COFFEE AND THE POPE (How Coffee Barely Escaped Becoming An Illegal Drug)

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[PJ-Comix]

When you drink your morning coffee tomorrow… say thanks to the pope who made it all possible.

People began going crazy over coffee 600 years ago in the Middle East. The earliest coffee fanatics were Muslim mystics, trying to stay awake for nighttime worship.

Early coffee houses were such "brewing grounds" for radical ideas that authorities in Mecca tried to outlaw the drink!

When coffee hit Europe in the late fifteen hundreds, priests at the Vatican labeled it an atheist concoction and wanted it banned there too!

That's when Pope Clement 8th gave his blessing to the bean. "This Satan's drink is so delicious… " he is quoted as saying, "we shall cheat Satan by baptizing it."

Many of us still view coffee as a kind of holy water… and wouldn't think of starting the morning… or a new millennium… without it!

[PJ-Comix]

That was a close one! For most people, coffee is an acquired taste. Fortunately, Pope Clement VIII loved coffee on his first gulp. If not, coffee would have been declared illegal and today I would have to be making my coffee purchases from that notorious Columbian coffee drug dealer, Juan Valdez.

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[MEG33]

My son called.I told him I'd not had any coffee,as I was not feeling well.He said..You ARE sick!Addictive,yes...withdrawal is the pits!

[Genesis defender]

Whoa. Thanks, Pope! I'll remember you this morning when I sip my batch of "Satan's drink".

God bless that someone who figured out that combining coffee and sugar was good.

[PJ-Comix]

I once had a severe headache in the morning while doing some research work at a college. This woman I knew then asked me if I had my morning coffee. Then it hit me that I forgot all about my morning coffee so I immediately bought a cup. Before that coffee even hit my stomach, my headache was gone.

[MEG33]

The headache I had the day I quit coffee for awhile was a killer!

[steve50]

Good article up at schafferdruglibray on what our prohibitionists wanted to make illegal in the early 1900's. Coffee, dill pickles, garlic....some sick pippies behind this mess.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

If things had turned out differently, Juan Valdez would be bigger than Pablo Escobar. And we'd have movies like "Sip" instead of "Blow".

[EggsAckley]

PJ, caffeine is a very strong pain killer. Look at the ingredients of Excedrin: aspirin, acetomenophine, and caffeine. Once when I had severe pain and no Excedrin, I took an aspirin, a tylenol, and drank some coffee. Worked great. Now that I don't "do" caffeine, an occasional dose of it makes me boounce off the walls. Very powerful drug.

[PJ-Comix]

There used to be a soda called "JOLT!" that had an incredible amount of caffein. I remember drinking a couple of cans of JOLT! once and I was up all night.

[EggsAckley]

I remember Jolt. It showed up after I quit caffeine, so I can only imagine its impact.

Beethoven was a coffee addict. He insisted on brewing his own, and demanded sixty beans per cup. He would even count out the beans.

[PJ-Comix]

The flat out BEST coffee is Cuban Coffee. Incredible stuff! But you won't be able to make it at home. It has to be specially brewed.

[Mike Fieschko]

There used to be a soda called "JOLT!"

It's still sold around here (northern New Jersey).

[Bringbackthedraft]

Coco's restaurant use to have the best tasting coffee. I asked what brand and they said it was regular coffee with a little expresso added to it. Ever since then I would make a pot and add 2 spoons of expresso for that extra jolt. Being from the north, the coffee goes well when added to my cup of milk.

[waterstraat]

If opium and marijunanna are illegal, there is no reason why alcohol, tobacco, and coffee should be legal. YOu are either against drugs, or you are not. Why put marijuanna smokers in prison, why make 750,000 marijuanna arrests each year, while letting coffee drinkers take all the cafine they want?

[jocon307]

"And we'd have movies like "Sip" instead of "Blow".

LOL, good one, very cute!

I too liked coffee from the first taste, but only WITHOUT sugar. But I do like sugar on my cereal, hubby & I are opposites on these subjects, but foodwise we pretty much agree on everything else.

[Mike Fieschko]

Pope beatifies 'father of cappuccino': 'Legend has it that, following the victory [in 1683], the Viennese reportedly found sacks of coffee abandoned by the [Muslim] enemy and, finding it too strong for their taste, diluted it with cream and honey.

'The drink being of a brown colour like that of the Capuchins' robes, the Viennese named it cappuccino in honour of Marco D'Aviano's order.'

[FITZ]

Now that I don't "do" caffeine, an occasional dose of it makes me boounce off the walls. Very powerful drug.

I do caffeine but I don't do aspirin which hurts your platelets and I don't do tylenol which hurts your liver. Coffee also helps allergies and asthsma because caffeine is related to theophylline.

[MeanAsSnake]

I'll be going in for a sleep study today. Not allowed to dring coffee. COFFEE COFFEE MUST HAVE COFFEE. Glad it's not addictive!

[MeanAsSnake]

I'll be going in for a sleep study today. Not allowed to drink coffee. COFFEE COFFEE MUST HAVE COFFEE. Glad it's not addictive!