226 COFFEE 



of nougat and other oriental pastries were served, became the first 

 Cafes in history. The word "Cafe" has been applied to restaurants, 

 coffee-houses, and cabarets. These are modern applications of the 

 term. Originally, it was distinctly and wholly a coffee-house where 

 scientific and political men gathered with all other classes for dis- 

 cussion and where literary men read their compositions aloud. Cafes 

 immediately flourished and were supported by the enthusiasm of the 

 French for the new beverage. The Cafes soon became rivals of the 

 cabarets. By 1690, over three hundred Cafes existed in Paris alone. 

 In 1689, Francois Procope established the Cafe Procope near 

 the theatre of the Comedie Frangaise. This cafe became the most 

 famous of all Parisian coffee-houses. To the Cafe Procope, Voltaire 

 came to sip his black coffee and to give utterance to his philosophy. 

 Here, at the age of eighty-four, this master dramatist sought in his 

 coffee a constant mental stimulant. In this Cafe Procope, the sinister 

 figures of the French Revolution, such as Danton, Marat, and Robes- 

 pierre, harangued the crowds and in passionate appeal urged them 

 on to a period of bloodshed. Other striking personalities may be 

 visualized in connection with the Cafe. Balzac, the great novelist, 

 was an inveterate coffee-drinker. When he was poor and lived in an 

 attic, he made coffee himself. When he could afford it, the best 

 chef in Paris made it for him. M. Alfred de Musset, Hugo, Zola, 

 Bernhardt, Clemenceau, great thinkers, many famous musicians, 

 writers, and players, all found inspiration and solace in coffee as it 

 cheered, soothed, and sustained them. 



Holland : 



In 1666, the first coffee-house opened in Amsterdam. Coffee- 

 houses have existed since that period. The love of the people of 

 Holland for coffee may be judged when one realizes that Holland 

 has the greatest per capita consumption of coffee among the nations 

 of the world. 



Germany and Austria: 



In Germany and Austria, although coffee-houses have existed 

 since their establishment in 1686, they have never been so character- 

 istic of the national life as the beer-gardens. The following list 

 indicates the date of the establishment of the first coffee-house in the 

 given city: 



