Episode 99 features the complete unauthorized and organically sourced history of coffee.
So listen for how one of the world’s most popular beverages came to be with a history full of kings, spies, pirates, popes, lovers, religion, politics, war, and much much more!
- Coffee’s Origins
- From Berry and Bean to Drink
- Trade
- Coffee Shops
- Social Coffee
- Coffee Bans
- Capitalism
- Trade Agreements
- And much more
Mentioned and Helpful Links from This Episode
Coffee Declassified: The History of Coffee
Music created and provided by Henno Heitur of Monkey Tongue Productions.
–End Show Notes Transmission–
–Begin Transcription–
00:00:00:14 – 00:00:24:16
Agent Palmer
Previously on Agent Palmer dot com. School spirit, like the yearbooks that inspired it, is a neat narrative time capsule, the catastrophic culmination of the edge of the world broadcast third season. And Spicy Mikey wasn’t just on the last episode, but his most recent video was also pretty spicy as well. Be sure to check it out. This is the Palmer Files episode 99, featuring the complete, unauthorized, and organically sourced history of coffee.
00:00:24:21 – 00:01:09:14
Agent Palmer
So stay tuned for how one of the world’s most popular beverages came to be. With a history full of kings, spies, pirates, popes, lovers, religion, politics, war, and much, much more. Are you ready? Let’s do the show.
00:01:09:19 – 00:01:31:55
Agent Palmer
Hello, and welcome to the Palmer Files. I’m your host, Jason Stershic. Also known as Agent Palmer on this 99th episode is The History of Coffee. Back in 2017, I wrote the post that turned into the script for this episode. Coffee declassified the history of coffee as the kickoff to Palmer’s week of Coffee. I posted seven posts about coffee over the next seven days, starting with what you are about to hear.
00:01:32:00 – 00:02:02:24
Agent Palmer
Although it has been adapted to this new medium, this Palmer’s Week of Coffee is something I did only that one time, but it was a fun experiment and it was a great way to learn so much about the main beverage that powers this show. During recording and both pre and post production. So what are you in for? I adapted the original History of Coffee Post to the audio format, complete with music from this show’s main composer, Henno Heitur, whose music you listen to every episode at the beginning and end of the show.
00:02:02:29 – 00:02:29:01
Agent Palmer
Having adapted this from text, I preemptively apologize. Names can be hard to pronounce. To start, we’re heading back to five, seven, five A.D. and from there you will learn that what happens in the Fertile Crescent often goes global, whether it be civilization or, in this case, coffee. But first, remember that if you want to discuss this episode as you listen or afterwards, you can always find contact information for myself in the show notes.
00:02:29:06 – 00:02:48:53
Agent Palmer
You can also visit Agent palmer.com/coffee to find not only the original post I wrote about the history of coffee, but also all of the other posts from the original coffee week and a few that I’ve published since. Don’t forget, you can see all of my other writings and rantings on Agent palmer.com. And of course email can be sent to the Palmer files at gmail.com.
00:02:48:58 – 00:03:02:10
Agent Palmer
So without further ado, let’s get into the brew.
00:03:02:14 – 00:03:44:30
Agent Palmer
Coffee declassified. The history of coffee. Coffee has a rich, bold history with all the ingredients of a well-produced premium cable mini series. Kings, spies, pirates, lovers, religion, politics and, yes, war. Over the years, its advocates and acolytes have called it many names. But the path it took to your kitchen counter is rife with treachery, battles, seduction, and dumb luck.
00:03:44:35 – 00:04:14:29
Agent Palmer
Where does our story start? At the beginning, of course. Some sources say coffee was being cultivated in Yemen as early as 575 A.D., and that un roasted berries from the coffee plant were brewed to make a weak coffee in Mecca and Cairo. But the legend of Kaldi is the most common beginning of the history of coffee. Kaldi, an Ethiopian goat herder, notices his flock is more energetic and playful near a certain bush.
