– by Steve Sheppard –
Now, I am a self-proclaimed coffee lover as many of you are too, and when I worked as a Barista I found it fascinating to listen to the customer’s personal story of how and why each of them loved coffee. Their reasons were broad. I’ve put together a short list of some famously addicted people and their coffee quirks.
Johann Sebastian Bach – aside from music, Bach loved coffee. But during his time, society regarded coffee as a vice. When there was a public outcry against the Viennese coffeehouse scene, Bach made a mockery of the display by composing a cantata in defense of coffee in 1732 called the ‘Coffee Cantata’.
Ludwig Van Beethoven – according to his biographer, coffee was the only indispensable item in Beethoven’s diet. He took extra care of his coffee preparation in every way. He was meticulous with how much he drank, counting exactly 60 coffee beans every day and preparing them in a glass coffeemaker.
Margaret Atwood – she only has coffee for breakfast. Her favorite is an espresso shot, but sometimes she has coffee with steamed milk or cream (café Breve). She loves her coffee so much that she even lent her name to a coffee blend that was used to save Canada’s Pelee Island Bird Observatory.
Voltaire – drank anywhere from 40 to 50 cups of coffee every day. Even when his doctor berated him about this excess, predicting that coffee would kill him, he lived until his 80s. His favorite blend was a coffee and chocolate mixture.
Theodore Roosevelt – the 26th President of the United States was a self-proclaimed coffee aficionado. He liked his coffee sweet, often adding six to seven lumps of sugar.
Benjamin Franklin – loved coffee so much that he spent most of his days in London hanging around coffee shops. He even used his favorite coffee shop’s address to receive his sister’s mail. Moreover, when he went on boat travel, he always brought his own coffee beans for fear that the captain would run out.
David Lynch – is a coffee aficionado through and through. He is proud of his love for the beverage and even featured it on his TV show and chronicled about it in his blog. He also launched his own line of organic coffee called David Lynch Signature Organic Line.
Being a self-proclaimed coffee lover is one thing, but drinking 40 cups a day, or using 7 sugar cubes in every cup is entirely another. For me, being a coffee lover is all about the journey to find the freshest beans to ensure the tastiest cup. I drink 4 cups a day, hardly celebrity status, but for me quality is more important than quantity … Steve out.
