Voyaging across the seas on a merchant ship was not the only way that coffee made its way to Europe. It also came as spoils of war! In 1683, the city of Vienna (in Austria) was besieged by 100,000 Ottoman soldiers for over two months. On the 12th September, just as the city’s defenses were on the brink of collapse, aid arrived in the form of a coalition of Holy Roman Empire and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth forces. Led by the famous charge of the Polish Winged Hussars — spearheading the largest cavalry charge recorded in history — the Ottoman force was routed.
In their haste to retreat, the Ottoman soldiers left sacks of mysterious beans behind. According to local legend, a Polish spy named Jerzy Kulczycki recognised them as coffee beans and used them to open the first café in the city. However, historians believe that while the beans left from the siege may have accelerated the popularity of coffee, it was an Armenian businessman called Johannes Theodat who started Vienna's first licensed coffeehouse a few years later in 1685. Either way, the fame of Viennese coffee house culture continues to this day.
