Six questions related to Coffee

Coffee is a symbol of taste, fashion and cozy life, and its Fangchun is indispensable in the city. Answer six questions about coffee for you.

Can coffee suppress sexual impulses? in the early 17th century, when Europeans began to experiment with coffee, it was a popular idea in Britain that coffee could suppress sexual impulses, drink too much and even lose sexual ability, and it was a favorite drink for abstinent monks. Under this concept, it is worth noting that the first cafe in London was able to open around 1688. Britons at that time may be more afraid of being manipulated by sexual desire than contemporary fear of losing their sexual ability. Max Weber wrote in Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism: "the asceticism of the Puritans (the English Puritans originated from Calvinism) is different from the abstinence life of the monastery only in degree rather than in principle. And because of its concept of marriage, its practical impact is far greater than the latter. Because, even in marriage, sexual intercourse is merely a means of glorifying God in accordance with the instructions of breeding and breeding, and it is for this purpose that God has granted it. " When the body becomes a labor tool in the service of God, how to distribute physical strength becomes a problem of both theology and economics. On this basis, the abstinence function of coffee is reflected. The source of this idea may be the simple dualism of spirit and flesh, in which the body must submit to the spirit, while coffee has a similar superior relationship between spirit and body compared to beer, which has been popular for centuries.

The nutritional value of beer has long been known. In the second half of the 16th century, a male Miller drank an average of 4 quarts of beer a day, according to Cambridge Press's book Food, Energy and Entertainment in British Agriculture. Female workers drink half as much beer as male workers. At that time, beer belonged to the scope of staple food, and people believed that beer was a friend of the body. Coffee can not be used as a staple food, it is very low in calories, and its popularity must be based on the abundance of food, more like a spiritual drink. The most striking sign is that it can help drunken people wake up. With this intuitive effect, coffee has won a place in the beverage world and is associated with values such as "sober" and "calm". Sylvester Defoe, who wrote many books about beverages in the 1970s and 1980s, said in the Tea, Coffee and Chocolate Etiquette that coffee first appeared on the table as a sobriety along with wine and spirits. Its emergence indicates the end of the era of alcoholic beverage rule, and also means that human beings will get a new experience from alcoholic beverages.

Why does coffee wake you up? the secret is caffeine. Modern medicine has proved that it can stimulate the central nervous system, accelerate the speed at which people perceive the surrounding environment, and improve people's response and understanding ability. it can indeed bring spiritual pleasure, which is different from alcoholic pleasure. It is continuous, rising, steady, and does not have the attenuating effect of reaching the peak of pleasure like alcohol. Since the 17th century, Europe has entered an era of rationalism, which is not only reflected in philosophy, but also in all aspects of daily life, which is an important feature of civic spirit. In the Middle Ages, ordinary people mainly sold physical labor outdoors in exchange for food and clothing. after entering the civil society, the nature of the work of workers began to change in the 17th century, in addition to simple manual labor, there has also been more and more technical and intellectual labor. The ideal state of work is expected to be as punctual and accurate as clocks and machines, fatigue and laziness, which were common in medieval times, were declared blasphemous and illegal, such as the inevitable failures of the body as a tool. Coffee, like motor oil, can dispel emotions that interfere with work in the body's machine, keep the brain awake, and maximize the enforcement of Puritan ethics in the individual's body.

The citizen class, especially artists, is different from farmers and pure manual workers. They often work indoors and sit mainly when they work, a feature that remains unchanged today. The significance of this postural change seems to be underestimated. First, it makes it possible for labor to cross the physiological boundaries of manual labor, making it possible to work as long as possible, which is tantamount to stipulating that people's drinks must be anti-alcoholic; second, the indoor environment allows labor to ignore weather factors, ensuring continuity to the greatest extent, while providing hot water, utensils and even space necessary for drinking coffee. Under such working conditions and Puritan ethics, it seems immoral not to drink coffee. Why does coffee look so pretentious? in Europe, coffee was originally an exotic and playful drink for royalty and aristocrats besides mellow wine and beauties, no essentially different from Chinese porcelain and Persian blankets. Their sense of taste is not adapted to such bitterness, and there is no need for the functionality of the drink. Coffee, as a drink, is an empty signifier for the royal family, and what really interests them is the exquisite porcelain plates, gorgeous clothes and pretentious etiquette, as if drinking coffee together can add some elegant meaning to the daily action of "drinking". Make it away from physical needs (drinking water) and ecstasy (drinking), at the same time, these characteristics of coffee also bring many ladies into it. They had previously been at odds with the rough, masculine world of wine. In the royal and aristocratic groups, drinking coffee seems to be a small ceremony, and its high cost becomes a permit, in which people are able to reconfirm their noble status and get a sense of satisfaction. Later, this sense of ritual changed its meaning and appeared on the dinner table of ordinary families. The family sips coffee in the early morning and has the first gathering within the family every day, during which the order and role of the family are strengthened day after day.

