This coffee
series excerpts heavily from Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast, 1999, a
Harvard graduate, investigative journalist, and independent scholar, also the
author of For God, Country, and Coca-Cola, excerpted in the Coca-Cola Series. Coffee is a global industry that
is rich in history and conflict, defining much of the recent history of Central
America and Brazil. Coffee is so desired that it may have been, and could still
become, a form of money. For coffee lovers, Uncommon Grounds is a fascinating
read.
Uncommon Grounds by Mark
Pendergrast, 1999, Excerpts
Coffee has assumed a social meaning that goes far beyond the
simple black brew in the cup. The worldwide coffee culture is more than a
culture – it is a cult. Starbucks outlets populate every street corner, vying
for space with other coffeehouses and chains. A good cup of coffee can turn the
worst day tolerable, provide an all-important moment of contemplation, and
rekindle romance. And yet, poetic as its taste may be, coffee’s history is rife
with controversy and politics.
Beginning as a medicinal drink for the elite, coffee became
the favored modern stimulant of the blue-collar worker during his break, the
gossip started in middle-class kitchens, the romantic binder for wooing
couples, and the sole, bitter companion of the lost soul. Coffeehouses have
provided places to plan revolutions, write poetry, do business, and meet friends.
The drink became such an intrinsic part of Western culture that it has seeped
into an incredible number of popular songs [Find].
Coffee provides one fascinating thread, stitching together
the disciplines of history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, medicine, and
business, and offering a way to follow the interactions that have formed a
global economy.
Coffee. May you enjoy its convoluted history over many cups.
Coffee and Central America
Artist:
Renee Bolmeijer
Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn
31 Aug 2018
Coca-Cola
is to buy the Costa coffee chain from owner Whitbread in a deal worth £3.9bn.
Whitbread bought Costa, which is now the UK's biggest coffee chain, for just
£19m in 1995. At the time, it had just 39 outlets. It now has more than 2,400
UK coffee shops, as well as some 1,400 outlets in 31 overseas markets. Costa
Express has 8,237 vending machines worldwide. Coca-Cola chief executive James
Quincey told investors that Costa “can go global". As well as being the
largest UK coffee chain, Costa is also the world's second largest. It is
looking to triple its presence in China, where it is second to Starbucks.
