Mairobert describes His Majesty’s love of making his own coffee in 1776 in a pamphlet scandalizing Du Barry: One day, the coffee pot caught fire, and the King was distracted by something else when the coffee boiled over. Take care, France! The coffee industry is booming! The stunning favorite cried (in colorful language for “taking off” or “buggering off”).
While walking in the Tuileries, Jean Jacques Rousseau caught the aroma of roasting coffee. He turned to his companion, Bernardino de Saint-Pierre, and replied, “Ah, that is a perfume I love; whenever they roast coffee near my house, I rush to open the door so that I can take in all the fragrance.” This philosopher of Geneva had such a passion for coffee that when he died, he just missed doing it with a cup of coffee in his hand. Napoleon the First’s physician, Barthez, drank it freely, calling it “the intellectual drink.”
According to Bonaparte, “strong coffee and plenty of it wake me up.”. Strong coffee makes me feel warm, gives me an unusual sense of strength, and causes me pain. It is better to suffer than to be senseless.” O replied: “Strong coffee, and plenty of it, wake me up.” My body feels warm, my muscles are tense, and my pain is unbearable. Rather than be senseless, I would rather suffer.”
Duel for the honor of coffee
One day while M. Saint-Foix, a French playwright, sat at his usual table at Café Procope in Paris when an officer from the king’s bodyguard entered, sat down, and ordered a cup of coffee, milk, and rolls, saying, “It will serve me for dinner.” This caused Saint-Foix to remark aloud that such a poor dinner was a cup of coffee, milk, and a roll.
In response, the officer remonstrated. Saint-Foix concluded his comment by saying he couldn’t believe it wasn’t a poor dinner despite everything he said. After a challenge was issued and accepted, the entire company adjourned to watch a duel in which Saint-Foix was wounded in the arm. The wounded combatant still believes that a cup of coffee with milk and a roll is a shockingly poor dinner.
The principals were arrested and brought before the Duke de Noailles, in whose presence Saint-Foix, without waiting to be questioned, stated, “Monseigneur, I had no intention of offending this gallant officer who, I doubt not, is an honorable man; but your excellence can never prevent me from asserting that a cup of coffee, with milk and a roll, is a confoundingly poor dinner.”
“Why, so it is,” replied the Duke. “Then I am not in the wrong,” continued Saint-Foix, and he said, “and a cup of coffee.”-At these words’ magistrates, delinquents, and auditors burst into a roar of laughter, and the antagonists forthwith became warm friends.
Read More – The Universally Appealing Power of Coffee
