Reflections upon man sitting at a coffee table by Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch was a famous Norwegian painter. Born 1863 and died 1944. He became famous for exploring human emotions and psychological themes which became a foundation for late 19th-century Symbolism in art and one of the main influences of German Expressionism in the early 20th century.

At The Coffee Table - 1883. This is one of the great works of the artistic genre Impressionism. it is an oil on canvas and can be viewed at the Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway.

For most coffee drinking can be a very personal experience and evocative. The painting by Edvard Munch depicts an old man and middle age woman seated at the cafe close to each other but almost oblivious of each other as each subject seems engaged in a deeply personal experience of reflection of their drink. The subjects lend a quiet dignity over the act of drinking quite in contrast to the rowdy and boisterous images one tends to see in 18th century images of coffee houses. The blues and greys lend to the solemnity of the entire affair balanced by the glowing red of the coffee table that seems to lift the spirit as the subjects gaze in pensive meditation of their cups of coffee.

Reflections upon art and coffee - Pieter Bergli, coffee enthusiast and narrator.

'On s'engage et puis on voit' - Let's jump in and then think what to do next! Napoleon

Solitary.

How he must have rued in pensive isolation, brooding over his coffee at the thought of his undignified defeat at Waterloo. An empire born of genius but barely lasting a generation. Of course he had a lot of time on his hands now. After all he was Napoleon Bonaparte; he could command whatever he could want even if he could demand that his morning coffee would be served on the finest porcelain. Alone and outcast on St. Helena would he be remembered at all for his services to his nation France? Had Napoleon Bonaparte been a voracious coffee drinker earlier in his life as he had become on St. Helens, perhaps the fate of Europe may have been different on that fateful day in Belgium on June 18, 1815. Napoleon had arrived on St Helena on 16 October 1815 after the defeat that summer by the British Allied forces at Waterloo. Alone and miserable he could only cling to his coffee mug and his wistful hopes that the politics in France would change and that the populace would recall the glory of France that he himself gave to the nation and rescue their Emperor for a third time from the isolation of exile. Nothing could be further from the truth. Europe was now tired of wars. Europe was tired of Napoleon. But worse; France had become fatigued of it's own Emperor. France was tired of the wars that followed the social chaos of the French revolution. It was time for peace in Europe; too much blood had been shed. Europe was tired of war. The French monarchy needed to be restored but this time upon the British constitutional model to satisfy all elements of modern society.

It was a miserable morning to say the least; it had rained two whole days and when Napoleon woke that morning doubtless he would have missed his customary 6am cup of coffee! Awakening with a grand scheme to organize a resounding victory, Napoleon was shocked to witness that the French army was in utter and uncharacteristic disarray as the sun rose over Waterloo.  Much to the delight of his adversary, the English commander, The 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, the French were utterly disorganized as the morning broke. Mud everywhere! Men, gun, troops and cavalry all toiling to find their positions. Time was on the side of the Allied forces. It would be only a matter of time before Prussian reinforcements would arrive to reinforce the safely ensconced British forces atop the ridge. The Duke of Wellington had chose his terrain well by fortifying his ridge before the little village Waterloo, some fifteen miles south of Brussels. All the Allies needed to do was to sit on that ridge and hold off the French at all costs.

There stood 25,000 British troops with 43,000 allied forces (Netherlands, Hanover, Brunswick, Nassau) and 50,000 Prussian forces totaling 118,000 Allied forces with 156 gun against 73,000 men of the great French Grande Armée and 252 guns. Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, Marshal Blucher and the Prince of Orange. at the outset the Allies were numerically outnumbered and outgunned with the absence of the Prussian forces on the field. Thus the great French General, the Emperor Napoleon, himself striding on his white horse, decided that at Waterloo the overall strategy would be to drive a wedge between the Allies and the Prussians and finish each army off in two great battles, first by seizing the crest at Waterloo and dealing with the Duke of Wellington.

