Suleiman Aga

Who is Suleiman Aga?

Suleiman Aga, also Soleiman Agha or Müteferrika Süleyman Ağa, was an Ottoman Empire ambassador to the French king Louis XIV in 1669. Suleiman visited Versailles, but only wore a simple wool coat and refused to bow to Louis XIV. Louis XIV immediately banned him to Paris, away from Versailles. In Paris, Suleiman set up a beautiful house where he offered coffee drinking to the Parisian society, with waiters dressed in Ottoman style, triggering enthusiastic responses thereby starting the fashion for coffee-drinking.