Marghiloman Coffee
Coffee is considered today a universal social drink in various combinations and variants. It entered the Romanian space quite early, in the second half of the 16th century, brought by the Ottoman Empire
Steliu Lambru, 11.05.2025, 14:00
Coffee is considered today a universal social drink in various combinations and variants. It entered the Romanian space quite early, in the second half of the 16th century, brought by the Ottoman Empire, after it came into contact with the Arab population of Yemen starting in 1538. There is also a Romanian contribution to the history of coffee, which is the Marghiloman coffee or marghilomana, a combination of coffee, sugar and rum, with or without water. The popularity of Marghiloman coffee was very high in Romania until the mid-20th century, but today it is no longer a favorite of consumers. Its name comes from the Marghiloman boyar family who gave Romania politicians, military and civil servants, the most famous being the conservative politician Alexandru Marghiloman, who lived between 1854 and 1925, occupying the dignities of senator and prime minister.
Cristian Cetățeanu is a historian of gastronomy and has investigated the origin of the name of the Romanian invention of coffee with rum: “Its name is linked to the family of the conservative politician Marghiloman. It is not known who invented the marghiloman. But, from the research I did, I found five persons who might have given the name to the coffee. The first possible contender for this title of glory is Ion or Iancu Marghiloman, a famous landowner, senator and the father of the politician Alexandru Marghiloman. In an article in the newspaper Lupta (Fight) from 1935, almost half a century after Iancu’s death, this honor was attributed to him: <The Marghiloman coffee was named as such after Alexandru Marghiloman’s father, who liked to drink coffee with a lot of rum.>”
The opinions about the true inventor of Marghiloman coffee would multiply, with five Marghilomans disputing their primacy. They were Iancu Marghiloman and his brother Mihail Marghiloman, their sons, the politician Alexandru Marghiloman and his cousin Colonel Alexandru Marghiloman, and a Marghiloman publican, made famous by the coffee with rum. Here is Cristian Cetățeanu with more: “A second contender for the title of inventor of the marghiloman coffee is the brother of this Iancu, Mihail Marghiloman, who was called Mihalache Marghiloman. The memorialist Constantin Bacalbașa wrote in the newspaper Adevărul that Iancu Marghiloman had a brother, Mihalache Marghiloman, a former police prefect, as they called him at the time, during the reign of Prince Cuza. Mihalache Marghiloman was a passionate hunter. Once, while hunting with several friends, he noticed that there was no more drinking water to make coffee. Faced with the danger of running out of coffee after dinner, Mihalache Marghiloman asked if there was any more rum. One of the hunters replied that there was. <If so, I’ll make you some coffee.> And emptying the bottle of rum into the coffee maker, he made coffee from rum, coffee and sugar, without a drop of water.”
According to his own research, Cristian Cetățeanu is inclined to credit the politician as the one who gave the name to the coffee: “For the Alexandru Marghiloman version, we have sources from his lifetime, from his liberal political enemies. In the newspaper of the liberal party Viitorul from 1911, 14 years before his death, he is recognized as the creator of the Marghiloman coffee. I quote from Viitorul: <to the history teacher who writes in Epoca that even without wealth Alexandru Marghiloman became a significant man, we answer, in agreement with everyone who knows him, that without wealth he became nothing and his name will remain linked only to a coffee with rum.> Taking into account the fact that even his enemies recognized him as the creator of that coffee, we can only conclude that he is the author of that coffee.”
Colonel Alexandru Marghiloman, having the same name as his more famous cousin, also entered the arena of disputes. Cristian Cetățeanu is here with more: “The fourth version is from a relative, the story appeared in a Bucharest newspaper in 1931: <the other day Colonel Alexandru Marghiloman passed away. He had a tragic end, as were his post-war years. Colonel Marghiloman was not a brother to Alexandru Marghiloman, the politician and socialite, as was believed. The birthplace of Marghiloman coffee was Café, and the precise date remains to be established by historians.> After midnight, Mihail Marghiloman, the colonel’s father, ordered coffee for all the guests. Colonel Alexandru Marghiloman, extremely joyful, stood up and addressed his father, saying that it was stupid to order coffee. Mihail thought for a moment and replied to his son that he was right and asked for a kettle, coffee, sugar and rum to be brought to him.”
The last person aspiring to the title of inventor of the coffee with rum was a tavern owner, according to Cristian Cetățeanu: “Another legend, however, says that this coffee specialty was invented by a publican or cafe owner named Marghiloman, on the occasion of a visit by Carol I to Sulina. Thus, because the fresh water, brought at that time in barrels from some canals of the Danube where it was cleaner and clearer, had not yet arrived at the cafe, he prepared a coffee with rum for the king. Carol I liked the taste of that coffee and wanted to meet the person who had prepared it. Since then, that specialty was called marghilomană, after the name of that publican.”
And even if we cannot find out for sure who invented the coffee with rum, that can’t stop us from trying to taste it. (LS)
