Given that I wanted some background on the coffee industry, this was a great introduction. It provided details of the origins of coffee and how the major players have been formed and evolved over the years. It also illustrates how political coffee can be. Sometimes, I found it a little hard going and one slight criticism would be that it is somewhat US centric in its focus on the demand side but given the breadth of the subject matter the author had to make choices. In summary, a good solid read and a useful reference for the industry.

This is such an informative and detailed history that it must take it's place as one of the most important books on coffee. Pendergrast's deep and broad probe of the historical context is really marvelous, and although most of us are not that interested in the machinations of the old coffee families this is really a fascinating tour of capitalism at work.

Personally, I would have liked more on the colonial and neo-colonial exploitation of indigenous peoples; after all, this is the story of agriculture in the slave-owning tropics. Still, his sympathies seem fairly obvious. I'm just saying this could have been a vehicle for a stronger statement about the ravages of racism and exploitation.

As a total freak, who roasts his own green beans, I didn't get bored with any of the book but I think non-coffee drinkers might find some of it heavy sledding. I used it for bedtime reading for a couple of months.

Thank you Mr. Pendergrast for a great contribution to the public's knowledge and appreciation of a zesty subject.

From the early beginnings of coffee's discovery to the maturation of the specialty coffee revolution in 1999 it's all here. Provided of course you live in North America.



We learn neat little bits of history such as how almost all the coffee trees in Latin America are descended from a single specimen. A plant that survived storms, pirates and a fellow passenger to make in to Martinique. As with the previous plant another descendent made its way to Brazil with much intrigue (and adultery). The coffee house revolutions in governments (in France) and science (in England) are also covered.

The beginnings of Latin American coffee are then explored and the inequalities are laid very early. This will lead to a later chapter where the effects of this inequality (or slavery would be a better word) will rip through the heart of Latin America, staining the ground red with the blood of thousands. Before that chapter though we have a full explanation of the growth of coffee and the big coffee companies.

Folgers, Maxwell House, MJB etc. Mixed in with this we start to see the wild price swings and the boom/bust cycles. Brazil by this point is the big dog on the block and starts "valorization". This is an attempt to control prices similar to OPEC. Except coffee is warehoused.

We then travel though the early part of the 20th Century. Here we see the decline in coffee quality from freshly roasted coffee delivered fresh to big supermarket pre-staled pre-ground coffee. Eventually by the mid 60's quality declines further to Robusta laden instant coffee. It seems coffee by this point is only sold by price (the lower the better, taste be dammed).

Thankfully we are brought out of the darkness by the specialty coffee revolution. This is where fair trade and coffee with a conscience start to come to the fore. And consumers finally are introduced to the Italian coffee bars brought to you by Starbucks. While Starbucks wasn't the only specialty retailer its growth was nothing short of phenomenal.



Overall this book is a great read on the history of an amazing bean. My only gripe is that an updated edition is sorely needed.

Also look for a coffee documentary called "Black Coffee"(on DVD) where the author is featured quite prominently. This was the reason I bought this book.

From the early beginnings of coffee's discovery to the maturation of the specialty coffee revolution in 1999 it's all here. Provided of course you live in North America.

We learn neat little bits of history such as how almost all the coffee trees in Latin America are descended from a single specimen. A plant that survived storms, pirates and a fellow passenger to make in to Martinique. As with the previous plant another descendent made its way to Brazil with much intrigue (and adultery). The coffee house revolutions in governments (in France) and science (in England) are also covered.
The beginnings of Latin American coffee are then explored and the inequalities are laid very early. This will lead to a later chapter where the effects of this inequality (or slavery would be a better word) will rip through the heart of Latin America, staining the ground red with the blood of thousands. Before that chapter though we have a full explanation of the growth of coffee and the big coffee companies.
Folgers, Maxwell House, MJB etc. Mixed in with this we start to see the wild price swings and the boom/bust cycles. Brazil by this point is the big dog on the block and starts "valorization". This is an attempt to control prices similar to OPEC. Except coffee is warehoused.
We then travel though the early part of the 20th Century. Here we see the decline in coffee quality from freshly roasted coffee delivered fresh to big supermarket pre-staled pre-ground coffee. Eventually by the mid 60's quality declines further to Robusta laden instant coffee. It seems coffee by this point is only sold by price (the lower the better, taste be dammed).
Thankfully we are brought out of the darkness by the specialty coffee revolution. This is where fair trade and coffee with a conscience start to come to the fore. And consumers finally are introduced to the Italian coffee bars brought to you by Starbucks. While Starbucks wasn't the only specialty retailer its growth was nothing short of phenomenal.