Twenty years earlier a revolution had created a whole new social order in France based upon the ideas of such giants as Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Needless to say such literary giants of the age drew inspiration from large and copious brews of the humble and roasted coffee bean! Thus from the chaos emerged a young artillery officer who became a man of destiny, a general and an emperor all of his own fashion, as piece by piece Napoleon Bonaparte would dismantle the military structures of Europe itself and expand the power and glory of France.

Austerlitz, ever immortal in name. At the greatest French victory of 2nd December, 1805; Napoleon had startled two Emperors on the fields of Pratzen and tore apart their forces with an early cut and thrust that threw the entire Austrian and Russian armies into an abysmal retreat. From that very famous battle came the immortal words of the victor, Napoleon's famous maxim 'On s'engage et puis on voit'  or ‘Let's jump into the fray and then figure out what to do next”. William Pitt, the Younger, Prime Minister of Great Britain, upon hearing the news of the devastating defeat had cried "Roll up that map; it will not be wanted these ten years."

Almost ten years later, with William Pitt having passed away in 1806, his words came back to haunt the mighty Napoleon. Indeed, the lands of Waterloo were not the lands of Austerlitz, and had Napoleon been well versed in the writings of the famed Chinese writer Sun Tzu  he would then have had grave misgivings and cause for concern on that fateful day in 1815, taking note that the weather and the terrain acted totally against the valor of his troops as the final determining factors of the battle of Waterloo.

Earlier the Prussians under Marshall Blucher were routed at Ligny and driven back to the East leaving Napoleon to chase the British whilst Marshall Grouchy followed Marshall Blucher’s retreat. Napoleon caught up with the British troops at a town called Quatre Bras and successfully managed to drive the British away without a full commitment of troops on both sides of the battle. The Duke of Wellington fell back to Brussels. Noticing the terrain on the Brussels road near the woods of Soignies, the British commander spotted the village of Waterloo which stood before a significant valley. From the Forest south of the road to Brussels the road that led north descended softly into a valley before rising again to another ridge by the village. The terrain was perfect for a sturdy defence and a lethal trap for the advancing enemy forces that would get stuck in the valley below. Inside that valley by the first crest, facing north, lay La Haye Sante Farm that would slope up to Waterloo. This was used as headquarters by the Prussians. Then within the same valley towards the south lay another farm, the La Belle Alliance Farm, which was seized by the advancing French and used as a field headquarters.

For the Duke of Wellington that morning his  officers were high spirited with the effects of morning tea and the unbelievable vision of French calamity unfolding before them. As sunlight broke the British officers one by one drew their scopes in astonishment as they could clearly see the proximity of the French forces massing in the valley below with toilsome ability.

The night of 17th June was dismal with incessant rain. Napoleon did not sleep well at all; by fits and starts of two hours, wake and rest, from  the very beginning things were starting to go wrong and compound themselves into overwhelming reasons and causes not to give fight to the British that day. That his customary morning coffee could not alert him to this danger of his choice of terrain will remain one of the most startling arguments in military history. Everything about the battle plan was at fault from conception to implementation. But as astounding as this battle plan became was the unquestionable genius and indefatigable confidence displayed by the man who fought at Austerlitz and Jenna and Dresden before. Waking with the sunrise Napoleon was totally aghast to see his French army completely stuck in the mud trying to move their canon as much as the Duke of Wellington and his aides de camp watching through looking glasses were equally amused at the sorry spectacle unfolding! Napoleon was absolutely furious and barked at his generals to hasten with all speed. How could he retreat in the face of the British foe? How could he drop his visage of fearlessness before the Allies? He could not let the British be reinforced by the scattered Prussians of Marshall Blucher. Unthinkable! He must lead his men uphill as soon as possible at all costs for the brave shall surely surmount. But where are the guns?  Sunrise and still the French army were still stuck in the thick mud and struggling to find their positions! By 6am at Austerlitz Napoleon was already advancing to assault the fields of Pratzen! For certain Napoleon had not the composure and repose to consume his favorite beverage! In all probability Napoleon was too furious to start the day with his customary morning coffee and that indeed would be a fine topic of discussion over the complete lack of tactical inspiration drawn from a hot brew that very morning!

