Coffee as a form of art
Keats on the subject of coffee
When the Emperor Elfinan arrives to see Hum, the renowned soothsayer, in John Keats’ entertaining fiction, Cap and Bells, the Emperor Elfinan gives him some refreshments:
“Which cup will you drain?” “You may have sherry in silver, hock in gold, or glass’d champagne… but which cup will you drain?”
The Commander of the Faithful said, “In alternative to them, I’ll just try a thimble-full of old Jamaican rum.” Hum agreed.
“It’s a simple favor,” Elfinan said; “thou mayst have Nantz, which I use to flavor my morning coffee.”
Hum, on the other hand, welcomes the glass of Nantz, without coffee, “made racy with the third part of the least drop of crème de citron, crystal clear,” as long as it is “clear.”
Poem by Francis Saltus entitled “Coffee Sonnet.”
Francis Saltus’s nineteenth-century sonnet on “the sensual berry,” which may be found in Flasks and Flagons: A Collection of Coffee Poetry, is one of the most exquisite coffee poems in English.
Espresso Berry with a kick! When mortals seek celestial nectars that can compete with thee, they should look no farther than thee.
As soon as we finish our meal, we drink thy exquisite essence, and our thoughts turn to wit and repartee.
You were the lone friend of a scornful, cynical Voltaire; your influence propelled Balzac’s thoughts to a brilliant endeavour; and clearly Heaven intended for Thy believers to partake in more happiness than they could have imagined possible.
I am greeted by the Midsummer constellations and the splendor of the Orient whenever I breathe thy vapors.
Damascus, with its dozens of minarets, gleams in the sunlight!
Occasionally, I catch sight of thee smoking in vast bazaars, or in gloomy seraglios, at the feet of blond Sultanas, pallid with romantic thoughts.
Arthur Gray’s Contribution to the Poetry of Coffee Arthur Gray’s contribution to the poetry of coffee may be found in Over the Black Coffee (1902), which includes an unpleasant observation on tea that should have been omitted:
Coffee
The fruit and bean are boiling, bubbling, and steaming.
thou are the consort of the kitchen queen…
All of the features have been browned and ground.
I think we all agree that the only fragrant creature we want for and yearn for is…
Breakfast with the scent of morning dew.
What is tea used for, exactly? All that it may indicate is that you’re just the mildest of intermediaries.
Mind and body in a state of somnolence.
Save calm essays, soothing walks, purring kittens, and elderly women’ conversations, it “cuts no figure”—we can locate it—
There are other stories to be told over coffee, though.
Round and bold are the letters that make up its past.
The army’s march over the length’ning plain, brave buccaneers on the “Spanish Main,” and more.
The lone prospector strolling o’er the hill, the hunter’s camp, thy aroma permeates the whole region, and it is heavenly.
So here’s to a cup of coffee that is good for you! Caffeine is at the ready!
The perfect start to the day! Make way for a second kettle of water.
COFFEE was first “dramatized,” so to speak, in England in 1667, when Charles II and the Duke of York attended the premiere of Tarugo’s Wiles, or the Coffee House, a farce by Thomas St. Serf. This was the first time that coffee appeared on stage in the English language. “The most foolish and insipid play I ever witnessed in my life,” Samuel Pepys said of the performance.
Opening in a spirited style, the play begins with a request for a change of clothing from the piece’s trendy hero.
The apprentice plays the role of a gentleman client while Tarugo removes his “vest, cap, perriwig, and sword” and serves the visitors coffee. The coffee shop is now being flooded by more “clients of all trades and professions.” Some of them are not very kind to the alleged coffee-man; one complains that his coffee is “nothing but tepid water boyl’d with burned beans,” while another requests that he deliver “chocolette that is prepar’d with water, because I despise that which is encouraged by eggs.” In some ways, the pedantry and inanity said by a “schollar” type is an unflattering example of coffee-house conversation; it is particularly noteworthy that none of the guests wanders into the potentially deadly terrain of politics.
In the end, the coffee-master becomes weary of his clownish clients, declaring emphatically, “This rudeness resembles a suburb pub rather than my coffee house,” and with the help of his employees, he “thrusts ’em all out of doors, after the schollars and customers have paid. “
Coffee as a form of art
The Coffee Cantata is a piece of music that was composed for coffee.
The Coffee Cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, the German organist and composer who was the most modern composer of the first half of the eighteenth century, is the most noteworthy contribution to the “music of coffee,” if the phrase may be used. He extolled the religious sentiments of protestant Germany. Throughout his Coffee Cantata, he narrates the story of the fair sex’s protest against the libels of the beverage’s detractors, who at the time were aggressively promoting in Germany that women should not drink coffee because it causes sterility!
Bach’s Coffee Cantata is No. 211 of the Secular Cantatas, and it was first published in Leipzig in 1732. In German, it is referred to as Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Be silent, do not talk). It is scored for soprano, tenor, and bass soloists, as well as orchestra. Piccander’s poetry served as the inspiration for Bach’s composition. The cantata is actually more of a one-act operetta—a jovial play that depicts the struggles of a strict dad to curb his daughter’s proclivity for coffee drinking, a new-fangled habit. Bach is not often thought of as a humorist, but the music in this work is created in a mockheroic spirit, with a cheerful taste to the recitatives and arias that allude to what the master may have done in light opera.
The libretto depicts the father Schlendrian, or Slowpoke, attempting to discourage his daughter from further involvement in the new vice by different threats, and ultimately succeeding by threatening to deprive her of a spouse. However, his success is just short. Who can blame the daughter when the mother and grandma indulge in a cup of coffee, wonders the last trio.
Bach uses the spelling coffee rather than kaffee. The cantata was performed as recently as December 18, 1921, in a concert in New York by the Society of the Friends of Music, under the direction of Arthur Bodanzky.
Lieschen, or Betty, the daughter, has a wonderful aria that begins, “Ah, how delicious coffee tastes—lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter than muscatel wine!”
Sculpture and Coffee study has revealed just one piece of sculpture that is related with coffee: the statue of the Austrian hero Kolschitzky, who is also known as the patron saint A of the Vienna coffee establishments. It may be found on the second story of a home on the Favoriten Strasse, where it was built in his honor by the Coffee Makers’ Guild of Vienna. The tremendous “brother-heart” is shown in the posture of pouring coffee into cups on a tray from an eastern serving pot.
Coffee and the Art of Divination is an early English journal (1731) that provides an account of divination using coffee grinds. The author paid an unannounced visit, which “surprised the lady and her companions who were in tight collusion over their coffee.” He was particularly taken with a lady who, based on her address and intellect, he assumed to be a tire woman, to which she added the secret of divining by coffee grounds.
She was in the throes of inspiration at the time, and she was examining the atoms in the cup with great seriousness; on one side sat a widow, and on the other sat a young maiden lady. They promised me that every cast of the cup is a depiction of one’s whole future existence, and that every transaction and scenario is described with the greatest degree of precision.”
The advertising utilized by this seer is extremely interesting:
It is hereby advised that the famous Mrs. Cherry, the only lady who is truly knowledgeable in the occult science of tossing coffee grounds, has recently arrived in this city (Dublin), and that she has been practicing with unbroken success for some time past to the general satisfaction of her female visitors. Her hours are from after the end of the morning prayers at St. Peter’s Church until supper.
(Note that she never demands more than 1 oz. of coffee from a single gentlewoman, and that the amount is proportioned for a second or third person, but not to surpass that number at any one moment.)
If the one ounce of coffee represented her payment for reading the future, the cost could hardly be described as extravagant!
