A few little snippets to share anecdotes and stories from the past and the present...
A death penalty based on coffee... if all punishment were like this one!
It is said that King Gustav III of Sweden condemned two thieves to death.The sentence was to be given by "administration of coffee".When they failed to die, the sentence was executed four more times on the two thieves.And guess what!The two "lucky" thieves lived to be 83!
Coffee found a place of honor in Islamic culture, since in Arabic countries, alcohol and all intoxicating substances were banned (and still are today).Coffee was associated with mental lucidity, so much so, in fact, that it was consumed in enormous quantities and without any contraindication.It was here that the earliest establishments dedicated to coffee were opened. In the early years of the 16th century, the governor of Mecca, convinced that coffee "led the population to rebellion", attempted to bar its consumption.The people reacted so vigorously that the ban was immediately repealed.
In the past, in Turkey, if a man forbade his wife from drinking coffee, she had the right to request a separation for "just cause". In any case this problem did not often arise, since men encouraged their wives to drink coffee, convinced that it would assist them in childbirth.
There used to be a very curious custom in Naples:the "deferred coffee". A less well-off patron might come to a café and find a gift: a coffee paid for by someone else, who left it "deferred", awaiting someone who wanted to drink it.While the custom has fallen out of use in recent years, there appears to be a will to revive this act of "solidarity" in Naples, and it has also been taken up in Florence by a dozen or so well-known cafés.
In one of his stories, the great Eduardo De Filippo describes the use of the "abbrustulaturo" (a Neapolitan word for a coffee roaster) and the atmosphere that was created around it. De Filippo recounted that less well-to-do families roasted their own coffee, since it cost less to purchase it green.In many streets and alleyways of Naples, during the roasting process the delicious, penetrating, irresistible aroma of coffee spilled from the balconies.The "abbrustulaturo" was a cylinder between 30-60 cm long, and by way of a rod inserted through one end, it rested on a metal box, at the base of which was a grill for lighting the embers.The green coffee beans were placed inside the cylinder, and by continuously turning the crank at the other end of the cylinder, the beans tumbled over each other until they turned the color of "a monk's cloak".
How should one drink coffee?
It is said that coffee should be drunk "cursing", meaning boiling hot.
Who had the idea for this beverage?
The Arabs were the first (sometime around 1000 A.D.) to think of grinding coffee (after roasting it) and adding hot water to obtain the beverage we know today.
Coffee as a sign of friendship
Valdostana Coffee is a sign of friendship, solidarity, and alliance. This type of coffee is drunk with friends from a "friendship cup", a classic container called a "grolla" that is made of wood with multiple spouts, each of which pour out the coffee, hot and alcoholic, as it is prepared with a touch of grappa, a slightly flavoring liqueur, a lot of sugar, and a lemon rind.
When preparing coffee, add a grain of salt to the water in the coffee maker to heighten its flavor.
Connoisseurs' coffee
Connoisseurs suggest grinding only the amount of coffee you need just before you prepare it to preserve the maximum aroma. If you want a truly special flavor, you can grind an almond along with the coffee.
Coffee like wine?
Coffee needs at least two hours of aeration to adapt itself to environmental conditions. Therefore, in the working conditions typical of cafés, packages of coffee should be opened at least two hours before they are used.
Coffee: “the Devil's beverage”
When it first appeared in Italy, coffee had many opponents.The church particularly fought the custom of visiting "coffee shops", believing them to be places of perdition. It attempted to prohibit the coffee-drinking habit, but Pope Clement VII wanted to try the "Devil's Beverage" before condemning it.He liked it so much that he gave it a blessing immediately, baptizing it a Christian Beverage.