Eleven am in the morning and finally the silence of the fields was broken by the roar of the French gun.  Finally the sun was drying out the fields. Finally the French had got out of the mud, but nearly half the day was already spent! With fury some 252 French gun commenced their bombardment of the British positions atop the sodden ridge at Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington immediately called for his men to lie down face down to avoid flying missiles and shrapnel. The French rounds were not landing on hard ground at all with calculated precision and explosive power. The mud! Everywhere the mud! Instead the French artillery rounds were landing with a soft thud on the wet hill top and bouncing at shoulder height until they could find some hard surface to impact and explode. In horror Napoleon watched as his gun pounded the British crest with little effect.  Napoleon ordered his gun to focus on the Hougoumont Farm, on the extreme right of the Allied line atop the crest. Frustrated at the lack of damage caused by the artillery Napoleon then ordered Jerome to make an infantry assault on the allied right Hougoumont at 1.30pm and Marshal Ney to march uphill and take 74 short range gun and 17,000 infantry to challenge the allied center and left. En avance! Marshall Ney then led a furious assault on the farm La Haye Sante before the ridge of Allied troops. The Prussians ran out of ammunition and were forced to flee or risk annihilation. Ney led the brave French infantry to the top, but then the British fired a resounding volley, the French infantry stuttered in shock and then the British cavalry led by Major-General William Ponsonby, 'The Honourable' charged down upon them and pushed back the French down the slope. It was now 3pm already and the plan of Napoleon was badly falling apart.

At this point had Napoleon simply withdrew to the first crest of the valley with the woods behind him he may yet have retained an over-whelming tactical advantage given the shape of the terrain and the advantage of gun. Moreover, his foe, even with the Prussians arriving on the field late in the day, may not have been as powerful enough to envelop and surround his powerfully organized army. Under the strains of serious challenge the Allies were relatively inexperienced and could have disintegrated into  a motley crew in the face of serious artillery barrage as the field dried out from the morning rain. 

At 3pm only on the Allied right at Hougoument there was fighting still in continuity. But overall the French forces had ground to a halt in bewilderment at the British resolution to hold the crest. The Duke of Wellington could already see the arrival of Blucher on the field at some distance. Napoleon then ordered Marshall Ney to advance on La Haye Sante and hold this vital point. Marshall Ney observing movement on the ridge immediately thought the Allies were preparing to withdraw and took two battalions for the assault. Had he known that the movement during the lull was the wounded being carried away perhaps Ney would have taken a larger force as he ran into an organized army quite prepared to drive the French away for the second time in the day. A massive cavalry attack was launched to once and for all seize the moment and the ridge from the allies. The British seeing the advance immediately formed into squares to allow the cavalry to flow through and receive maximum damage by being shot at form all sides. Here the battle was to be decided. In the next three hours between 3pm and 6pm that afternoon, Napoleon committed his entire cavalry force to overwhelm the allies. But The British infantry organized themselves so mightily that each time the heavy cavalry rode in, each time they would be repulsed. In utter frustration Marshall Ney was seen striking his sword at the British gun whilst in retreat as the French cavalry failed to spike the guns. Twelve times the French Cuirassiers rode up the slope in monumental waves only to be beaten back with the ferocious force of gunshot as the British squares held their ground! At 5.30pm Marshall Ney led the final cavalry assault in complete and total exhaustion.

