The Love of Coffee: From Beethoven to Balzac, Why Great Minds Couldn’t Live Without It
The Austrian musician Beethoven was known for his love of café, and it is said that he counted even the grains needed for a good cup. According to Anton Schindler, Beethoven’s great biographer, the composer developed a surprising ability to prepare morning coffee, grinding 60 grains and filtering them into a glass coffee pot that he designed himself.
But Beethoven was not the only great genius to enjoy coffee. Juan Sebastian Bach, Voltaire, Kierkegaard, and Franklin were also known to be avid coffee drinkers. Recent research even identifies coffee as the new elixir of longevity, showing its positive effects on well-being and happiness.
According to Mason Currey, author of “Daily Rituals: How Great Minds Make Time, Find Inspiration, and Get to Work,” caffeine is a powerful drug that can help concentration, prevent drowsiness, and spark new ideas. Balzac famously wrote about the effects of coffee on his creative process, saying that without it, he couldn’t write or live.
Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, also extols the virtues of coffee, calling it the basis of consciousness and a key to celebrating life, cultivating friendships, and enjoying creativity. In his recent book, “Café Elixir Magica,” Chopra explores the immense health benefits of coffee, including a lower risk of common diseases and a link to longer telomeres, a key marker of aging at the molecular level.
It seems that coffee truly is a magical elixir for both creativity and longevity, enjoyed by some of history’s greatest minds.