00:04:14:33 – 00:04:41:35
Agent Palmer
Realizing that the goats had eaten berries from the bush, Kaldi takes a sample, gets a boost, and gives humanity with the coffee berry called. He tells the abbot of a local monastery. The abbot thinks these berries are the devil’s work and throws the berries into the fire. But a hero in the form of a rebellious young monk snatches the hot beans and mixes them with water, resulting in the first cup of coffee with roasted beans in recorded history.
00:04:41:50 – 00:05:07:48
Agent Palmer
And yes, the old stories of coffee intermixed berries and beans. In the telling, they’re kind of interchangeable. Word of the berries travels to the Galla tribe, and they mix them into a power bar of sorts. Because these were berries, they called them magical fruit. And for the next period of time, only select tribes, traders, and adventurers knew of these magical berries.
00:05:07:52 – 00:05:36:18
Agent Palmer
So let’s fast forward a few hundred years to 1000 A.D.. It took some time for word to travel back then, but eventually Avicenna Bukhara writes down the first passages describing coffee of its medicinal purposes. Avicenna writes, quote, it fortifies the members, it cleans the skin and dries up the humidities that are under it, and gives an excellent smell to all the body.
00:05:36:23 – 00:06:17:55
Agent Palmer
End quote. About 100 years later, Arab traders start returning to their homelands with the beans. They cultivate the plant for the first time on plantations, and mass production of coffee starts all the way back here. They two drink the beans by boiling them in water. They call it kawa, or that which prevents sleep and vomiting. Moving to around the year 1400, eventually coffee finds its way to Constantinople, now Istanbul, where the Turks add clove, cardamom, cinnamon and anise, which is something they still drink to this day as a center for culture in a large trading metropolis at the time.
00:06:17:57 – 00:06:46:18
Agent Palmer
Word of coffee spreads from the streets of Constantinople beyond its borders, as traders and travelers alike get their first sips of the beverage in the city. Enter Mufti of Aden, who found that among its properties was that it drove away fatigue and lethargy and brought to the body certain sprite leanness and vigor. End quote. In Mecca, thanks to the mufti approval, the first coffeehouses, called caviar cans are established.
00:06:46:32 – 00:07:14:07
Agent Palmer
They begin as spots for religious meetings, but soon storytelling, rumors, gossip, and singing follow. A few years later, coffee shops are open for business in Constantinople and, as in Mecca, these two are places for lively discussion and debate. The Turks take their coffee so seriously at this point that they create a new law, making it legal for a woman to divorce her husband if he fails to provide her with a daily quota of coffee.
00:07:14:12 – 00:07:24:31
Agent Palmer
At this time, coffee is widely believed to be an aphrodisiac. I’ll let you put two and two together here. I.
00:07:24:36 – 00:07:53:21
Agent Palmer
Onto the 1500s, where there is just too much talk. The governor, Kiah Bey, bans coffeehouses in Mecca, fearing opposition to his rule. His band shuts down coffee shops as far as Constantinople. But cooler heads prevail after the riots and unrest that would no doubt result from a lack of citizens access to coffee. Eventually, the Sultan of Cairo sends word that coffee is sacred and has the governor executed.
00:07:53:26 – 00:08:11:29
Agent Palmer
The lesson here don’t mess with coffee. O coffee. Thou dost dispel all care. Thou art the object of desire. To the scholar. An Arabic poem from 1511.
00:08:11:34 – 00:08:37:52
Agent Palmer
This isn’t to say coffee was golden. Even in Cairo, a ban was enacted. Perhaps that bans negative impacts on society allowed the Sultan to learn from his mistakes. It’s an early example of the refrain from Battlestar Galactica. All of this has happened before and will happen again later in the century. Coffee arrives in Venice, and at first, the Venetians only make this rare and exotic drink available to the extremely rich.
00:08:37:52 – 00:09:06:32
Agent Palmer
But that doesn’t last. Soon, Venetians of all classes partake in the consumption of coffee. The 15th century comes to a close with Arabia and Africa holding a firm monopoly on the drink. But the trade between the Republic of Venice and those coffee holding nations was so strong at that time that further spread of the coffee was inevitable.
