Coffee of Studious Vigils
Coffee prepared by decoction, strong and fragrant, served steaming in a small porcelain cup — the beverage that keeps the mind awake when the world sleeps.
Coffee prepared by decoction, strong and fragrant, served steaming in a small porcelain cup — the beverage that keeps the mind awake when the world sleeps.
I am reproached for my sleepless nights; wrongly, for it is then that the mind works best, when the castle falls silent. I then have this coffee prepared in the new fashion: the powder is boiled in water, the grounds are allowed to settle, and this black, burning liquor is poured. A little sugar for the bitterness, and I am able to follow Mr. Newton for three more hours. Believe me, no discovery without vigil, and no vigil without coffee.
- •Freshly ground coffee powder — three spoonfuls (body of the drink)
- •Water — a chopine (about 1/2 liter) (infusion)
- •Sugar — to taste (sweetens the bitterness)
Coffee of Studious Vigils
Coffee prepared by decoction, strong and fragrant, served steaming in a small porcelain cup — the beverage that keeps the mind awake when the world sleeps.
Why this dish? Émilie worked until dawn, sleeping only three or four hours while completing her translation of Newton's *Principia*. Coffee, the fashionable drink of philosophers and Parisian cafés like the Gradot she frequented, was the companion of these nights of calculation.
I am reproached for my sleepless nights; wrongly, for it is then that the mind works best, when the castle falls silent. I then have this coffee prepared in the new fashion: the powder is boiled in water, the grounds are allowed to settle, and this black, burning liquor is poured. A little sugar for the bitterness, and I am able to follow Mr. Newton for three more hours. Believe me, no discovery without vigil, and no vigil without coffee.
Ingredients (period version)
- Freshly ground coffee powder — three spoonfuls (body of the drink)
- Water — a chopine (about 1/2 liter) (infusion)
- Sugar — to taste (sweetens the bitterness)
Ingredients
- Ground coffee (dark roast) — 3 tbsp (body)
- Water — 500 ml (infusion)
- Sugar — to taste (sweetens)
Method
- Bring the water to a simmer in a saucepan.
- Add the ground coffee, stir once, then let it steep over low heat for 3–4 minutes (decoction method).
- Remove from heat and let rest for 2 minutes so the grounds settle.
- Pour gently into small cups without disturbing the grounds.
- Sweeten to taste and drink hot, ideally before a long night of work.
How it was made : In the early 18th century, coffee was prepared by decoction (boiling the powder in water), long before the invention of the filter coffee pot at the end of the century. Parisian cafés like the Procope or the Gradot had become laboratories of Enlightenment thought, where scholars and writers debated over this still exotic and costly beverage.
The contemporary twist : Serve with a square of dark chocolate — another new pleasure highly prized in 18th-century salons — as a nod to the two fetishes of the philosophers.
Sources : Philippe Sylvestre Dufour, Traité du café, du thé et du chocolat, 1685 · Élisabeth Badinter, Émilie, Émilie : l'ambition féminine au XVIIIe siècle, 1983
Émilie du Châtelet · Charactorium