Black as the devil, Hot as hell, Pure as an angel, Sweet as love.

This epigram is traditionally attributed to the French diplomat Talleyrand in the early 19th century, in the milieu of Parisian salons where coffee—still a relatively modern, fashionable stimulant—was discussed as both a luxury and a social necessity. The lines circulate as a witty, paradoxical “definition” of coffee, playing on its sensory qualities (dark color, served hot, ideally clear of grounds, and pleasantly sweetened) while borrowing the moral vocabulary of Christian imagery. Although widely repeated in French and English quotation collections, the remark’s precise occasion (a specific dinner, salon exchange, or written note) is not securely documented in primary sources.

A compact, epigrammatic description of coffee that turns sensory qualities into a playful moral allegory. “Black” and “hot” are cast in infernal terms (“devil,” “hell”), while “pure” and “sweet” are elevated to the angelic and erotic (“angel,” “love”). The contrast suggests that coffee’s appeal lies in a paradox: it is dark, intense, even dangerous in appearance and heat, yet refined in essence and pleasurable in taste. The quatrain also exemplifies the salon wit often associated with French high society—using antithesis and hyperbole to make a commonplace object feel philosophically charged and socially memorable.

1) “Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.”
2) “Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love and strong as death.”