Venetian merchants were the first ones to introduce coffee in Europe .
When Pope Clement VIII was urged to declare the “black, sooty beverage” as the invention of Satan, He said, “Let me taste it first.” He did and proclaimed, “This devil’s drink is so delicious we should cheat the devil by baptizing it!” After his pronouncement coffee spread through Europe like lightning. Venice’s first coffee house opened in 1645, England’s in 1650 and France’s in 1671, although coffee arrived in the port of Marseille in 1644.
Coffee was first introduced to Paris in 1669 by Suleyman Aga, the ambassador to the court of King Louis XIV of France. Aga was sent by Mohammed IV with sacks of coffee which he described as a magical beverage when mixed with a small quantity of cloves, cardamom seeds and sugar which was then bought by the ounce at the apothecary’s shop. He also brought the apparatus used in the preparation of the Turkish style coffee drink including china dishes, and small pieces of muslin embroidered with gold, silver, and silk, which the Turks used as napkins. He became the darling of Parisian society remaining in Paris long enough firmly to establish the custom he had introduced.
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