When the Ottomans first tried coffee (2022-10-16) #

0:00:03 I want to share with you an exciting new
0:00:05 book that's just come out here it is and
0:00:08 it's called the Ottomans a cultural
0:00:10 Legacy by Diana dark who has been an
0:00:13 honor guest on blogging theology before
0:00:15 and this has just been published
0:00:17 actually and it's a fantastic book just
0:00:20 read to you what it says on the inside
0:00:22 cover
0:00:24 at its height the Ottoman empire spread
0:00:27 from Yemen to the gates of Vienna
0:00:30 Western perceptions of the Ottomans have
0:00:34 often been distorted by orientalism
0:00:37 characterizing their rule as oppressive
0:00:40 and destructive while seeing their
0:00:42 culture as exotic and incomprehensible
0:00:47 based on a lifetime's experience of
0:00:50 living and working across its former
0:00:53 provinces Dino dark who by the way is an
0:00:56 English lady living in England offers a
0:00:59 unique overview of the Ottoman Empire's
0:01:02 cultural Legacy one century after its
0:01:06 disillusion
0:01:07 she uncovers a vibrant sophisticated
0:01:10 civilization that embraced both Arts and
0:01:13 Sciences whilst welcoming refugees from
0:01:16 all ethnicities and religions notably
0:01:19 Christians and Jews
0:01:22 Diner dark celebrates the culture of the
0:01:25 Ottoman Empire from its Aesthetics and
0:01:28 architecture to its scientific and
0:01:31 medical Innovations including the first
0:01:34 vaccinations
0:01:36 she investigates The crucial role that
0:01:39 Commerce and trade played in supporting
0:01:41 the Empire and increasing its cultural
0:01:44 reach highlighting this significant role
0:01:47 of women as well as the diverse
0:01:50 religious literary and musical
0:01:52 Traditions that proliferated throughout
0:01:55 the empire
0:01:56 beautifully Illustrated with the
0:01:58 manuscripts Miniatures and paintings and
0:02:01 photographs the Ottomans a cultural
0:02:04 Legacy presents a presents the
0:02:07 Magnificent achievements of an Empire
0:02:09 that lasted over 600 years and income
0:02:13 encompassed Asian European and African
0:02:17 cultures shedding new light on its
0:02:20 complex Legacy
0:02:22 now there are 149 illustrations in this
0:02:25 book and um you're really going to have
0:02:26 to get it to see for yourself
0:02:28 beautifully Illustrated but I wonder if
0:02:30 just focus on one subject like what I
0:02:32 could have focused on literally one of
0:02:34 thousands of possible subjects there's
0:02:36 the subject of coffee which is of
0:02:39 universal interest I think and the uh
0:02:41 this was a favorite ottoman drink and uh
0:02:44 predates the European uh encounter with
0:02:47 coffee and very interesting insights
0:02:49 here about this subject
0:02:51 and she writes on page
0:02:53 237 about uh coffee she says the
0:02:57 popularity of coffee across the Ottoman
0:03:01 Empire goes back to the 1550s when the
0:03:05 first coffee shop was opened in Istanbul
0:03:08 by two yemenis during the reign of
0:03:11 Suleiman the Magnificent himself a great
0:03:14 lover of the drink
0:03:16 he instituted the position of Chief
0:03:19 coffee maker what a job eh who was
0:03:22 responsible for preparing the Sultan's
0:03:25 coffee and the utensils needed to make
0:03:28 the perfect cup of coffee
0:03:30 the furniture of Ottoman palaces evolved
0:03:34 to enable guests to enjoy the coffee
0:03:36 ritual
0:03:38 guests sat on a low bench or Divan built
0:03:42 against the wall while trays of food and
0:03:44 drink were set before them on
0:03:47 beautifully decorated tables
0:03:49 one such table dating from 1560 is on
0:03:53 display in London's Victoria and Albert
0:03:56 Museum
0:03:58 made of Ebony and faced with mother of
0:04:01 pearl an ivory inlay it is topped with
0:04:05 exquisite is neck tiles
0:04:07 the Kilns of cotea south of isnic were
0:04:12 also kept busy producing beautifully
0:04:14 decorated coffee cups some of which can
0:04:17 also be seen in the same collection
0:04:20 before reaching the ottoman Capital
0:04:23 coffee had arrived in Syria in 1534 from
0:04:29 Moka in Yemen but in 1546 it was banned
0:04:34 at the behest of the Ottoman authorities
0:04:37 and certain Pious muftes who considered
0:04:41 its influence to be suspect
0:04:44 fearing that coffee houses would become
0:04:47 places for disreputable practices no
0:04:50 idea what they had in mind what happened
0:04:51 in these coffee houses
