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September 30, 2013

“The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee” by Honore de Balzac

coffeesleep.jpg

For a while - for a week or two at most - you can obtain the right amount of stimulation with one, then two cups of coffee brewed from beans that have been crushed with gradually increasing force and infused with hot water.

For another week, by decreasing the amount of water used, by pulverizing the coffee even more finely, and by infusing the grounds with cold water, you can continue to obtain the same cerebral power.

When you have produced the finest grind with the least water possible, you double the dose by drinking two cups at a time; particularly vigorous constitutions can tolerate three cups. In this manner one can continue working for several more days.

Finally, I have discovered a horrible, rather brutal method that I recommend only to men of excessive vigor, men with thick black hair and skin covered with liver spots, men with big square hands and legs shaped like bowling pins. It is a question of using finely pulverized, dense coffee, cold and anhydrous, consumed on an empty stomach.... the pleasures and pains of coffee

Posted by gerardvanderleun at September 30, 2013 4:22 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

Sounds like they were coppin' a pretty serious bean buzz. The thrill sorta' diminishes after five or six decades of daily recreational use.

JWM

Posted by: jwm at September 30, 2013 10:57 PM

NEVER, no matter what, pass up the chance to stop in at a Tim Horton's coffee shop. They sell more coffee in Cananda than McDonald's, the stores are pretty common in parts of the Northeast US. Often the stores are co-located with a Wendy's Hamburgers store. Best coffee I've ever had. You can buy beans or ground coffee on Amazon for less than Starbucks (burnt!) in you grocery store. No matter how strong you brew it, it is never bitter or acidic. Tim Horton's, get some.

Posted by: Scott M at October 1, 2013 2:01 AM

Cue: Mississippi John Hurt's Coffee Blues.

Posted by: chasmatic at October 1, 2013 6:23 AM

I only drink black coffee.

Posted by: mushroom at October 1, 2013 11:54 AM

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