Article 49: Great poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Coffee is the best beverage!
“Coffee is a wonderful drink that keeps us in a state of euphoria for many hours.” The great writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
Coffee is not only a creative catalyst for people to explore the world, but also an object of scientific research.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – The pioneer in buidling the coffee societ
Coffee was introduced to Germany in the 1670s, as a beverage in the Berlin palace in 1675 and the first German coffee shop appeared in Hamburg in 1679. German philosopher Jurgen Habemans once likened coffee shops to an important and indispensable place in society and a constituent element of the “public sphere”. This statement of his was corroborated when a series of public lectures at the cafe candidly addressed politics, society and the responsibility of citizens, governments, etc., topics that belonged only to the right to speak of a small section of society.
Under the impulse of caffeine, a series of new ideas and inventions of the era were born from coffee shops.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was no exception. As a thinker who worked simultaneously in many fields of literature – art, history, philosophy, aesthetics, geography… the coffee shop was an ideal place for him to discuss his new views and ideas. During his career, Goethe lived in many countries from Germany, Italy to Vienna (Austria), and he always kept the habit of frequenting cafes. He was even known as a famous patron at Antico Caffè Greco in Rome – Italy and Florian Café in Vienna.
Not only spending time contemplating and thinking about new works here, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was the one who pulled writers and artists to Antico Caffè Greco, turning this place into one of the famous cafes in Italy at that time. In that sense, Goethe made an important contribution to the formation of the coffee society in Europe. Today at Antico Caffè Greco, people still hang a portrait of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as pride when it is the place where the great German writer visited.
Writers and artists spent time contemplating and reflecting on new works at the cafe, thereby contributing to the creation of a coffee society – Societas Coffea.
And proving coffee a source of awakening energy for mankind
Johann Wolfgang von Goeth drank coffee every day. This habit made him feel more alert, happy and focused in both work and life. His favorite coffee was Arabic mocha coffee. Even, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe liked to brew his own coffee.
The special love for coffee prompted Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s curiosity about the composition of this miraculous beverage, why when people drink coffee, they feel so alert, focused and happy. In Ethiopian beliefs, coffee was considered a gift from God, but coffee used to be rejected by Europeans to the point that some countries had banned its use. Along with the strong development of science and technology, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s curiosity prompted him to study hard. He sent this “research topic” to his close friend – chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge to find the answer.
From a special love for coffee, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe always asked: what makes the magic function of coffee beans.
After receiving the coffee bag from Goethe, Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge immediately embarked on a journey to discover the magical properties of coffee beans by analyzing them. From Arabic mocha seeds, he isolated and purified a white, bitter, odorless powder called caffeine. Not only providing a great source of energy for the brain, caffeine is also a pharmaceutical for the medical industry with the use of treating cardiovascular diseases, blood sugar, …
Concluding the discovery stemming from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s special love for coffee, for the first time in history, coffee has been proven its great use to the public in an experimental scientific way. If in the past, people received coffee as a gift from God, now they receive coffee through a scientific perspective. Coffee is a great beverage that makes people feel awake, focused and happy.
THE REAL COFFEE
ROASTED ONLY FOR PEOPLE OF WISDOM!
Source: “The Philosophical Way of Coffee” – copyright by Trung Nguyen Legend