0:04:53 previous attempts have been made to ban
0:04:55 it in Mecca and Cairo
0:04:58 the first recorded coffee houses in
0:05:01 Damascus were located in the banks of
0:05:03 the banada near the suleiman's dervish
0:05:06 Lodge and could house hundreds of
0:05:09 customers at a time often pilgrimage
0:05:12 pilgrims gathering for the Hajj
0:05:15 only one survives from that early phase
0:05:19 the cafe now pharah in the Eastern
0:05:22 Gateway to the Temple of Jupiter today
0:05:25 the great umiyad mosque
0:05:28 by the end of the 16th century there
0:05:31 were over 600 coffee houses in Istanbul
0:05:34 a number that Rose to 2 500 by the end
0:05:39 of the 19th century when the
0:05:42 introduction of tea demoted it to Second
0:05:45 Place as the favorite drink across the
0:05:48 empire
0:05:50 coffee was introduced to France with the
0:05:53 1669 visit of the Turkish Ambassador
0:05:56 suleima agar to the court of Louis XIV
0:06:01 consumed in Europe in the traditional
0:06:03 Muslim way it was made by boiling a
0:06:07 mixture of coffee powder sugar and water
0:06:10 which left a residue in the bottom of
0:06:13 the cup because it was not filtered what
0:06:16 we still call today Turkish coffee
0:06:20 coffee reached the austro-hungarian
0:06:22 empire in 1683 following the siege of
0:06:26 Vienna by a huge and well-equipped
0:06:30 Ottoman empire under the command of the
0:06:33 grand vizier Kara Mustafa
0:06:36 after months of bombardment and just as
0:06:41 the fortifications of the city seem to
0:06:43 be giving way The Siege was lifted owing
0:06:47 to the arrival of forces under Prince
0:06:50 Sobieski of Poland and Charles Duke of
0:06:54 Lorraine
0:06:55 in a remarkable reverse reversal the
0:06:59 besieging ottoman Army was routed and
0:07:02 its entire Camp captured including
0:07:06 almost all its armaments and Provisions
0:07:10 Viennese officials were amazed at the
0:07:13 copious amounts of material and
0:07:15 foodstuffs the camp contained especially
0:07:19 the quote prodigious stores of victuals
0:07:23 in their inventory of the spoils the
0:07:26 Viennese Chronicles listed coffee beans
0:07:29 among the grain flour butter bread lard
0:07:32 rice sugar honey cooking oil and
0:07:36 kitchenware as well as live camels
0:07:39 buffaloes mules oxen and sheep
0:07:43 the starving Viennese must have feasted
0:07:46 for days
0:07:48 one polish officer was rewarded for his
0:07:52 bravery in undertaking dangerous
0:07:54 Espionage during the battle with bags of
0:07:57 coffee beans which no one had any idea
0:08:00 how to use
0:08:02 the officer was said to have been an
0:08:05 ottoman prisoner for two years and
0:08:07 therefore knew what to do with them
0:08:10 he was able to sell coffee to the
0:08:13 Viennese citizensary giving them a taste
0:08:16 for the distinctive drink
0:08:18 the first actual Viennese coffee house
0:08:21 was not opened until 1685 by a Cali
0:08:26 Armenian Merchant who had applied for
0:08:28 and been granted the sole privilege of
0:08:32 preparing an offering for sale the
0:08:34 Oriental drink for a period of 20 years
0:08:39 thereafter the sale of coffee remained
0:08:42 carefully controlled in that City so by
0:08:45 1729 there were still only 11 licensed
0:08:50 concessionary concessionaires
0:08:53 a Turkish Merchant in 1650 was the first
0:08:57 to bring coffee commercially into the
0:09:00 United Kingdom
0:09:01 selling it in a coffee house in George
0:09:04 yard Lombard Street here in London
0:09:08 another coffee called sultanas Head
0:09:11 opened another Cafe called sultana's
0:09:15 Head opened eight years later in
0:09:17 cornhill
0:09:19 the insurance company Lloyds of London
0:09:22 was originally a coffee shop I didn't
0:09:25 know this called Edward Lloyd's coffee
0:09:28 house so this vast huge Global Insurance
0:09:32 Company lawyers of London was originally
0:09:34 a coffee house called Edward Lloyd's
0:09:37 Coffee House
0:09:38 by 1700 there were around 500 coffee
0:09:42 houses in London and nearly 3 000 in the
0:09:45 whole of England you see how quickly it
0:09:48 spread how popular it was all over the
0:09:50 country
0:09:51 and interestingly they were known as
0:09:53 Penny universities because you could
0:09:55 listen and talk to the great minds of
0:09:58 the day for the price of a coffee which
0:10:00 cost one penny what a beautiful idea
0:10:04 in the Ottoman Empire the drinking of
