Every home is a Café in Bosnia. No matter whom you meet, whether you know them or not, expect a cup of kahva. Sarajevo in particular has a very old tradition of handpounded coffee, only found in one family run store in the old quarters.
i love the word "kahva"..... And since etymology is an interest (u know about that, SS) : i'll share this one with you..though I have a feeling u know it already!!!
"According to legend, coffee beans were first discovered in the town of Kaffa, Ethiopia. As the advancing Arabs had cut off access to Ethiopia (known then as Abyssinia) by the Eighth Century A.D., it first made its way into Arabic as qahwah. By the thirteenth century, the Kaffa beans were brought into southern Mediterranean Europe as cafe. It would take a failed seige of Vienna in the latter half of the Seventeenth Century by the advancing Ottoman Turks to introduce the term and the beverage into German-speaking Europe as Kaffee. Apparently, the Turks had retreated in such haste (according to Austrians--Turks, of course, describe it as a calculated withdrawal) that they left behind, among other things, sacks and sacks of coffee beans; as a result, the Austrians were introduced to coffee".
Thank you Moi, I love etymology myself so I appreciate the info. I knew the first part of it but was unaware of how it was brought to Europe so thanks again :)
Every home is a Café in Bosnia. No matter whom you meet, whether you know them or not, expect a cup of kahva. Sarajevo in particular has a very old tradition of handpounded coffee, only found in one family run store in the old quarters.
i love the word "kahva".....
ReplyDeleteAnd since etymology is an interest (u know about that, SS) : i'll share this one with you..though I have a feeling u know it already!!!
"According to legend, coffee beans were first discovered in the town of Kaffa, Ethiopia. As the advancing Arabs had cut off access to Ethiopia (known then as Abyssinia) by the Eighth Century A.D., it first made its way into Arabic as qahwah. By the thirteenth century, the Kaffa beans were brought into southern Mediterranean Europe as cafe. It would take a failed seige of Vienna in the latter half of the Seventeenth Century by the advancing Ottoman Turks to introduce the term and the beverage into German-speaking Europe as Kaffee.
Apparently, the Turks had retreated in such haste (according to Austrians--Turks, of course, describe it as a calculated withdrawal) that they left behind, among other things, sacks and sacks of coffee beans; as a result, the Austrians were introduced to coffee".
why would Turks carry tons of sacks of coffee beans while on a siege mission, remains a mystery to me !!!!
ReplyDeleteThats a great story moi, I guess turks were coffee addicts who needed it on their voyages so they were carrying it.
ReplyDeleteThank you Moi, I love etymology myself so I appreciate the info. I knew the first part of it but was unaware of how it was brought to Europe so thanks again :)
ReplyDelete