At 5.30pm Napoleon ordered Marshall Ney to launch the final infantry assault. Marshall Blucher's front guard was already arriving on the British right to reinforce. Fatigued, the army reorganized itself as Napoleon led the Old Guard, the veterans and backbone of the French arm. it was now 7.30pm with very little time left in the day. Marshall Ney threw his 5 battalions of the Young Guard onto the British right in the face of the same British guns which he failed to immobilize earlier with the initial cavalry assault. With desperate force the French came down upon the British on top the ridge. Napoleon's 4 battalions of Old and Middle Guard, with Generals Friant and Poret de Morvan,  now hurled themselves at the British center and threw back the British battalions of Halkett’s Brigade with over-powering strength. But the Belgian and Dutch infantry of General Chassé and Colonel Detmers came to the rescue as the french slammed into the British and then step by step drove them back down the hill. It was at this moment the Duke of Wellington raised his voice with his immortal words “Now Maitland. Now’s your time”, he called to the brigade commander at the center “Up Guards, ready”! at once the British Foot Guards all  stood up, fired a deadly volley at the French and charged with flashing bayonets in desperate hand to hand combat as they forced the French Guard back down the hill with the anguished cry of “La Garde recule”! "La Garde recule. Sauve qui peut!" The Duke of Wellington in complete excitement stood in his stirrups and waived his hat in the air urging his men to get up and at em!

To compound the misery of Napoleon that other great notable coffee drinker and adversary Marshall Blucher himself was now arriving on the field with full force but Napoleon had threw in his lot with the last march of the Old Guard.  To halt the rout Napoleon ordered the mingled regiments to stand their ground with the surviving 3 Imperial Guard Reserve battalions south of La Haye Sainte on flat ground for a last stand. But the allies were now tearing down in full force with the cavalry at the front demanding that the French immediately surrender and to which the french Old Guard retorted "La Garde meurt, elle ne se rend pas!" or "The Guard dies, it does not surrender!" The French that did not retreat were cut down thus in their refusal to surrender.

Napoleon's disintegrating forces regrouped at the farm La Belle Alliance had not the stomach to fight anymore than offer a fierce regard defence on the other side of the valley and the British and Prussian cavalry advanced no more, though some cavalry pursued retreating French on the flanks till 10pm. Dusk had set and both sets of forces at the center withdrew from the field in organized silence. That evening after 9pm the French remnants in the center organized a dignified retreat from the field of Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington and Marshall Blucher met at Genappe around 10pm that evening with to signal the end of the battle.

Of the 73,000 men of the great French Grande Armée that started the day 26,000 were either killed or wounded, 7,000 captured and an additional 15,000 rapidly deserted the retreating army on the road back to Paris in the following days. The Duke of Wellington lost 15,000 Allied troops whilst the Prussians lost 7,000 men. Thus the age of war had come to an end in Europe.

Had Napoleon simply sounded a tactical retreat at 3pm and poured himself a simple cup of coffee to warm his spirit, he may yet have had the last laugh to throw the gauntlet into the face of the Duke of Wellington. But this was not the kind of man to sit and wait as Austerlitz had shown the world before. This was a man that would not flinch before the brutal Russian winter as he threw his finest men into the Battle of Borodino and which resulted in 70,000 French casualties. This was a man who force marched his army on a retreat through  ice and snow, and which saw his men resort to eating their own shoes and even their horses to stay alive. He could not possibly sit and wait for the Allies to group, even with territorial and gun advantage and a rear of trees which could never allow the Allies to envelop him. Jamais!

In battles before Napoleon had been known to retire to his tent and take 30 minute naps to re-energize before. But this time he let his anger get the better of him; could not bare the fact that he could not budge the Allies from the ridge. With uncharacteristic loss of judgement on the field with compounding exasperation he over-estimated the potency of a Prussian force he had already defeated at Ligny and his pride would not allow him to merely sit and wait for the combined forces to attack his own sturdy defence. His rage and pride got the better of him and so he thrust the rest of his forces into that roiling cauldron of fire and the rest of the narrative becomes a history of despair as France's finest soldier's were mercilessly cut down before the Allies.

The man who would take a crown from the Pope's very own hands became the architect of his own ruin with his own stubborn pride and inability to contain his confidence and learn when to yield and fight for another moment. Patience was not a word an Emperor could live with.

