Everything has a darker past but from it, grows lessons that illuminate our way to see forward.
Coffee is no exception. At first, it was known as wine of Araby and today we’re calling it “Coffee”. While it is one of the most drunk liquid on earth, the story of coffee starts vaguely from African continent. Then, it spreads through Europe and eventually find its way to Asia. Today, while some countries in African continent is known for a coffee producer but in their development, South America & South East Asia eventually become the power house of coffee producers. There are many reasons as to why places like Brazil and Vietnam became the biggest producer of coffee in the region. The reasons aren’t always optimistic veils as there is dark stories behind a cup that powers through industrialization era to globalization today. Coffee: A Dark History by Anthony Wild attempts to comb through the hazy origin of Coffee to the modern day slavery and problematic coffee industry that are not known by many of us.
The book is 327 pages filled with illuminating facts and offers different perspective on the way we see coffee. Anthony Wild himself is pretty much involved in the coffee industry as he was a director of purchasing for specialty coffee roaster as much as he is also a journalist and consultant specializing in colonialism and its history. With such background, it is no doubt that this book perspective is quite intriguing. Though there are quite a few criticism towards the book but reading this, offers a perspective that the cup of Joe that we drink isn’t always sourced ethically and behind it, there was also modern slavery at play.
Since pretty much in the 21th century, Starbucks becomes the go-to coffee all around America and pretty much the world. Even though it was a new player around early 2000s, according to the book it is already reaping huge profit. They are really good at positioning themselves as well as getting all the best quality of coffee beans for themselves and leaving a little for the rest of the coffee industry. But behind that, the book also presents a statement that the third world farmers are suffering. There are many critiques aimed at Starbucks that this book presents which is a fair questioning considering the milk, sugar, and the health related that they might come with it.
Although half of the book might sound very boring as it’s filled with history but for anyone who call themselves coffee lovers, it is quite an intriguing book that adds more information as well as stimulating new perspective.
Since the book is quite niche, but it also has an insight if you’re into economics of coffee as there are many lessons for it scattered all around in the book itself. The book is also available as an e-reader ready to borrow at open library or achive.org.
This book is one of the book that I wish to find its physical copy since it's wildly illuminating as well as entertaining. Since I enjoy reading history book, the extensive history and well-sourced of this book was also intriguing to me. I spend the week reading this and next, I am currently reading Americanah by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie. Stay tuned for my review on that.
cover thumbnail from archive.org
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
Nice book review, I am also a lover of history and the book seems like a book I would love to read. Most of the cash crops grown like cocoa, rubber, sugarcane, tea and coffee truly have a dark history behind them. Most of these crops are tied to the old slave trade, but what is worrying is that some are even producers of these crops engaged in modern slavery. I watched a BBC documentary about the conditions of farm workers who grew tea and coffee in Ethiopia and India, and it was shocking.
Slavery is alive and well, it just has different look to it. It's sad how farmers in places like Ethiopia received such treatment since their coffee is known as one of the best specialty coffee worldwide. I'd suggest reading the book although it was published early in the 2000s it still has relevancy to today's situation.
Coffee is very popular around the World and it contains different kinds of flavors. I really amazed and appreciate your article about the story and history of coffee, Thank you for sharing this idea to us.
Thanks for reading!
You know the person really loves coffee when they start reading books and history of it, lol. Sounds like and intriguing story. I had absolutely no idea coffee originated first from Africa. Interesting stuff.
What I'm more intrigued about is you reading Chimamanda's Americana. I genuinely can't wait to see what your take on it is
I started collecting them, they make nice collection on the shelves too. There are many independent magazines that are quite aesthetic but sadly, the constrain is just my wallet 😄. Where do you think coffee come from?
"coffee" wasn't actually coffee, it was called something like wine but the dutch call them "koffie", even that word was borrowed from Turkish and that's how it gets to today's word, coffee.
The more you learn about history, there more you learn that the so-called developing nations were actually prosperous back in the day with a complex social life, history, and cultures tied to it that are worth highlighting too.
Agree. I'm a man of history. I enjoy reading how things unfold and where stuff started from. I think your "coffee" collection is impressive even, haha.
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It's just sometime a bother to me not getting coffee shop around my place until I buy and make one.. I love your review and it's remarkable..
In winter we see that these two things are good for a person either tea is good or coffee is good and when we go to such beautiful places we sit and enjoy a lot.
Indeed!
Mac is really into coffee hence the urge to read a historical book about coffee. Hehehe. This seems like a great book btw. I love historical books but some of them get really boring after a few chapters.
I think an avg barista would tell me I know nothing about coffee, which is true since may of its practical aspects are not something to be read but practiced. What's your favorite historical books?
Había leído el origen del café provenía de la India, entrando a África y obteniendo su nombre científico allí pero India es Asia. Como buen amante del café me gustaría tenerlo en físico también, pero en español, soy algo flojo para traducir. Buena reseña Saludos.
I had read the origin of coffee came from India, entering Africa and getting its scientific name there but India is Asia. As a good coffee lover I would like to have it in physical also, but in Spanish, I am somewhat lazy to translate. Good review.