French author Honoré de Balzac drank the equivalent of 47 small cups of espresso daily for 25 years while writing over 80 works, including The Human Comedy. He also chewed on coffee grounds. Balzac struggled in school but found his love for literature in detention.
French author Honoré de Balzac once said he was a “convict of pen and ink,” but he should have included another kidnapper: coffee. While it might come as no surprise that someone who wrote 47 novels, eight plays, a dozen novellas, and 18 short stories counted on caffeine to keep him going, Balzac drank a daily amount of espresso equivalent to 47 small cups of coffee. And he did it for 25 years. While many studies have suggested that drinking coffee can have positive effects on health, most people aren’t equipped to handle what Balzac did and would most likely suffer from jitters and sleep problems if they approached his coffee consumption. And Balzac didn’t limit himself to liquids either. He kept coffee grounds handy and chewed on them whenever he needed some relief.
A brief biography of Balzac:
At an early age, Balzac struggled in school and was often sent to detention; it was there that his love for literature and reading began.
Balzac aimed to describe all of French society in his writings and his best-known work, The Human Comedy, offered a panoramic view of French life after Napoleon.
Balzac published more than 80 works between 1829 and 1847, largely due to his 16-hour writing time a day; no doubt, aided by all that coffee.
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