First Acquaintance of the Europeans with Coffee
When Kara Mustafa Pasha came through Vienna, he was so sure that he would
capture the city and he began to plan the parade he was going to do after
the invasion. He brought the necessary objects, which he was taken from the
Topkapi Palace. As Jean Sobiesky the King of Poland took the command of the
ally armies, Pasha's hopes were broken. Thus, he left all his belongings in
front of the Vienna ramparts and he retreated towards Belgrade with his
army. Saviour of Vienna, King Sobiesky took all he left (today, some pieces
not even exhibited in Topkapi Museum are in the Polish museums).
Meanwhile an interesting incident had occurred:
With the treasuries, sacks of coffee seeds were found. When the Austrians
saw the coffee seeds they said, "it seems that Turks eat goat faeces" and
they tried to annihilate them. A Viennese man who lived in the Ottoman lands
before realised the coffee seeds and told the Austrians what they were.
Thus, the Europeans met with coffee. |