Also theatre, cinema and music show that there are no places and times to taste coffee and that many are the described ways of preparation:
Theatre
In 1750 Carlo Goldoni writes "La bottega del caffe'". In 1761 abbot Pietro Chiari writes the play "Il caffe' di campagna, dramma giocoso da presentarsi in musica nel teatro Giustiniani di San Moise l'autunno dell'anno 1761 dell'abate Pietro Chiari poesta di S.A.S. il signor Duca di Modana". In 1850 in Naples, "Una Bottega di Caffe' "is staged. In 1931 "Natale in casa Cupiello" of Edoardo De Filippo is staged for the first time: in the first act the bitter awakening of the protagonist Lucariello is due to the bad coffee prepared by his wife Concetta. In the play "Questi fantasmi" of 1946 Edoardo delights in a talk concerning coffee and the way of preparing it.
Cinema
In the great season of the American western, coffee, whose preparation was done through boiling, is consumed at the twilight, in front of a fire lit in the prairie as if it was a liberation, after a day of incursions against the Indians.
John Ford and John Wayne demonstrate it many times. Coffee is consumed at the dawn in Fort Apache (see "She wore a yellow ribbon"), to sober down (see "Stagecoach"), or it is simply consumed as a drink in "Rio Lobo" where it replaces whisky. Moreover it is consumed to extinguish a bonfire (see "Cowboy"). Or, in an other cult movie as "Johnny Guitar" Sterling Hayden seems to make the first advertisement to coffee when he says "Nothing is better than a smoke and a cup of coffee". On the contrary Kevin Costner uses coffee as an exchange good in "Dances with wolves".
In the Italian neorealist cinema the Moka coffee is a full-bodied and perfumed drink. After the war, important are the movies with Toto'. In "Toto' terzo uomo" the actor orders a coffee with cognac; In "Miseria e Nobilta'" they talk about coffee with milk without coffee and without milk!!! In "La banda degli onesti" a complete scene is dedicated to coffee; in "I Tartassati" Toto' says "I have three coffees at a time to save two tips" and also in "Sua eccellenza si fermo' a mangiare", "Toto', Peppino e la dolce vita", "Guardie e Ladri" where he drinks coffee directly from the moka and in "I due marescialli" where he questions about the taste with the maid. With Edoardo De Filippo in "Questi fantasmi" coffee seems to be a miraculous drink when he plays "When I die, bring me the coffee and I will resuscitate like Lazar". In more recent times we remark: "Casablanca" where Ingrid Bergman regrets the coffee of Rick's Bar. Some movies of Alfred Hitchcock such as: "Shadow of a doubt", "Notorious" with the arsenic coffee and "Vertigo". In "Some like it hot" of Billy Wilder, during the prohibitionist period, the prohibited drinks were served inside cups for coffee. Also Alberto Lattuada uses coffee in the movie "Venga a prendere un caffe' da noi" (1970), with a nice refrain performed by Ugo Tognazzi.
Songs
In 1734 Johann Sebastian Bach writes the "Cantata del caffe'" in which the protagonist claims her right to taste coffee and, provoking the remonstrance of her father, includes this right among the conditions for her wedding consent. From 1918, the first songs about coffee are "A tazza e' cafe'" edited by "La Canzonetta", written by Capaldo for the text and by Fassone for the arrangements. In 1969 Riccardo Del Turco participates to the Festival of Sanremo with "Cosa hai messo nel caffe'".
In the recent recording, coffee becomes comfort, protection, as if it was the starting point to face a new day with Battisti "La mattina c'e' chi mi prepara il caffe'" and Bob Dylan "One more cup of coffee". With Ron and Jackson Browne coffee becomes almost an obligation in "Una citta' per cantare/ The Load Out", "....caffe' alla mattina...", Baglioni and Guccini see it as a meeting place for poor, desperate people and tramps in "Poster" and "Via Paolo Fabbri 43". For Fabrizio De Andre' and Pino Daniele coffee becomes a hobby, a partner of thoughtlessness in "Don Raffae'" and in "Na Tazzulella e Cafe'".
Further citations, even if making a complete list is almost impossible, are: "Starfish and Coffee" of Prince, "Wake up and smell the coffee" of the Cranberries, "Caffe' nero bollente" of Fiorella Mannoia, "Viva l'Italia" of Francesco De Gregori. At the Festival of Sanremo 2003 Alex Britti sings the song "7000 caffe'" and reaches the second place in the general classification. His first participation to this Festival edition was preceded by a medley of the two assistants that also included the above mentioned song "Cosa hai messo nel caffe'".
Your suggestions:
Anne Pradenasfrom San Francisco, CA communicates us: "Black coffee in bed" by the Squeeze.
Eduardo Mohallem: from Brazil communicates us "Espresso & the bed of nails" song included in Tony Levin's 1995 Cd "World Diary". The song begins with a sample of espresso machine !!!
If you know any song, movies or theatre plays dealing with coffee, send a mail to info@caffe.it and we will be pleased to publish your indications.