Süleyman Ağa
Cultures have influenced one another from time immemorial. As we are species that learn through imitation, it is no wonder that we have been learning from one another’s habits, traditions, manners and costumes for ages. What makes it so interesting is that like a child who grows up to be ‘just like’ the parents he imitates, we make ‘all that we have borrowed from other cultures’ our own.
Maid, Jules Joseph Lefebvre, 1880 – Pera Museum, İstanbul
Turks befriended coffee when they conquered Yemen in the middle east in 1517 but they started brewing it in their own way and named it Turkish coffee. What is even more interesting is that Turkish coffee found its way to Paris when in 1669, Sultan Mehmed IV dispatched Süleyman Ağa as emissary to King Louis XIV of France. The mission was to resolve an ongoing crisis between France and the Ottomans. What I understand is that Süleyman Ağa was a pretty eccentric character refusing to bow before the French King which did not resolve any conflicts in particular but led to a scandal and ‘something else’ that changed French people’s lives forever.
That something else was coffee. Historians say that among the possessions of Süleyman Ağa were several sacks of coffee which he described as a magical beverage to the French. In the few months he stayed in Paris, he became the ‘love’ of the high society who visited his house time and again during which they were served this magical beverage which they loved.
Süleymanağa in Paris
He also had the apparatus used for the preparation of the Turkish style coffee as well as to serve it such as China dishes, muslin embroidered with silk, silver and gold.. This started the fascination of Parisian society with coffee.
18th century coffee cups from Pera Museum, İstanbul
Two years later, in 1671, an Armenian named Pascal opened a coffee drinking booth in St. Germain at a fair. The booth was inside a tent, the waiters were ‘Turkish boys’ who peddled among the crowds with small Turkish cups on trays. Soon after the ‘petit noir’ became popular among the Parisians.
Today, ‘petit noir’ in all its variations dominate the French capital, which is a name that still endures!
Süleyman Ağa might not have been a great diplomat but he definitely had an influence on changing the habits of French.
Definitely make sure to visit Pera Museum to learn more about the history of coffee from Yemen to the Ottoman Empire and from there on to the rest of the world!
