Secret de l'Histoire
N° 797

The Magic Formula of Balzac's Legendary Coffee

par
Jean-François Nebel

Paris, May 20th, 1839

That day, Balzac celebrated his fortieth birthday and the publication of his ‘Treatise on Modern Stimulants’, in which he dedicated a chapter to coffee, his ambrosia, which he had consumed in enormous quantities for almost twenty years.

His bills were accumulating, but all his energy was devoted to his work and literary glory.

Balzac was a geniu...

That day, Balzac celebrated his fortieth birthday and the publication of his ‘Treatise on Modern Stimulants’, in which he dedicated a chapter to coffee, his ambrosia, which he had consumed in enormous quantities for almost twenty years.

His bills were accumulating, but all his energy was devoted to his work and literary glory.

Balzac was a genius who, each night, following a flawless ritual, appealed to the 'coffee-inspiration, made according to the formula' to come to the rescue of his genius, like a shaman appealing to the spirits.

For Balzac, coffee was much more than a stimulant: it was the elixir of his inspiration, without which, he wrote several times, he was not able to create.

  

The Original Formula for Balzac's coffee

History has kept in mind that those who had the privilege of being invited to the coffee ceremony, presided over by Balzac, tenderly cherished the memory ever after.

Balzac was not only an immoderate consumer of coffee; he was also a conversant gastronome and an enlightened connoisseur of coffee. His correspondence reveals myriad references to his attachment to 'good coffee'.

If Balzac's consumption was quite eclectic, his preferences were inclined to a blend of colours. The most commonly cited source is the biography of Léon Gozlan, entitled Balzac in slippers (Balzac en pantoufles): 'the coffee was composed of three kinds of bean - Bourbon, Martinique and Mocha.' Edmond Werdet, who was Balzac's sole editor for almost two years, described the coffees from which Balzac's coffee was composed.

The above biographical citations are supported by several invoices conserved in the Lovenjoul collection, notably a summary invoice from 1832 which covered a period of eight months, payable to M. Le Baron de Balzac, which makes frequent mention of the purchase of coffee of Martinique, Mocha and Bourbon varieties.

But what was the proportion of each coffee in Balzac's blend?

Balzac's blend assertively spanned the nineteenth century. Many were the works that sang its praises. In 1828, the 'Gourmand Code', published by his friend Raisson, recommended a blend composed of one part 'Green Martinique', one part Bourbon and one part Mocha. In the same period, the 'French Gastronome', which Balzac printed, supported the same recommendation: 'after conducting our own experiments in hundreds of ways, we have ultimately settled on the following method, that we are presenting as official. We roast separately (and ourselves) one part 'Green Martinique', one part Bourbon and one part Mocha.' In 1846, the Coffee Amateur's Manual, which established itself as a reference in regard to coffee, recommended the blend of these three same coffees in the same proportions.

    Balzac's coffee : his magic potion 

During the composition of the Human Comedy, Balzac would have ingested in total:

- between 17 and 25 cups per day

- a cup every 17 minutes during his nights of work

- a packet of 250 g of coffee every day

- between 60 and 90 kilogramms per year

- between 162 000 and 243 000 cups

- between 19 000 and 29 000 liters of infused coffee

- between 1,6 and 2,5 tonnes of coffee beans

- between 21,4 and 40,7 kg of cafeine

For each work he wrote, Balzac consumed on average: 251 litres of coffee, which equals 2090 cups, or 86 250g packets.

Balzac's average annual consumption was:

- 20 to 30 times higher than a Parisian's average consumption in 1847

- 10 to 15 times higher than a Frenchman's average consumption in 2015

Bibliography

[1]  GAUTIER, Théophile. Honoré de BALZAC,: sa vie et ses œuvres. Edition revue et augmentée. Paris : Poulet-Malassis et de Broise, 1859, p. 58.
[2]  PIERROT, Roger. Lettres à Madame Hanska, 1845-1850. Paris : Robert Laffont, 1990, pp. 44-45.
[3]  WERDET Edmond. Portrait intime de Balzac: sa vie, son humeur et son caractère. Paris : E. Dentu, 1859, p. 349.
[4]  Facture de LOBLIGEOIS, LOV A. 340 fol. 71
[5]  RAISSON, Horace. Code Gourmand, manuel complet de gastronomie. Quatrième édition. Paris : J.-P. Roret, 1829, p. 153.
[6]  GRIMOD DE LA REYNIERE, ? Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent ; GASSICOURT, Charles-Louis Cadet de. Le gastronome français, ou, L'art de bien vivre. Paris : Charles-Besset, 1828, p. 435.
[7]  DAUSSE Amans. Manuel de l'amateur du café; ou l'art de torréfier les cafés convenablement. Paris : chez l’auteur, 1846, p. 43.

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