In 1824, Thomas Jefferson deemed coffee the world’s “favorite beverage.” It had been a long journey for the humble coffee bean and its associated drink, but it had finally reached a point of almost universal acceptance.
The origins of coffee are shrouded in legend. One of the earliest tales tells of an Ethiopian goatherd called Kaldi, who, around 850 CE, supposedly noticed his flock acting strangely. Upon further investigation, he saw his goats feeding on the strange berries of an evergreen bush. He sampled the berries and, after finding them quite exhilarating, excitedly proclaimed his discovery to anyone who would listen. (Coffee beans are actually the fruits of the Coffea plant.)
Beyond legends such as these, we know coffee plants were taken from Ethiopia across the Red Sea to Arabia in the 15th century, or perhaps even earlier. Coffee became hugely popular in Turkey and soon found its way to Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.
However, not everyone was pleased about the beverage’s increasing popularity. Catholic clergymen labeled it satanic and tried to have it banned. They urged Pope Clement VIII to forbid it, but upon tasting it, he found it delicious and ignored their supplications.
Later, in 1777, Frederick the Great of Prussia condemned the drink, saying, “Everybody is using coffee; this must be prevented. His Majesty was brought up on beer, and so were both his ancestors and officers … and the king does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers can be relied upon to endure hardships in case of another war.”
But as we now know, nothing and no one — not even popes or kings — could stop the inexorable rise of coffee. Today, it’s the third-most-consumed beverage in the world after water and tea.
For those who love and/or depend on coffee, here are 20 quotes from great thinkers, authors, and artists who were (or are) fond of the stimulating drink.
All cares vanish as the coffee cup is raised to the lips.
Sheik Ansari Djezeri Hanball Abd-al-Kadir
Ah! How sweet coffee tastes, more delicious than a thousand kisses, milder than muscatel wine.
I can’t stop drinking the coffee. I stop drinking the coffee, I stop doing the standing, walking, and words putting into sentence doing.
Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) in “Gilmore Girls”
The best maxim I know in this life is, to drink your coffee when you can; and when you cannot, to be easy without it.
If I could just find one person who I felt that way about — the way I feel about coffee — then I think I’d be in a content relationship.
The morning cup of coffee has an exhilaration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.
As soon as coffee is in your stomach, there is a general commotion. Ideas begin to move … similes arise, the paper is covered. Coffee is your ally and writing ceases to be a struggle.
The powers of a man’s mind are directly proportioned to the quantity of coffee he drinks.
No coffee can be good in the mouth that does not first send a sweet offering of odor to the nostrils.
I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.
To do good work one must eat well, be well housed, have one’s fling from time to time … and drink one’s coffee in peace.
I never laugh until I’ve had my coffee.
I like coffee because it gives me the illusion that I might be awake.
It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.
For everything bad, there’s a million really exciting things, whether it’s someone puts out a really great book, there’s a new movie … the sky is unbelievably golden, or you have the best cup of coffee you ever had in your life.
Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all.
We want to do a lot of stuff; we’re not in great shape. We didn’t get a good night’s sleep. We’re a little depressed. Coffee solves all these problems in one delightful little cup.
As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?
Coffee connects us in so many ways — to each other, to our senses, and to the earth that provides for us.
I need a coffee to go with my coffee.
Featured Image Credit: worryzero/ Shutterstock
Tony Dunnell
Tony is an English writer of non-fiction and fiction living on the edge of the Amazon jungle.