The mystery of "royal exclusive" has also infected the emerging citizen class and become the cause of many people's exposure to coffee. But it has not been easy for coffee to replace beer and spirits as a new daily drink. This is a profound change in living habits. Coffee, which is at the center of the change, has to be carefully studied and suspected under a magnifying glass at both the health and ethical levels. Karl von Linnay (1707-1778), the Swedish scientist who founded modern biological taxonomy, is representative of his view that the uplifting effect of coffee on the spirit sacrifices the internal balance of the body at the expense of health for the sake of development. At that time, this view echoed Rousseau's idea of "returning to nature" (1712-1778), and even today, this attitude of opposing a new thing to nature is no stranger. On the surface, this is people's rejection of strange things in the existing knowledge structure, but there is another question behind it: do people have the right to manipulate their bodies for some purpose?

Is coffee good for your health? some people try to prove the medical legitimacy of coffee, while others do the opposite, citing coffee as a footnote to their theories. In the early 17th century, the four-body fluid theory inherited from ancient Greece still played a leading role in the medical field. this theory holds that natural matter is composed of air, water, fire and earth, with four properties: hot, dry, wet and cold. When it comes to medicine, it is believed that the human body also has four kinds of body fluids (yellow bile, black bile, blood and mucus), and the balance of all kinds of body fluids is related to people's health and character. The medical community has tried to include coffee in this liquid system, but without a good understanding of how coffee works, it is not only unscientific, but also difficult to implement. Some people say that coffee is cool, some say coffee is warm, some people think it thickens the blood according to the process of coffee (roasting), and others say it can dilute bile and make people calm. There are obvious loopholes in each point of view, accusing each other of other people's weaknesses, and in the end, no one can convince the other, of course, there is no conclusion in medicine. Gradually, the medical community reached an unwritten compromise: coffee is good for the body, and the benefits are omni-directional, it can treat all diseases caused by humoral imbalance. This compromise justifies the spread of coffee. A spiritual drink has now been proved to be healthy by the medical community, and its taste is not bad, so its popularity is inevitable. By the 18th century, this misunderstanding was still not over, and Diderot believed that coffee was especially good for slimy people, especially the obese. In the Encyclopedia, he stressed that since most thin people are not slimy, there is no need to drink coffee.

Since the 18th century, the price of coffee has dropped a lot, and more and more people can afford it. The medical profession believes that coffee can treat flatulence, strengthen the liver and benefit gallbladder. Ordinary people realize the refreshing benefits of coffee, gradually adapt to its bitter taste, give up beer at breakfast and leisure time, and imitate aristocrats to drink coffee. But at this time, people's understanding of coffee is far from perfect, and like the large number of novelties from colonies and the East that have flooded into Europe in this era, people are either over-glorified or afraid of these non-locally produced things that cannot be directly perceived in daily experience. Many doctors believe that coffee can cure almost all diseases, and they have never stopped wondering about the possible side effects of coffee. King Gustav III of Sweden (1746-1792) had always wanted to prove that coffee was poisonous. He found two prisoners who were sentenced to death, forced them to drink coffee and tea every day, and ordered the court doctor to observe the records. After drinking expensive drinks for a period of time, both prisoners were free, which made their cellmates very jealous. Many artists are coffee lovers, and this fear later became the object of their mockery. Bach's "Coffee cantata" lyrics are playful and cheerful, saying that the daughter of a citizen's family is fond of coffee, but the father tried every means to ban it, but in vain. The trio of the finale sings: "it's like a cat wants to catch a mouse, everyone needs coffee." Another lesser-known composer, Carl Gottlieberhelin, wrote "Coffee Cannon", which uses the six letters of "C-a-f-f-e-e" as the tonality of each paragraph, namely in C major, a minor, f minor and e minor. He specifically noted at the beginning of the score: "Don't drink so much coffee!"

