Coffee With Milk or Drink It Black

1916

Coffee With Milk

For many years after coffee was first drunk in Europe, says the Manchester Guardian, no one thought of mixing it with milk any more than the Turks and Arabs do now.

The use of coffee au lait seems to date from 1687. Mme. de Sevigne, writing to her daughter in that year, said that a doctor much in vogue "has taught us to mix sugar and milk with our coffee. They make a most delightful compound, which will help to support me through the rigors of Lent."

In a letter written seven years earlier she had mentioned as an eccentric proceeding on the part of Mme. de la Sabliere that "she drinks milk to her tea." Readers of "Unbeaten Tracks In Japan" may remember that one of the Ainus thought it disgusting that Mrs. Bishop should drink milk and pollute her tea with a fluid having so strong a smell and taste.