A strong black coffee, brewed in the old style and served scalding hot, barely sweetened. The frank bitterness that kept writers awake over their manuscripts.

Why this dish? Stendhal was a great coffee drinker, like all of literary Paris in his time. He dictated *The Red and the Black* and *The Charterhouse of Parma* at a frantic pace, sustained by this black brew — the drink of Parisian cafés where 19th-century literature was written and discussed.

I am blamed for having written *The Charterhouse* in fifty-two days — as if speed were a fault! But at my side there always steamed a cup of this black brew. Strong, hot, not too much sugar: it sharpens the mind and drives away laziness, which is the only true sin. Drink it as I do, in small sips, pen in hand: you will see ideas come at a gallop.

How it was made : In Stendhal's time, Paris had hundreds of cafés, places of literary and political sociability. Coffee was prepared by infusion or decoction; the "De Belloy" percolation pot (circa 1800) began to replace simple decoction. Coffee was drunk strong and hot, a sign of an alert mind and modern mores.

The contemporary twist : Served in a small cup with a gold rim, with a square of dark chocolate on the side — "the fuel of *The Red and the Black*".

Stendhal · Charactorium