What is the relationship between coffee and chocolate? at the beginning of the 18th century, chocolate, another black drink, became popular between the court and the aristocracy. In A Tale of two cities, Dickens depicts aristocrats drinking chocolate as follows: "the first attendant will hold the chocolate jar in front of the sacred adult; the second attendant will use the special gadgets he brings to grind the chocolate into foam; the third attendant provides the napkin that the adult likes; the fourth pours the chocolate juice. The reduction of one attendant will inevitably hurt the dignity of your excellency, which is praised by the heavens. It would be a great shame on his family's shield and emblem to serve him with only three people. "

In many ways, chocolate is like a reflection of the old beverage ideology. Chocolate has no awakening effect and does not bring spiritual pleasure to people. on the contrary, until the end of the 18th century, there was a popular view that chocolate had an aphrodisiac effect. As Dickens wrote in A Tale of two cities, aristocrats must be served when drinking chocolate, usually lying down or sitting very relaxed in a chair, in contrast to the "sitting state of work" implied by coffee. Although it is a breakfast drink, coffee means the beginning of a busy day, while chocolate represents another day of enjoyment. The drink habits of the two writers may prove the class difference implied by the drink: Goethe, a secret adviser to the Duchy of Weimar, hates coffee and prefers chocolate, while Balzac, a civilian writer, has become the most famous coffee addict in the history of literature. However, this way of life of the aristocracy had to decline with the process of civil society, and the invention of solid chocolate and chocolate powder greatly reduced the cost of chocolate, making it a drink as easy as coffee-but without exciting functions. Finally, because of its rich nutrition, chocolate is classified as children's food / drink in the field of beverage, while coffee strengthens its position in the beverage world day after day, from Europe to America, Asia and even back to Africa. In today's world, everyone needs to be refreshed, whether it's work or pleasure, and everyone needs good taste.

How did coffee beans from Africa be accepted by European civilization? Balzac carries a coffee pot with him. With the help of this drink, he can write for 12 hours a day. Beethoven must not use less than 60 grams of coffee beans per cup of coffee, or he will be furious. It is said that Voltaire drinks 50 cups of coffee a day-apart from coffee, no other drink has played such an important role in the history of human civilization. This drink was found in a corner of Europe in the process of outward exploration. Has now become a part of daily life.

Legend has it that coffee originated in a region called Caffa in Ethiopia, where a shepherd noticed that his sheep became restless after eating the leaves and fruits of an unknown plant. After hearing this, monks from nearby monasteries made various attempts to find that baking, grinding and then flushing the seeds of the plant into drinks can keep them awake during long prayers.

In 1582, a doctor in southern Germany named Reinhard Laowulf traveled to the near East. He found that Turks and Arabs liked a strange drink. In his travels, he wrote: ". It looks as black as ink, and locals believe it can cure stomach problems. " Arabs drank coffee in broad daylight public places, which made Reinhard uncomfortable. In Europe at that time, drinking on the street during the day was very undignified behavior. Reinhard's travels are the first documented record of coffee in Europe, and he probably didn't taste it because there is no description of taste in the book.

The Arab world knew about coffee at least hundreds of years before Europe. The use of coffee as medicine has been recorded in Arab medical books in the 10th century, and the prophet Mohamed used coffee to cure narcolepsy in Islamic literature. After about the 15th century, coffee became a daily drink in the Arab world. Coffee wakes people up and excites the brain, so its popularity has its inherent inevitability in the Arab world, where alcohol is strictly banned and mathematics is developed. It can be said that coffee is the wine of the Islamic world. In Europe, where alcohol was already popular, interest in coffee was not so great at the beginning. In the first half of the 17th century, the word "coffee" was exotic and mysterious, relative to the red color of wine and the golden color of beer. The black color of coffee is easily reminiscent of asphalt-an unpleasant memory experience. Pouring asphalt on the human body was a common torture method in the Inquisition in the Middle Ages.