Ludwig van Beethoven at the table

The bourgeois table of early 19th-century Vienna revolves around a soup (Suppe) that opens almost every meal, a main course often based on river fish or pasta and cheese, then a sweet flour dish (Mehlspeise). In the afternoon, the Jause — a coffee break with a treat — punctuates Viennese life. For Beethoven, a disorderly and frugal bachelor, this structure was constantly upended: he skipped meals while composing but held his morning coffee sacred.

Beethoven insisted on his coffee counted grain by grain — exactly sixty per cup — which he ground himself. This very strong, almost bitter coffee is the absolute signature of his table and the fuel for his working mornings.