MEN OF GREAT NOTE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 211, 19 June 1933, Page 8

MEN OF GREAT NOTE

KING AND COFFft PIONEER.

; MEMORIES OF 250 YEARS AGO. The beautiful capital of Austria and the little known village of Sambor in Poland are both haying celebrations this year, and both are remembering a very great event. Vienna celebrates this year the 250th anniversary of its deliverance from the Turks by King John Sobieski. This great victory gave to Vienna, something which has ever since made it famous among the capitals of'Europe, the delicious Viennese coffee. By a strange coincidence the victory, as well as the introduction of coffee as a beverage, was due to the Poles. It happened that the Turks had enormous supplies of coffee in their camp. After their defeat the camp was plun - dered and all the coffee was taken in sacks to the town. But the Viennese did not what to do with such strange see'ds. They.tried to feed their pigs with them, but with little success. However, among the Polish soldiers who went to Vienna with King Sobieski was a man called Kulczycki, who had spent half of his life in Turkey. He knew the secret of making good coffee, for he had learned it in the East. Seeing that such precious fdod was being wasted, he asked the town authorities for permission to use the Turkish coffeo and to open a coffeehouse. They gave him a little house in the quarter called Favoriten and there he opened the first coffee-house in Vienna, called "Zum Kolschitzky". Of course, the place was very simple, and the coffee was black and bitter, but people liked it, and very soon "Zum Kolschitzky" became one of the most fashionable places in Vienna. Kulczycki waited himself on guests, and to add to his house' a touch of colour he dressed as a Turk. The little place of Sambor, in South Poland, the birthplace of 'Kulczycki, is this summer to hold a .big festival to commemorate its famous citizen.