0:10:06 coffee was a controversial issue
0:10:09 aside from the stimulating properties of
0:10:13 the drink itself
0:10:14 coffee at coffee houses were seen as
0:10:17 meeting places that challenge the
0:10:20 traditional role of mosques
0:10:23 in the mid 1500s many ships cargos of
0:10:27 coffee beans were tipped into the sea
0:10:31 the drink was the subject of an ottoman
0:10:34 treaties by sarri mehmed Pasha Treasurer
0:10:38 to Ahmed III who reigned from 1703 to
0:10:42 30. in which he explained how coffee
0:10:45 first came to Anatolia by sea and met
0:10:49 with a hostile reception and he wrote
0:10:53 and I quote
0:10:55 but these strictures and prohibitions
0:10:58 Avail nothing the fatwas the talk made
0:11:02 no impression on the people
0:11:04 one coffee house was opened after
0:11:07 another and men would gather together
0:11:10 with great eagerness and enthusiasm to
0:11:13 drink
0:11:15 to those of dry temperament he writes
0:11:18 especially to the man of melancholic
0:11:21 temperament another person given to
0:11:23 sadness
0:11:24 large quantities are unsuitable and
0:11:28 maybe repugnant
0:11:30 taken in excess it causes insomnia and
0:11:35 melancholic anxiety
0:11:38 if drunk at all it should be drunk with
0:11:40 sugar
0:11:42 to those of moist temperament no idea
0:11:45 what he means by that to those of moist
0:11:47 temperament and especially of women it
0:11:50 is highly suited they should drink a
0:11:53 great deal of strong coffee he writes
0:11:56 access of it will do them no harm so
0:11:59 long as they are not melancholic
0:12:02 so presumably insomnia doesn't affect
0:12:04 women at all according to him end of
0:12:07 quote
0:12:09 public coffee houses did indeed play a
0:12:12 role as meeting places for different
0:12:14 groups of people depending on their
0:12:16 locations
0:12:18 those frequented by a Craftsmen tend to
0:12:21 be tended to be located in fattier
0:12:24 bazizit and socheki for instance while
0:12:28 many janissaries opened their own
0:12:31 establishments to supplement their
0:12:33 salaries
0:12:35 some had live singers some had
0:12:37 storytellers and others became known as
0:12:40 venues where intellectuals discuss
0:12:43 politics
0:12:45 at times of unrest
0:12:48 ottoman rulers would close such places
0:12:50 down to stop plotting people plotting
0:12:53 subterfuge
0:12:55 one 17th century ottoman chronicler
0:12:58 wrote and I quote
0:13:01 these shops became meeting places of a
0:13:04 circle of Pleasure Seekers and idlers
0:13:07 and also of some wits from among the men
0:13:10 of letters and Literati and they're used
0:13:13 to meeting groups of about 20 or 30.
0:13:17 some read books and fine writings some
0:13:21 were busy with backgammon and chess some
0:13:25 brought new poems and talked of
0:13:27 literature end quote
0:13:31 attempts to shut the coffee houses
0:13:33 simply meant that they moved to back
0:13:36 streets and alleys but the authorities
0:13:39 finally accepted them not least since
0:13:42 they were important sources of revenue
0:13:44 through taxes and license fees
0:13:48 and in this last paragraph Diana dark
0:13:51 talks about the origins of cappuccino
0:13:54 coffee
0:13:55 which I just had no idea of this until I
0:13:57 read it just now here
0:13:58 in a further evolution of coffee
0:14:01 drinking culture cappuccino coffee was
0:14:04 inspired by an Italian priest from the
0:14:08 Capuchin monastic order who had fought
0:14:10 against the Turks besieging Vienna in
0:14:13 1683.
0:14:15 he acquired some of the coffee beans
0:14:18 captured from the Ottomans spoiled and
0:14:21 began experimenting
0:14:24 finding it too strong for his taste he
0:14:28 mixed it with cream and honey
0:14:31 which gave it the same flavor the same
0:14:34 color brown as the capuchin's robes the
0:14:37 monastic robes and it lented a smoother
0:14:41 taste
0:14:43 the Viennese named it the coup pizzas
0:14:46 though or the cooperzina in German
0:14:49 presumably in honor of the capuchins
0:14:52 hence the Italian cappuccino
0:14:55 though the drink became popular in Italy
0:14:58 only in the 1930s so quite a while to
0:15:01 catch on now it's of course globally
0:15:03 popular and I'll leave it there this
0:15:06 book is just fascinating uh vignette's
0:15:09 stories accounts of of uh cultural facts
0:15:13 and and points of relevance between the
0:15:15 ottoman past and the present days I
0:15:18 highly recommended until next time