Overall this book is a great read on the history of an amazing bean. My only gripe is that an updated edition is sorely needed.
Also look for a coffee documentary called "Black Coffee"(on DVD) where the author is featured quite prominently. This was the reason I bought this book.

From the early beginnings of coffee's discovery to the maturation of the specialty coffee revolution in 1999 it's all here. Provided of course you live in North America.

We learn neat little bits of history such as how almost all the coffee trees in Latin America are descended from a single specimen. A plant that survived storms, pirates and a fellow passenger to make in to Martinique. As with the previous plant another descendent made its way to Brazil with much intrigue (and adultery). The coffee house revolutions in governments (in France) and science (in England) are also covered.
The beginnings of Latin American coffee are then explored and the inequalities are laid very early. This will lead to a later chapter where the effects of this inequality (or slavery would be a better word) will rip through the heart of Latin America, staining the ground red with the blood of thousands. Before that chapter though we have a full explanation of the growth of coffee and the big coffee companies.
Folgers, Maxwell House, MJB etc. Mixed in with this we start to see the wild price swings and the boom/bust cycles. Brazil by this point is the big dog on the block and starts "valorization". This is an attempt to control prices similar to OPEC. Except coffee is warehoused.
We then travel though the early part of the 20th Century. Here we see the decline in coffee quality from freshly roasted coffee delivered fresh to big supermarket pre-staled pre-ground coffee. Eventually by the mid 60's quality declines further to Robusta laden instant coffee. It seems coffee by this point is only sold by price (the lower the better, taste be dammed).
Thankfully we are brought out of the darkness by the specialty coffee revolution. This is where fair trade and coffee with a conscience start to come to the fore. And consumers finally are introduced to the Italian coffee bars brought to you by Starbucks. While Starbucks wasn't the only specialty retailer its growth was nothing short of phenomenal.

Overall this book is a great read on the history of an amazing bean. My only gripe is that an updated edition is sorely needed.
Also look for a coffee documentary called "Black Coffee"(on DVD) where the author is featured quite prominently. This was the reason I bought this book.

Resting next to your mouse or keyboard - at a safe distance! - your cuppa steams aromatically. The morning coffee, whether at home or work, is the "kick-starter" of many a person's day. For some, it must be a special flavour, brewed to taste, yet often mixed with sweeteners or cow juice, real or otherwise. For the rest, anything hot and caffeine-laced is sufficient. Yet almost none of us ask where that beverage came from, why we drink it and why North Americans stick with coffee and others with tea. Mark Pendergrast asked, and asked some more and in many places. The result is this captivating book relating the history of our favourite beverage. It must be important if we write songs about it.

Opening by relating the Ethiopian myth of the goat-herd wanting to learn why his charges danced about in the bush, Pendergrast quickly traces the spread of coffee elsewhere. Coffee houses, beginning long ago, became quickly popular as gathering places. News and gossip were swopped over steaming cups. Patrons didn't exactly dance about as the goats did, but there must have been something more than just lounging about. The coffee house, viewed as a den of vice or worse, sedition, has been banned by various insecure rulers. Charles II of England, fearful his reign might go the way of his father's, tried to shut them down. He was correct, since the howl of protest might have generated another rebellion. The king withdrew the ban.

While coffee houses remained in place, some becoming gloriously decorated institutions, it was the home market that enlarged the role of coffee. Pendergrast tracks that shift with a colourful history of coffee's economic growth in the Western Hemisphere. As tea was consumed in Britain in a form of support for the East India Company, so did coffee rise as part of North American patriotic fervour. The nascent United States took up coffee with alacrity, the habit made easier by the proximity of the growing nations. The author notes that once coffee took root in Brazil, that nation became the backbone of the coffee industry.

