How a Pope Spread Coffee to the World?

Pope Clement VIII

In the 17th century, coffee drinking began to rise in Europe. Venetian merchants who exclusively traded with the Ottomans brought samples of the caffeinated drink to Europe. However, alarm bells of the most powerful religious institution in Europe, the Catholic Church, rang. The decision of whether the church should thwart the rise of coffee or should allow it to continue laid in the hands of the Pope, Clement VIII.

The arrival of coffee received both welcoming and displeased crowds. Europe in the 1500s just entered into the period of Renaissance, a time of renewal from the scourges of the Black Plague. Europeans constantly faced the threat of disease while having only limited access to clean water. Alcohol, especially wine, thus substituted to quench the thirst of many. Human instinct loved varieties and when coffee arrived in Europe, people felt excited to have a new option besides wine. The effects of coffee, its reinvigorating and uplifting effect, mesmerized many Europeans. 

In the Italian Peninsula, intellectuals, students and professors, consumed coffee the biggest. Coffee drinking became a habit around universities in Italy. The stimulating effect of coffee and the time for its preparation allowed the discourse between scholars resulting in the spread of knowledge and formulation of ideas. 

Some ideas, however, deemed by most rulers as dangerous, radical, and revolutionary. Fearing instability, many leaders banned coffee. Besides local authorities, wine merchants also treated coffee as competition for profits as customers. The concerns over coffee as a catalyst for dangerous ideas gained the attention of the most influential religious authority in the land – the Catholic Church.

Many Christian clerics anxiously observed the rising popularity of coffee. Besides coffee becoming synonymous with dissent, the very idea of its Islamic origins terrorized the minds of the most conservative Christians. Although the Crusades died down, religious tensions between the two religions remained. Thus, the repulsion of some Catholics towards coffee.

In 1603, the Vatican mulled the banning of coffee across Christendom and the decision laid in the hands of Pope Clement. The Pope weighed the arguments for a ban such as coffee a creation of the devil and as a substitute to wine, which they say blessed by Christ during the Last Supper and coffee being not. Coffee once again faced the same treatment in Christendom as it had in the Islamic world - a demonstration of human reaction to the unorthodox and exotic.

Clement VIII, a shrewd and curious man, listened to the arguments of those calling for a ban, but he also wanted to know the arguments supporting coffee. He then decided to test the effects of coffee by drinking it himself. A Venetian merchant then brought a coffee bean to the Pope a nice cup of freshly brewed coffee.

The beautiful aroma fascinated the Pope. He then drank the cup of coffee - minute action but a wide impact on the spread of coffee around the world. After his sip, Pope Clement VIII felt the same good feeling as other drinkers felt - reenergized and uplifted. He praised coffee saying that such a beautiful drink could not have been the creation of Satan. He lamented the idea that banning the substance meant only the heathen Muslims would have the opportunity to enjoy it. Hence, to the dismay of the anti-coffee clerics, Pope Clement VIII “baptized” coffee as a Christian drink for all to enjoy.

Thanks to Pope Clement’s decision, coffee flourished in Europe. It allowed coffee to reach various royal courts, such as Louis XIV’s, whose coffee tree became the ancestor of most coffee trees in the Americas. It also allowed energized intellectuals to form new ideas that would shape the world.

See also:
April Fools' and Gregorian Calendar
Arabs Love Affair of Coffee
Clash in Canossa 
Ottoman Coffee: Love and Hate

Bibliography:

Santos, R. & D. Lima. An Unashamed Defense of Coffee: 101 Reasons To Drink Coffee Without Guilt. United States of America: Xlibris Corporation, 2009. 

Ukers, W. All About Coffee: A History of Coffee from the Classic Tribute to the World’s Most Beloved Beverage. Massachusetts: Adams Media, 2012. 

Weinberg, B. & B. Bealer. The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug. New York: Routledge, 2002.