Until fairly recently, it was believed that the first mention of coffee in Ukraine dates back to 1672, when the Turks founded the first coffee shop in the city of Kamianets-Podilskyi.
However, historians have found that the first mention of coffee in our country was made 18 years earlier, in 1654, and it was served to none other than Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the land of Bohuslav. That year, the Hetman’s temporary residence was located near the city of Bohuslav, and here he met with Patriarch Macarius III of Antioch. The patriarch, who was aware of Khmelnytsky’s coffee preferences, presented him with gifts, including coffee beans. The Hetman probably picked up the habit of drinking coffee during his Ottoman captivity in Istanbul.
This meeting is described in detail in the work The Journey of Patriarch Macarius of Antioch. It was written by a Syrian traveller, Paul of Aleppo, the son of Patriarch Macarius III of Antioch, who witnessed this event. He accompanied the patriarch on his journey to the moscow kingdom and actually served as his secretary. The route passed through the territory of modern Syria, Turkey, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, and russia. The Syrian traveller’s work has survived in four copies, which are kept in London, Paris, moscow and Kyiv.
Ihor Netudykhatkin, PhD in History, Head of the Sophia Museum Department of the St Sophia of Kyiv National Conservation Area, quotes the source, which specifies the gifts presented to the Hetman: “Gifts on dishes covered, according to the custom, with shawls, namely: a piece of stone with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Holy Golgotha, a vessel with holy myrrh, a box of musk soap, perfumed soap, Aleppo soap, a box of candies, frankincense, dates, apricots, a carpet large and a smaller rug of great value, rice, a vessel with coffee beans, that is, with coffee, since he was a coffee lover, and cassia.”
The historian emphasises that Paul’s notes are the only, and therefore particularly unique, evidence that Khmelnytsky loved coffee. Based on the research carried out by Ihor Netudykhatkin, the 1+1 TV channel produced a story about Bohdan Khmelnytsky’s food preferences, and Andrii Humeniuk, the co-founder of the “Around Us. UA” NGO, joined the filming of this story.
