Towards a brief cultural history of coffee

Today, coffee is not only the second most important commodity in world trade (after petroleum), but the most widely consumed beverage of all in western Europe, ahead of both beer and wine. Coffee is harvested from around 15,000,000,000 trees; world annual production from 1998 – 2004 amounted to between 100 and 110 million 60kg sacks. Over 25 million people have jobs in coffee cultivation – reasons enough to take a closer look at the history of the drink.

This ‘brief cultural history of coffee’ traces the geographical advance and the growing popularity of coffee, as well as its social significance, from the 17th century to the present day. The text follows the path of coffee ‘from the seed to the body’ – from its cultivation and processing through to its consumption and its effects on the human body – and is divided into four main chapters.

Given the breadth and complexity of the subject, it goes without saying that this text can only highlight a few aspects of the fascinating and – as the reader will discover – many-sided cultural history of coffee. For those readers who are as thirsty for knowledge as they are fond of coffee, we would like to draw attention to the various links and the additional bibliography, where a wealth of in-depth information can be found.