Coffee's status as a cash crop, however, made it vulnerable to numerous forces - not the least weather. Grown at various elevations, but rarely on environmentally stable plains, coffee is subject to storms and frosts. Like grape vines, coffee is also vulnerable to a virus infestation. Prices rise and fall in a highly unpredictable market. Pendergrast notes how at the beginning of the 20th Century, the US penchant for cheap coffee led the government to make early attempts at meddling with Brazil's domestic economy. It was easy to claim Brazil's growers and wholesalers were "fixing" prices by storing millions of bags in warehouses, when their real intention was price stablilisation.

Pendergrast traces the growth of this industry with a fine flair for detail. Price shifts, marketing techniques, changes in tastes and the growth of dealers from small shops to national chains are all covered well. While there are many names and control shifts about in various locations, the author keeps us with him as he recounts the interactions. There is little technical to distract or delay the reader - he keeps the chemistry of coffee tucked away in a final chapter. To reach that point, however, the reader is guided through the founding and expansion of such names as Folger's, Hills Brothers and A&P. It's not all pleasant reading, of course. We must pause to cope with the palate-insulting phenomenon of "instant" coffee [you don't actually drink that stuff, do you?]. There are a few unpleasant people to meet. However, we also learn that with home-served coffee being served by sometimes abused housewives, some enterprising women entered the coffee trade arena. Some of these did so well they are legends in the industry.

This is an excellent book on a "hidden" topic. To understand why coffee prices shift and wobble, why this is the second most valuable resource in the world, why one brand is a delight to drink while another goes down the drain after the first taste, this is the place to find out. While you're ordering your copy, i'll just nip off to the kitchen for another cuppa . . . [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

I am an admitted Starbucks addict and History Channel junkie. Both of those traits made this book a total blast to read. Sure, it is a little slow at the beginning, but if you stick with it you learn how Coffee has influenced world economics, the marketing industry, and even our language.

Pendergrast does spend the majority of his time analyzing Coffee's impact on America, so if you are not an American I have to wonder how enjoyable this book would actually be.

Nevertheless, after making it halfway through the book I was able to confound my local Stabucks baristas with my seemingly endless knowledge of coffee trivia.

If you are a serious historian, this book may not be academic enough for you. If, however, you are a "Cliff Claven" type like myself, you will get a real kick out of this.

I am an admitted Starbucks addict and History Channel junkie. Both of those traits made this book a total blast to read. Sure, it is a little slow at the beginning, but if you stick with it you learn how Coffee has influenced world economics, the marketing industry, and even our language.

Pendergrast does spend the majority of his time analyzing Coffee's impact on America, so if you are not an American I have to wonder how enjoyable this book would actually be.

Nevertheless, after making it halfway through the book I was able to confound my local Stabucks baristas with my seemingly endless knowledge of coffee trivia.

If you are a serious historian, this book may not be academic enough for you. If, however, you are a "Cliff Claven" type like myself, you will get a real kick out of this.

Everything we do, everything we buy has an impact far around the world. This is an excellent study of these links through an in depth review of the coffee industry. Pendergrast has researched the significant political, business, and economic history of the industry and its role in the US relationship with Latin American, African and Asian coffee producing countries. The information is academic quality but throughoughly readible.

Pendergrast certainly would not ask us to give up this amazing drink, but the book does help to lift the veil of ignorance surrounding the impact our decision has and our role and responsibility in the economic process called the "invisible hand" of capitalism.

The book is a bit heavy on the marketing history of the industry, but to business people or economists this is a one of its strongest aspects. It is also important to understand the history of coffee consumption in the US (and has implications for other products we buy.) Quite simply, Americans bought crappy coffee just because of the advertising and brand strategy. It is amazing to me how much longer it took Americans to realize the potential for much better tasting coffee. It does give hope to all entrepreneurs, because this seems so obvious to us post-Starbucks, but it is only very recently that gourmet coffee companies figured out that we might want something with flavor.

If there are broader lessons from this book, it is to re-examine what we buy. What do we buy that is just good marketing and yet is an inferior product in some way. I like to believe that most Americans would not want to buy products that are made with slave or child labor or with environmental practices that are killing people in another country. Obviously the real world is not so black and white, but I think the same principle applies to everything we buy. Ideally, we will continue to evolve as a society and consider these factors when we choose our coffee. It is the beauty and potential of our economic system that we CAN push Starbucks and other companies in that direction just buy what we choose at the coffee cart or in the grocery aisle.

