Neuss on the Rhine, 1583. The cities of the north do not yet know coffee. Cornelius von Rheydt, a patrician son with too much longing and too little patience, sets out south with his Neapolitan companion Giacomo Fontana, to where a black, forbidden bean is brewed into a wakeful, singing drink. In the alleys of Mokka he finds more than he sought: the secret of coffee and his love for Zaida. A historical novel about longing, distant shores, and the first cup of coffee.