Satan's Drink?

If you've been around me much in recent years, you have probably discovered that I have an almost obsessive love for coffee. This will definitely come in handy as a missionary to Italy, where coffee is not just a drink but a way of life. Our field leader for TEAM Italy sent me this story about the history of coffee in Europe and I just had to share!



Coffee has been around for over a thousand years. As early as the 9th century Ethiopian shepherds had discovered the energizing effects that coffee seemed to have on their sheep and some Islamic monks had begun cultivating coffee beans. In time, the drink proved hugely popular throughout the Arab world despite the objections of orthodox Muslims who condemned it as a stimulant. From the Islamic world, coffee spread to Europe where it met fierce resistance from the clergy who considered it the drink of “Islamic infidels.” Pope Clement VIII did much to change popular opinion about coffee, however, when he tried it and found it “delicious.”
In the late 1500s, coffee had reached Europe and Vatican officials were clamoring to condemn it as Satanic. After all, it came from the Islamic world, so the Catholic church was understandably loath to embrace anything that came from the “land of the infidels.” According to legend, Vatican officials asked Pope Clement VIII to impose a ban on coffee, but he refused to do so before trying it first himself. Thus, he ordered that some coffee be prepared for him. He evidently enjoyed it very much because legends says that he remarked “This Satan’s drink is delicious…it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it. We shall fool Satan by baptizing it.”


http://socyberty.com/history/how-pope-clement-viii-had-a-significant-influence-on-the-history-of-coffee/#ixzz1K9cgUyZ4