Could it be said that the fate of nations could have been decided over a hot brew of coffee; or in this narrative, the complete lack of it? After all it was the man himself who had uttered - “I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.” Logic would therefore dictate that indeed the great man was utterly senseless on that fateful day and bereft of sufferings of coffee as he threw the French finest up the crest at Waterloo.

The man who became an Emperor was now a complete outcast. But even on his deathbed Napoleon would ask for a spoonful of coffee whilst saying  “I would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.” His final autopsy revealed a stomach full of coffee.

As the British poet Thomas Gray had written in 1747:

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

- Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.

Reflections upon the life of Napoleon Bonaparte and his passion for coffee.

- Pieter Bergli, lover of fine coffees, historical narratives and anecdotes.


My Art Musings

Relfections on canvas - coffee, solitude and long health

Yes quite simply put .... you live longer. 

Antioxidants, minerals, cholesterol lowering substances and the list goes on...

Everyone needs some time away to reflect upon the past, the present and the future for a healing moment. Good times or bad; with companions or in solitude, there is nothing more refreshing for the soul than to smell the rich aroma of coffee and taste its invigorating flavors to soothe the mind and appease the nerves ...

Contemporary painting by - Carlantonio Longi

Reflections on coffee culture around the world - Pieter Bergli, cafe enthusiast and bon vivant...

My Art Musings

Coffee culture in Asia - Japan

Japan is an enigma; timeless and yet constantly in a hurry. There are never enough hours in the day to do what you need to do in Tokyo and is it wonder then that the world's most popular beverage has become the vital heart beat of a nation that always seems to be on the go! Just a mention of the word Japan conjures up images of corporate Tokyo, bustling office workers streaming in and out of Tokyo shiny glass buildings; always in a hurry to get

somewhere and always within a whirl of trying to catch up. Lost for time and timeless with its beautiful temples, palaces, gardens and temples and Zen retreats; Japan to the outsider is always going to be an endless contradiction but where miraculously harmony holds as modernity is bound by tradition. Since Japan embarked upon the post war reconstruction and with the economic boom of the 1950's it comes as no surprise that the Japanese would come to adopt one of the most revered of global beverage phenomena; that being the adoption of a coffee drinking culture to satisfy the thirst and invigorate the spirit of the hard working, long hours enduring, Japanese 'salary man'. But even with this new coffee drinking culture that launched itself in Japan in the 1950's, long long ago the Japanese did encounter the coffee beverage but looked upon it with disdain as with most other Western ideas, long ago in a time when Imperial Japan looked inward and not without.

The first foreign traders were the Portuguese in the 17th century. But it was not until the Dutch traders arriving in Japan in the 18th century that a trading colony quickly grew and consolidated as a Dutch trading colony at Dejima near the town of Nagasaki. Dejima was an artificial

island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634. the tiny peninsula was built during the Japanese Edo period purposefully for allowing foreign traders to come solely to this single point for trade and not enter into Japan. Trade took along time to establish during the Edo period. but when the Edo period ended in 1868 with the assumption of the Meji restoration, the isolationist policy of the former shogunate was abandoned. Thereafter it took a a little time for japan step by step to welcome foreign traders and new ideas. It was not until 1888 that the very first coffee shop could open in Tokyo. Such was the conservatism against foreign ideas that would take time to merge into Japanese cultural practices. 

Not surprisingly, given the backdrop of social conservatism in Japan, the coffee drinking culture in Japan didn't really take off until the post World War 11 economic miracle of the 1950's. This was a new age and Japan needed to reinvent itself into the international community; an age where economic power needed to be re-established as mass production and labor emerged upon the new American corporate model and creed. this was largely because Japan could not embrace foreign ideas so readily before the wars changed the face and structure of society in Japan. Koh-hee became the common Japanese word during this time for coffee which is obviously a derivative of English coffee and Dutch word koffie.

