Germans?

In 1721 Leonhard Ferdinand Meisner published at Nuremberg the first
comprehensive German treatise on coffee, tea, and chocolate.

During the second half of the eighteenth century coffee entered the
homes, and began to supplant flour-soup and warm beer at breakfast
tables.

Meanwhile coffee met with some opposition in Prussia and Hanover.
Frederick the Great became annoyed when he saw how much money was paid
to foreign coffee merchants for supplies of the green bean, and tried to
restrict its use by making coffee a drink of the "quality". Soon all the
German courts had their own coffee roasters, coffee pots, and coffee
cups.

Many beautiful specimens of the finest porcelain cups and saucers made
in Meissen, and used at court fetes of this period, survive in the
collections at the Potsdam and Berlin museums. The wealthy classes
followed suit; but when the poor grumbled because they could not afford
the luxury, and demanded their coffee, they were told in effect: "You
had better leave it alone. Anyhow, it's bad for you because it causes
sterility." Many doctors lent themselves to a campaign against coffee,
one of their favorite arguments being that women using the beverage must
forego child-bearing. Bach's _Coffee Cantata_[64] (1732) was a notable
protest in music against such libels.

On September 13, 1777, Frederick issued a coffee and beer manifesto, a
curious document, which recited:

It is disgusting to notice the increase in the quantity of coffee
used by my subjects, and the amount of money that goes out of the
country in consequence. Everybody is using coffee. If possible,
this must be prevented. My people must drink beer. His Majesty was
brought up on beer, and so were his ancestors, and his officers.
Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on
beer; and the King does not believe that coffee-drinking soldiers
can be depended upon to endure hardship or to beat his enemies in
case of the occurrence of another war.

[Illustration: RICHTER'S COFFEE HOUSE IN LEIPSIC--SEVENTEENTH CENTURY]

For a time beer was restored to its honored place; and coffee continued
to be a luxury afforded only by the rich. Soon a revulsion of feeling
set in; and it was found that even Prussian military rule could not
enforce coffee prohibition. Whereupon, in 1781, finding that all his
efforts to reserve the beverage for the exclusive court circles, the
nobil