Coffee

In Our Time: History

BBC

History

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2019

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history and social impact of coffee. From its origins in Ethiopia, coffea arabica spread through the Ottoman Empire before reaching Western Europe where, in the 17th century, coffee houses were becoming established. There, caffeinated customers stayed awake for longer and were more animated, and this helped to spread ideas and influence culture. Coffee became a colonial product, grown by slaves or indentured labour, with coffea robusta replacing arabica where disease had struck, and was traded extensively by the Dutch and French empires; by the 19th century, Brazil had developed into a major coffee producer, meeting demand in the USA that had grown on the waggon trails. With Judith Hawley Professor of 18th Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London Markman Ellis Professor of 18th Century Studies at Queen Mary University of London And Jonathan Morris Professor in Modern History at the University of Hertfordshire Producer: Simon Tillotson

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts
0:04.8	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:07.4	There's a reading list to go with it on our website and you can get news about our programs
0:11.3	if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:14.7	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:16.7	Hello, in 1652, the first coffee house opened in London, not so much a house as a shed,
0:22.5	selling to pass us by.
0:24.0	The taste it's thought was unspeakable.
0:26.8	But people like the effect it had, both from them and all those around them in these new
0:31.0	coffee houses.
0:32.0	They're more talkative, brighter, awake for longer and sharing news and ideas.
0:36.7	It changed society.
0:38.4	And coffee growing spread across the world's colonies too to meet European and American
0:42.4	demand, changing lives from Java to Brazil, calling for more and more slaves to tend the
0:47.5	crop.
0:48.5	We'd like to discuss the history of coffee at Jonathan Morris, professor in modern history
0:52.2	at the University of Hertfordshire, Markman Ellis, professor of 18th century studies
0:56.4	at Queen Mary University of London.
0:58.6	And Judith Hawley, professor of 18th century literature at Royal Holloway University of
1:03.4	London.
1:04.4	Judith, how did coffee become a drink according to legend first?
1:08.2	Well, first of all, it wasn't a drink, but a kind of snack.
	...

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