As a cultural beverage Koh-hee started off in japan in similar fashion as Japanese tea drinking with ceremony and strict guidelines. However for the modern Japanese it became clear that such fashion of rigidity would never really adhere especially since the beverage is not even Japanese in the very first place!  Koh-hee can be a drink for special occasions as a show of respect to a friend, colleague or used in a romantic encounter.  Koh-hee is prepared with attention. It's beans are carefully selected and roasted and ground and blended with delicate care. it is then served formally and with respect to etiquette where one must never gulp in haste but sip gently as in similar fashion with the culture of tea.  Moreover the intimacy of the coffee drink can be demonstrated in its choice of language where instead of generally asking a friend to come join you for coffee, as in Europe, in Japan one would normally express oneself with the desire to treat a  friend "ogotte ageru" to Koh-hee.

As a commercial beverage Koh-hee became successful with the advent of television as the perfect marketing medium for the concept of instant coffee, which had already seen Nescafe commercially take off in the USA and Europe 1950's. Japan released the world’s first canned coffee and suitably the first coffee in a can to appear was called the 'Mira Coffee'. But it did not prove to be popular at all with the public. A few years after that UCC Ueshima Coffee Co. released a better version of the can coffee and became an instant success.

In 1973, the first hot and cold beverage vending machines were introduced to Japan to cater top the burgeoning office worker crowd. The machine became very popular and took 100 yen coins and since then Tokyo has never look back as the culture of coffee spread throughout Japan. Japanese coffee houses have been very slow to emerge due to the predominance of the tea drinking culture and traditional opinions that were largely prevalent prior to the war.

The Doutor Coffee chain of cafes opened their first store in 1980 to cater largely to the office crowds with Japanese now in its heyday of economic power. Doutor became the forerunner of Starbucks in Japan anticipating that stressed out workers would seek the refuge of cafes. Today Japan is uniquely know for its wide range of theme cafes from scantily clad maids to hug a friend concept to pet cat lounging places of solitude. If you ever do happen to visit Tokyo try the friendly pet cafe with its cat theme - Nakano, the North Exit of Nakano Station and along Nakano Avenue. Another such notable cat cafe is at Shinjuku, East Exit of Shinjuku Station on Yasukuni Avenue. Other uniquely Japanese themes which are quite popular n the innovative world of Japanese concept coffee, are the maid cafes of Tokyo. Undoubtedly challenging to the foreign visitor Tokyo eventually grows on you and even the most bizarre and odd becomes appreciated. The Japanese maid cafe themes  once again demonstrate the Japanese openness to all forms of marketing techniques to bring people in and have a decent cup of coffee. Quite amusingly, well known maid cafes in Tokyo, publish several rules of etiquette upon entering their establishments, more or less designed to keep stressed Tokyo office workers within the general spirit of the theme. Try Cafe Doll in Tokyo Electric Town exit of JR Akihabara station in Sotokanda Chiyoda-ward or JAM AKIHABARA where the maids actually dress as fairies again in the same ward, Electric Town exit of JR Akihabara station.

Talking about instant coffee in Japan, a quite sure in Europe that most people are now familiar with the odd pencil shaped sachets of instant coffee that are appearing on sale. Well, if you haven't, Nescafe have recently come up with long thin sachets of instant coffee as an alternative marketing gimmick to the familiar rectangular shaped sachets. . But did you know that the new Nescafe sachets are actually in response to the Japanese version known in the east as Blendy Stick? Yes, that's right - Blendy Stick! Always at the forefront and always unique Japan does not shirk form venturing into new ideas to promote the world's most popular beverage today. Well people do stick their pens and pencils in their shirt breast pocket don't they? Since corporate Japan has now become one of the biggest importers of coffee in the world today it's not surprising that Japanese marketing executives will stretch the bounds of imagination to come up with some new practical idea of carrying the world's most popular beverage in the pocket! No matter how bizarre the Japanese consumer will try it! 'Blendy Stick' is a combo instant coffee creamer concocted by the Ajinomoto General Foods and which comes in several flavors and is the most popular Japanese instant cafe over Nescafe and other western products in japan today.