Everything we do, everything we buy has an impact far around the world. This is an excellent study of these links through an in depth review of the coffee industry. Pendergrast has researched the significant political, business, and economic history of the industry and its role in the US relationship with Latin American, African and Asian coffee producing countries. The information is academic quality but throughoughly readible.

Pendergrast certainly would not ask us to give up this amazing drink, but the book does help to lift the veil of ignorance surrounding the impact our decision has and our role and responsibility in the economic process called the "invisible hand" of capitalism.

The book is a bit heavy on the marketing history of the industry, but to business people or economists this is a one of its strongest aspects. It is also important to understand the history of coffee consumption in the US (and has implications for other products we buy.) Quite simply, Americans bought crappy coffee just because of the advertising and brand strategy. It is amazing to me how much longer it took Americans to realize the potential for much better tasting coffee. It does give hope to all entrepreneurs, because this seems so obvious to us post-Starbucks, but it is only very recently that gourmet coffee companies figured out that we might want something with flavor.

If there are broader lessons from this book, it is to re-examine what we buy. What do we buy that is just good marketing and yet is an inferior product in some way. I like to believe that most Americans would not want to buy products that are made with slave or child labor or with environmental practices that are killing people in another country. Obviously the real world is not so black and white, but I think the same principle applies to everything we buy. Ideally, we will continue to evolve as a society and consider these factors when we choose our coffee. It is the beauty and potential of our economic system that we CAN push Starbucks and other companies in that direction just buy what we choose at the coffee cart or in the grocery aisle.

The subtitle of this book is: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World. I thought I was getting into a book about the role of coffee in the waves and trends of world history.

However, Prendergast almost entirely ignores the rest of the world (while repeatedly remarking how Europeans drink more coffee than Americans) and writes, instead a literature review of coffee industry publications, going into tedious detail of the advertising wars between coffee companies in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Occasionally, the author finds himself remarking about how coffee consumption in the industrialized world helped institutionalize atrocious poverty in coffee-growing countries, but then eschews considered analysis in order to get back to the oh-so-enthralling decades-long battle between Maxwell House and Hills Brothers for market share.

Prendergast repeatedly refers to how Americans' taste for coffee is, objectively, poor - one feels he does this as compensation for what he knows is a weak narrative.

If you are looking for a book which considers the 'world' as 95% America and chapters full of quotes from fin de siecle coffee advertisements, you've found the right one. If you are looking for a careful anaylsis of how coffee has changed the world, you'll need to keep looking.

The subtitle of this book is: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World. I thought I was getting into a book about the role of coffee in the waves and trends of world history.

However, Prendergast almost entirely ignores the rest of the world (while repeatedly remarking how Europeans drink more coffee than Americans) and writes, instead a literature review of coffee industry publications, going into tedious detail of the advertising wars between coffee companies in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Occasionally, the author finds himself remarking about how coffee consumption in the industrialized world helped institutionalize atrocious poverty in coffee-growing countries, but then eschews considered analysis in order to get back to the oh-so-enthralling decades-long battle between Maxwell House and Hills Brothers for market share.

Prendergast repeatedly refers to how Americans' taste for coffee is, objectively, poor - one feels he does this as compensation for what he knows is a weak narrative.

If you are looking for a book which considers the 'world' as 95% America and chapters full of quotes from fin de siecle coffee advertisements, you've found the right one. If you are looking for a careful anaylsis of how coffee has changed the world, you'll need to keep looking.

This book is about coffee. Obvious, right?

Yet, it is also about the larger world out there. Our kind author isn't just using coffee as a metaphor, but instead uses Coffee as the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" as a way to talk about larger historical, political and social issues in a way that is palatable to the average reader. Coffee has had a major impact on the United States, from our very beginnings in the Boston Tea Party to our present day position in the land of 24-hour a day television, which of course really means 24 hours a day of advertising.

How has this affected our place in the world? Americans drink a lot of coffee to get a quick pick me up. And that mood enhancing aspect is also included in similar products... those similar products include Cola, Tea, and all sorts of tricked out street drugs designed to make us feel better about who or what we are. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing really isn't important to the discussion at this level, just that we are aware of it.

