Why A Glass Of Water Is Served With Coffee?

Gastronomic trends come and go, but serving coffee with a glass of water has an origin and a significant reason.

In how many coffee shops did you order a coffee and was served with a glass of water as a side without request?

∞ FIRST IMPRESSION

About twenty years ago, the cruise ship where I was traveling anchored in Mykonos. It was a very hot afternoon, normal for an August in the Mediterranean, however, that did not stop us from waiting to go out to explore the white, limestone, luminous and cozy island.

We walked through its narrow streets, passed its abandoned windmills, and before reaching the sea, we entered a little shop. The shop assistant, seated in a wicker chair, seemed really suffocated with his shirt open and rolled up. A pair of blue shorts and traditional espadrilles in which there was more foot outside of them than inside completed his summery outfit. He, while keeping an eye on everyone who entered, stirred his coffee, took a sip and straightaway drank water from a large glass. I remember that this practice grabbed my attention, not because he was doing something strange, but because of the fact of drinking coffee simultaneously with water, and not because they were not compatible!

We left the store and we sat on a beautiful terrace by the sea. There, I ordered my espresso, one of my essential routines at 5:30pm even though it was scorchingly hot. The surprise was that my small coffee was accompanied by a large glass of water which, immediately, made me think about the shop assistant that I saw before. So, I concluded that either it was a custom or was offered due to those high temperatures.

∞ SECOND IMPRESSION

After that first impression, I realised that in many countries (including my own city, Barcelona, “I had never paid attention to that fact before”) the same thing. However, with some small differences: the glass of water was smaller and the water could be mineral or carbonic.

HYPOTHESIS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF SERVING A GLASS OF WATER WITH COFFEE

Coffee arrived in Europe around the XVII century with two other hot drinks: hot chocolate and tea. In 1720s, Caffè Florian, the oldest café in Italy, opened its door in the beautiful Venice offering one of the most “cool” drinks of that time: coffee.

Many histories since then about why in that time a glass of water was served with the coffee.

FIRST HYPOTHESIS

It looks like the origin of that fact dates back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the XIX century when the Viennese nobility didn’t know what to do with the small coffee spoon after stirring the coffee. It was not an ethical way or elegance for a person to clean the spoon in the mouth or to leave it dirty over the saucer. Therefore, the coffee started to be served with a small glass of water on its side to leave the dirty spoon inside.

Yet, there was a big problem with that. At that time, the potable water was so dirty that it was better to hide and clear the glass rapidly. The society, specially the nobility, realised this and they invested in a water treatment system, making Vienna the first place to enforce a law: Viennese coffee houses only could offer water clear and pure. Vienna became the first city of the “old world” that had clean and drinkable water and, its custom of offering a glass of water with coffee, became international when in 1973 many European countries attended the Austrian World Exhibition and spread it to their own cities.

If initially the glass of water was to leave the spoon inside, it turned into a custom accepted by the population to show that the water used to make the coffee in each respective place, it was water clean and drinkable.

OTHER HYPOTHESIS

Another hypothesis says that in the XIX-XX centuries commenced the tendency to offer water in some coffee places where a gathering of artists, writers…took place. The gatherings spent long hours there and in order not to put pressure on them to leave the place when they had finished their coffee, a glass of water began to be served to make them feel more comfortable.

WHY NOWADAYS WE SERVE THE COFFEE WITH A GLASS OF WATER AS A SIDE?

The glass of water served with a coffee is to cleanse the palate before drinking the coffee. It’s a kind of preparation for your palate to enjoy and appreciate better all the coffee aromas and flavours.

THE REASON WHY PEOPLE DRINK COLD WATER AFTER COFFEE

There are some reasons why people after finishing a coffee drinks cold water; still, this is not the point of serving a glass of water with coffee:

• Remove the bitterness or acidity sensation from the palate because they didn’t enjoy the coffee (It can happen when it is not a good quality coffee).
• Hold back the diuretic effect of the caffeine.

Now, you know the reason to serve a glass of cold water with coffee and why coffee lovers put too much attention to this fact when they order their coffee!

Founder, 7p Aperitivo