Finally, taking a look at some vital and interesting statistics, did you know that Japan is the 3rd largest importer of coffee at 3.2 kg per individual?  That is a healthy number which is only behind 2nd placed Germany at 4.23 kg per capita by a shade and of course the 1st placed USA at an incredible 6.93 kg per capita. So what does this mean to the layman? generally speaking, this translates to approximately 440,000 tonnes of coffee imported annually into Japan, or 7% of the world’s entire annual coffee export.

Reflections on coffee culture around the world - Pieter Bergli, cafe enthusiast and historian

My Art Musings

Cafe Corner - Is it true dear Sue?

Is it true, dear Sue?    Are there two?          I shouldn't like to come For fear of joggling Him! If I could shut him up In a Coffee Cup, Or tie him to a pin Till I got in -- Or make him fast To "Toby's" fist -- Hist! Whist! I'd come!

Emily Dickinson - American Poet - b.1830  d.1886. Known for her reclusiveness Emily Dickinson brought to life a series of friendships revolving around a world of letters and correspondences but never would she venture to meet people beyond her local community. Raised in her family's house in Amherst, Massachusetts, New England, she spend her life uniquely from life to death and lived her own distant world through her very own lively letters and insightful poetry.

Reflection on poetry and a cup of coffee to soothe the soul...

A world of coffee, thoughts and remembrances

by

Pieter Bergli, cafe enthusiast and narrator.

My Art Musings

Cafe Corner - Voltaire and 50 Cups of Coffee!

Legend has it that the great French writer François-Marie Arouet, otherwise known by his nom de plume as Voltaire, was said to have once drunk 50 cups of coffee in a single day! Incroyable! Were such a feat true in modern history then the act indeed would have rapidly accumulated instant legendary status. B.1694 d.1778, Voltaire is perhaps one of the most colorful figures in French if not world literary history. Renown for command of language at an early age the young Voltaire already developed a brilliant and witty career at such an important epoch in the history of France and Europe. His career would span the age when men's minds were just about to begin to question everything around them. With the birth of scientific inquiry and reasoning all order of knowledge was now under intense revision and scrutiny. This was the Age of Enlightenment that preceded the momentous and turbulent French revolution that unfettered men's minds and led to the very execution of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinete and the once unshakeable concept of the Divine Rights of Kings.   Indeed Voltaire reached such an incredible level of notoriety in this age with a huge volume of satirical attacks upon French law and order and society totaling as much as 20,000 letters, more than 2,000 books and pamphlets of poetry, essays and plays. With a precocious penchant for trouble making and outspoken advocacy the young plume quickly found himself in confrontations with the established order of society.

In 1726 Voltaire was roundly insulted by the young French nobleman Chevalier de Rohan and consequently beaten by his servants. Without candor Voltaire challenged the young nobleman to a duel and soon found himself subject to prosecution as a mischief-maker by the powerful nobleman. Faced with the possibility of being sent to the

Bastille, Voltaire wittily challenged the courts that he should be exiled to the hated England as an alternative punishment! Outsmarted and outmaneuvered by the plume the judges keenly agreed what possible worse punishment could befall a Frenchman! He was then happily carted off to be disposed on English soil where Voltaire at once came face to face with the idea of English constitutional monarchy, and the refreshing freedom of speech and pursuit of religion, which then inspired his later writings to press for reform back home in his native France where absolute and unquestionable monarchy was the reign of the day. Inspired by the open intellectualism of English writers, the culture of London coffee houses and an ear for all sentiments Voltaire truly discovered the principles of philosophy that would shape his career in later life.

