J. S. Bach & Beer

J. S. Bach ? (1685-1750) • A pastel portrait, c. 1732, unsigned, possibly from a collection originally held by the composer's son Carl Philipp Emanuel and since 2014 in the Bachhaus Eisenach.

For Johann Sebastian Bach, coffee was too luxurious to drink daily. So he composed a coffee cantata, kinda mini comic opera, which was first performed at Café Zimmermann in Leipzig, so that he could enjoy plenty of „free“ coffee on that day.

By the way, in terms of alcohol, we know that Bach’s bill from his inn in Halle during a 14-day stay in 1713 was '18 groschen for beer and another 8 groschen for brandy'.

Back then, with 18 groschen, according to research by sort of like International Beer Society, about 8 gallons (= 30.283 liters!) of beer could be bought.

​I also read somewhere that this greatest genius of all time was otherwhiles paid in beer and food. So in this context he was not very different from us, the musicians of today.