The Divine Intoxication (6/6)

The Divine Intoxication (6/6)

Hardly any Turkish "delight" is as renowned throughout the world as Turkish coffee. In the Sultan's court there was already a special "master of the coffee", there were special ceremonies for making and drinking coffee, and there were reports from holy men, who regarded coffee and tobacco due to their stimulating effect as irreconcilable with Islam. Finally, however, coffee became the "wine of the Orient". According to the legend, even the Viennese were introduced to coffee by the Turks. Drinking coffee goes together with the pleasure of tobacco, the hookah, as cultivated in the Ottoman Empire. Even nowadays, in a traditional coffee-house the combination of Turkish coffee and the hookah still constitute a special kind of get-together.