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The man who saved the West

Lviv-born, multi-lingual, spy-turned-merchant Yuri-Franz Kulchytsky helped save Vienna from Turkish capture during the second siege of the city in 1683. He achieved this by carrying crucial messages between the city and the reserves behind the Ottoman army. Thanks to his knowledge of the Turkish language and customs, he could walk through the Ottoman camp without drawing suspicion.After the battle, he was awarded the coffee beans looted from the fleeing Ottoman army and with these beans he opened Vienna's first coffeehouse, The Blue Bottle.

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How did the coffeehouses shape the Western world?

There is no other beverage in history of the humankind that helped create the world we live in today than coffee. Since its discovery about a thousand years ago, and since the first known coffeehouse was opened in Constantinople almost 500 years ago, coffee has played a crucial role in changing the dynamics of the societies and the lives of the people in the Western world. When two immigrants from Syria, named Shems and Hakem opened their coffeehouse in the busy Taht’ul Kale district of Constantinople in 1554, they probably did not expect that in the following centuries their idea would spread westwards and trigger some of the most important events and help create some of the most prominent institutions...

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Latest gem in the crown

Arzum has recently come together with the Austrian jewellery producer Swarovski to launch a luxury model of its world-renowned automatic Turkish coffee machine. The new model, Arzum Okka Lux, is hand-decorated with thousands of Swarovski gems and comes in a special box. Arzum Okka Lux is available in black, with white or brown gems.           If you are interested in this luxury model, please contact us for the details.  

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Historic coffeehouse tokens

In the middle of the 17th century, there was an acute shortage of small changes in circulation in the United Kingdom. To ease the situation, several business establishments especially the ones whose conduct depended on the use of change such as merchants, taverns and coffeehouses took the liberty of printing their own tokens. The pictures on the the tokens that were printed by the coffeehouses were usually inspired by oriental and coffee related facts such as the head of a Turkish sultan or an ibrik. These tokens were popular tools in business transactions until they were banned by the government in 1674.

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Okka's best kept secret

As the most advanced Turkish coffee machine around, Okka owes the quality of its coffee partly to the sophisticated software that runs behind the scenes.  Every stage of the brewing process is monitored by the sensors inside the brewing chamber and the coffee is stirred, heated and served just at the right instant to ensure the best taste and perfect foam. Furthermore, the technicians can reach the full usage history through a hidden interface underneath the machine. With a special tool they can see critical information such as the number of cups brewed by the machine throughout its life. The same interface also enables software updates when necessary.

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