Coffee has also affected our political dealing with the rest of the world, be it our weird love-hate relationship with South and Central America as a source of coffee, and more currently various illegal drugs. If we weren't buying it they wouldn't be selling it to us. It has also entered into all kinds of health topics and considerations.

Coffee has had a major social and political impact on the Untied States. We use it, and similar products and drugs for various reasons. We threaten political and military consequenences to those who have provided us those things. The "pick me up" aspect makes possible a longer workday for workers in modern society... and this can have productivity increases for companies and people. The advertising methods, those in many ways were invented to "push" coffee are everywhere in our social framework.

And we haven't gotten to coffee's health affects. Is coffee good for you? A simple question that doctors is still trying to properly answer. It has some kind of health impact on our people, but what and how and why are still, in many ways, to be answered.

There is a lot to be said, and my rambling review gives an idea of the many topics this most excellent book covers.

But most importantly, the author tells one how to brew a good cup of coffee.

This book is about coffee. Obvious, right?

Yet, it is also about the larger world out there. Our kind author isn't just using coffee as a metaphor, but instead uses Coffee as the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" as a way to talk about larger historical, political and social issues in a way that is palatable to the average reader. Coffee has had a major impact on the United States, from our very beginnings in the Boston Tea Party to our present day position in the land of 24-hour a day television, which of course really means 24 hours a day of advertising.

How has this affected our place in the world? Americans drink a lot of coffee to get a quick pick me up. And that mood enhancing aspect is also included in similar products... those similar products include Cola, Tea, and all sorts of tricked out street drugs designed to make us feel better about who or what we are. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing really isn't important to the discussion at this level, just that we are aware of it.

Coffee has also affected our political dealing with the rest of the world, be it our weird love-hate relationship with South and Central America as a source of coffee, and more currently various illegal drugs. If we weren't buying it they wouldn't be selling it to us. It has also entered into all kinds of health topics and considerations.

Coffee has had a major social and political impact on the Untied States. We use it, and similar products and drugs for various reasons. We threaten political and military consequenences to those who have provided us those things. The "pick me up" aspect makes possible a longer workday for workers in modern society... and this can have productivity increases for companies and people. The advertising methods, those in many ways were invented to "push" coffee are everywhere in our social framework.

And we haven't gotten to coffee's health affects. Is coffee good for you? A simple question that doctors is still trying to properly answer. It has some kind of health impact on our people, but what and how and why are still, in many ways, to be answered.

There is a lot to be said, and my rambling review gives an idea of the many topics this most excellent book covers.

But most importantly, the author tells one how to brew a good cup of coffee.

Everything you ever wanted to know about coffee. Most of the book makes for very slow reading, but the information is interesting and well worth the price.

This informative book is truly a joy to read, and any coffee drinker (serious coffee drinker, anyways) would benefit from this work. It offers an enlightening insight into the incredible coffee economy and outlines the disproportionate balance of profit that is a result from this inconspicuous plant. Not focused simply on the drink itself, Pendergrast writes of those this commodity impacts. Look for more than amusing tales of the coffee world and trite chapters on how to best brew the beans; this book is for those who are seriously interested in their favorite drink or who are curious about the history of a world commodity that has shaped both our economic and natural environment.

Ok, I admitt that if you do know about coffee you'll probably find it somewhat incomplete, specially in the terms of how to get a great cup of it. However, what makes this book great is the fact that it clearly states the way coffee had an influence in the world and how coffee was influenced by different historical events. This book is not about coffee, but as the title states, it is about the influence of masses and advertizing over a product, as well as the influence of a product in the shaping of society.
This book won't specify a lot about the plant or the drink in itself, but rather as it was brought to it's consumers and how separated is the origin from the end user of an agricultural product. It will help you understand more about economics than about coffee, yet it is not a bad book. If you like to know how different products or scientifical theories influenced the world and helped shape society, then this is a must read. If you want to know a lot about coffee and all of it's subtleties, then, this is not your book.

This is a great book that details the origins of coffee from 6th century Ethiopia to today's Starbucks. On many levels this book succeeds. It has a lot of coffee trivia that is both amusing and thoughtprovoking, it shows how coffee gained its relevance in today's society, and lastly it puts the social and political aspects of coffee under a microscope.

