Black Coffee of Literary Nights
A black coffee prepared in the 19th-century style, strong and full-bodied, served boiling hot in a small cup. The drink of night owls, poets, and world-remakers.
A black coffee prepared in the 19th-century style, strong and full-bodied, served boiling hot in a small cup. The drink of night owls, poets, and world-remakers.
At night, when the bourgeois snore and the city falls silent, we others kept vigil in the cafés of the Latin Quarter, heads bent and thoughts on fire. Coffee, my friends, that is the true wine of poets: black as ink, bitter as a beautiful despair, burning as enthusiasm! I have drunk rivers of it between two stanzas, and each cup rekindled the conversation until the first light. Without this dark liquor, I ask you, who would ever have finished a poem before dawn?
- •Ground coffee — two heaping spoonfuls (base)
- •Boiling water — one cup (infusion)
- •Sugar — optional, one lump (sweetener)
Black Coffee of Literary Nights
A black coffee prepared in the 19th-century style, strong and full-bodied, served boiling hot in a small cup. The drink of night owls, poets, and world-remakers.
Why this dish? In the Latin Quarter, in the cafés where the romantic youth of the 'cénacle' gathered, Gautier stayed awake and debated until dawn. Black coffee was the fuel of these nights of writing and aesthetic jousts.
At night, when the bourgeois snore and the city falls silent, we others kept vigil in the cafés of the Latin Quarter, heads bent and thoughts on fire. Coffee, my friends, that is the true wine of poets: black as ink, bitter as a beautiful despair, burning as enthusiasm! I have drunk rivers of it between two stanzas, and each cup rekindled the conversation until the first light. Without this dark liquor, I ask you, who would ever have finished a poem before dawn?
Ingredients (period version)
- Ground coffee — two heaping spoonfuls (base)
- Boiling water — one cup (infusion)
- Sugar — optional, one lump (sweetener)
Ingredients
- Freshly ground coffee (medium grind) — 14 g (base)
- Simmering water (92 °C) — 20 cl (infusion)
- Cane sugar — optional, 1 lump (sweetener)
Method
- Heat the water until it shimmers (without boiling vigorously).
- Pour the ground coffee into a French press or filter.
- Moisten the coffee, let it bloom for 30 seconds, then pour in the rest of the water.
- Let steep for 4 minutes, then press or filter.
- Serve boiling hot in a small cup, sugar on the side as desired.
How it was made : In the 19th century, coffee was made at home in 'à la De Belloy' coffee pots (percolation filtration, ancestor of the drip filter) or boiled Turkish style. Parisian cafés were the public salons of the bohemians, where one consumed a cup to occupy a table for hours and hold conferences there.
The contemporary twist : Serve it in a very small cup with a square of dark chocolate, dubbed 'the poet's inkwell'.
Théophile Gautier · Charactorium