In 1729, after three years of study of the works of Sir Isaac Newton and John Locke, Voltaire returned to Paris. Immediately Voltaire set out to publish his support for the system of British government and politics, its culture of freedom and toleration, its literature and religion in a collection entitled "Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais". For the established order of l'ancien regime this was nothing short of an audacious and overt slap in the face that could not be condoned without public controversy in France. Pilloried and pursued by the French establishment Voltaire was again forced to leave Paris once again in 1734 when the French public was manipulated into acts of book burning and scapegoating.   

From 1734 until 1749 Voltaire retired to north east France and found a 15 year friendship with the intellectually renown Marquise Émilie du Châtelet. it was here during this sojourn that the bulk of his writings and letters were composed. In spite of growing radicalism where he even renounced religion, and called for the separation of the church and state to be based upon the English model, he was still accepted into the important Academie Francaise in 1746. With the death of his friend and lover, the death of the Marquise Émilie du Châtelet in 1749, Voltaire moved to Germany but in 1753 had to flee after a literary attack upon the president of the Berlin  Academy of Science once again enraged and led to book burning and a pursuit for his arrest as he fled back to Paris! But Louis XV had already banned Voltaire from entering Paris and branded him a trouble maker. Thus Voltaire retired to a secluded French region near Switzerland where he spent the last 20 years of his life writing the great work Candide ou l'Optimisme. Voltaire finally returned to Paris in 1778, at the age of 83. However, with all the excitement of his final triumphant return to a now more liberal and welcome populace, the journey became his last and indeed the great plume died on 30 May 1778 in Paris. In true witty fashion, Voltaire's last words are said to have been "For God's sake, let me die in peace"!

Today Voltaire is known as one of the four giants of 18th century European literature who manged to shape the birth of the monumental American and French revolutions. Together with the other literary giants of his time, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jaques Rousseau, the challenge was clearly laid down in defiance of the religious and political dogma of the time.

Let it not be said that coffee could inspire a greater literary genius as the life of François-Marie Arouet will always be reflected in modern constitutional monarchy and European politics even to this day. 

Reflections upon coffee and literary genius - Pieter Bergli, cafe enthusiast and narrator.

My Art Musings

Anecdote - Sir Winston Churchill On Coffee

Lady Nancy Astor was an American born socialite who like many young girls of her day went to Great Britain to find marriage and a new life after the collapse of her father's railroad contractor business. She became the second woman to enter parliament as a Tory member of the House of Commons in Great Britain in 1919 ( The first woman MP was  Constance Markievicz, elected in 1918). In the 1930’s she headed a group of Nazi German sympathizers within the House of Commons. Thereupon, she quickly earned the distaste of her fellow parliamentarian and Liberal party member Winston Churchill. The Liberal Party parliamentarian had been speaking out against the recent German militarization and bemoaning the lack of preparedness of the English forces to deal with the growing German threat.  Winston Churchill soon came to odds with Lady Astor on several political issues. Within this context he then came to describe Lady Astor as one who  "feeds the crocodile hoping that it will eat him last" in her attempts to forge an understanding between Nazi Germany and an increasingly skeptical Great Britain. The acid between the pair is supposed to have grown from that point until one day Winston Churchill in true sexist fashion told Lady Astor that having a woman in Parliament was very much like having one intrude on him in the bathroom! Instantly offended but never lost for words Lady Astor brushed the comment aside and turned the tables on Winston Churchill with great amusement when she engaged in repartee and amusingly retorted "You are not handsome enough to have such fears!"

Thus, one evening at a dinner party at her mansion

at Cliveden, to which Winston Churchill was a guest, upon the serving of coffee after dinner, the infamous hostility ensued between the pair as their eyes met.

Glaring at Winston Churchill after dinner as was coffee was being served she then rather acidly remarked: 

"If I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee."  

Never at once a laggard for words himself Winston Churchill famously quipped:  

"And if I were your husband, I would drink it!"



Indeed can it not be said that coffee does bring out the very best in people in all thoughts, manners and wits. Coffee excellence for all occasions

Cafe musings from Pieter Bergli - collector of fine coffees, narrator and bon vivant

My Art Musings