For 11 years I have been a futures and commodities investor, broker, and author. One of my favorite futures commodities is coffee. This book has added to my knowledge base by 10 times. I feel I have a deeper understanding and appreciation of java and in the long run I suspect that this will improve my investments in coffee futures. My hat is off to the author. Congrats on a fine book.

Although critically acclaimed, this book was not exactly what I was seeking. It gives the history of the US mass market coffee companies in excruciating detail, but as a coffee afficianado, I think I know more about coffee itself and how to prepare it well than does the author.

If you are interested in the down and dirty history of Folgers, of Chock Full of Nuts, of Hills Brothers, than this is your book. If you are sincerely interested in fine coffee, and have attained a level of appreciation of same, this book will quickly become tedious.

What I don't get is how the average Folgers or Hills Brothers or what have you drinker would be sufficiently interested in Coffee Per se (being as they drink plonk) to spend the time and money on this book. The real coffee drinkers out there, the people who go to effort to get or make great coffee, are going to find this tretise dull and unbearable after page 150 or so.

A staple of our breakfast table, our breaks at work, after dinner, and for a pick me up all during the day coffee is something that we think about the cup in front of us, but rarely do we think of how we got here. Pendergast delves into this mix, taking us back to the coffee cradle of Ethopia and on up to the Starbucks wars of the present day. He has crafted a very readable and accessible story of the history of coffee, as an economic and social driving force. The reader is given a real overview of how this dark, sometimes bitter brew has woven itself into the fabric of our lives, from the match heated cups in the trenches of the World Wars to the lines forming outside your neighborhood coffee house today.

But Pendergast looks at both sides of the story - the consumers and the coffee companies, but also the suppliers and the lives of those who make their (meager) livelihood off of harvesting the coffee bean. He nicely contrasts the Americans up in arms because of coffee rising past $1 a pound, while that $1 is more than a day's wage for many of the coffee harvesters. Coffee does not just appear on the grocery shelf, or in our cup by magic, it takes many steps on teh way, and these have impact upon costs, and upon the lives of those doing the work.

While personally I think that the book slows down heavily in the final chapters, overall I found it kept me engaged, with broad topics broken down in short subjects helping to keep the focus and the players straight. Coffee has been the boon and the bane of society for the past few hundred years. I found that I also came away with a greater understanding of the types of coffee, and what to be looking for when I'm buying it to get a better quality. Arabica, Robusta, and others now mean something more to me, and that's the beauty of a book like this - the information you receive appears on so many levels. I tip my cup to Mr. Pendergast.

This book outlines the history of coffee with a focus on the industry as a whole. It's main focus is on the late 19th century to the present. I think it provides an excellent overview and history of the business. I found it very readable and quite interesting. It is not dry like you would expect a business history book to be. Pendergrast does a good job of sprinkling in tidbits of facts throughout the book without bogging down. He also illuminates some of the drama behind the early days of small roasters in America growing and consolidating. This book is not for people who want to learn how to make coffee (it does have a few pages in an appendix on this). It is purely about the history of the business with a focus on events during the 20th century. I disagree with some comments made about this book. This book does reveal how coffee has transformed several Latin American and African countries even to this day. It does not spend entire chapters on specific countries but rather surveys several countries and the impact the industry has had. I thought Pendegrast did a fairly good job at balancing the different perspectives of retailers, roasters, importers, and growers. He also sheds some light onto the origins of specialty coffee and the explosion of retailers such as Starbucks. Some have argued this book is leftist, others argue it does not adequately cover the exploitation of Latin America and Africa by the industry. I think the author does a fairly good job of portraying both views, perhaps with a bit of leaning left. Pendergrast reveals fascinating personalities such as C.W. Post the inventor of Postum and many other health cereals still produced today or Howard Schultz - without whom Starbucks would never have been the phenomenon it is, but rather a regional roaster and retailer at best.
I do agree with one reader's review - this is not a coffee table book. It is a history book - a history of the commodity we know as the coffee bean. Since it is such a book - expect it to read like a history book, a good, readable history book. It is not riveting, rather it is interesting.