00:09:06:37 – 00:09:30:14
Agent Palmer
As the next century starts, the consumption of coffee becomes less a part of our history lesson. In order to keep their monopoly, the coffee producing nations enact laws that forbid the export of fertile beans. The best laid plans. The city of Mecca is a pilgrimage for Muslims to take. As such, many travelers are introduced to coffee during their holy pilgrimages.
00:09:30:14 – 00:09:57:36
Agent Palmer
At this time. One Asian Indian named Baba Boudin, smuggled out some fertile beans under his shirt and secretly cultivated the beans in India. Old chick, as the beans are called, is responsible for about a third of the total coffee production in India today. Hudon was made a saint and even has a region in India named after him. Coffee is quickly becoming a hot commodity, but it’s not all smooth tasting.
00:09:57:41 – 00:10:19:47
Agent Palmer
In Venice, the church starts to believe that the popularity of coffee means that it must be no good believing it to be satanic. Pope Clement the Seventh has a taste of the devil’s concoction, but after a taste proclaims why this Satan’s drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.
00:10:19:52 – 00:10:36:18
Agent Palmer
We shall fool Satan by baptizing it and making it a truly Christian beverage. This marks the second time in its history that coffee has been marked as evil, and it will not be the last.
00:10:36:23 – 00:11:00:05
Agent Palmer
Let the trading and exploring begin. British adventurer and explorer Captain John Smith, a founding member of the Jamestown Colony who you may remember from the story of Pocahontas, writes, of course for the Turkish drink in his bestselling book of the time, Travels and Adventure. Next up, the Dutch get their first sip of coffee as trader Peter Vandenberg of the Dutch East India Company.
00:11:00:08 – 00:11:27:27
Agent Palmer
Taste the drink on a visit to Mocha in Yemen. Peter successfully smuggles out a fertile seed, but the Netherlands climate isn’t conducive to cultivation. Undeterred, the Dutch soon expand their trading from spices to include coffee. Finally, coffee comes to England with the help of Nathaniel Can, a copious. A Greek student who brews the first cup of coffee in the country at the University of Oxford.
00:11:27:41 – 00:12:05:15
Agent Palmer
Although the coffee enabled, all night partying gets him thrown out of the prestigious university, the coffee will remain. Now coffee houses open in Italy and England, but near Oxford, some Englishmen create the Oxford Coffee Club, which helped foster theories and ideas among students and scientists alike. Later that club would become the Royal Society. The Royal Society still exists today as a learned society for science, and functions as the United Kingdom’s and Commonwealth of Nations Academy of Sciences.
00:12:05:20 – 00:12:29:01
Agent Palmer
Those coffee houses in England soon become known as Penny universities, as they fill up with a cross-section of humanity, from traders to students to the elite of society. The only people missing are women who, at this time aren’t allowed in these boys only clubs. Eventually the women protest and are granted access to the discussions happening at these penny universities.
00:12:29:06 – 00:12:57:11
Agent Palmer
Continuing its conquest of the world. Coffee enters Austria as the first coffeehouse opened in Vienna following the Battle of Vienna, using spoils of war from their defeat of the Turks. Meanwhile, the Dutch, looking to secure a monopoly over cinnamon, take over salon. Now Sri Lanka from the Portuguese. Lucky for them, they not only take over cinnamon, but a small cultivation of coffee crops which the Portuguese had conquered earlier from the Arabs.
00:12:57:16 – 00:13:09:37
Agent Palmer
What’s a little thieving among thieves? Or in this case, conquering among conquerors?
00:13:09:42 – 00:13:54:42
Agent Palmer
Back in London, public drunkenness is a large issue. As a result, coffeehouses start replacing bars and taverns as the place to meet. Though this curbs the public drunkenness, owners of the bars and taverns, seeing their profits fall, attack coffee. They make a religious appeal to the nature of coffee in relation to beer. Arguing that Christian monks have been drinking and brewing beer for centuries, while coffee with its Arabic roots is not Christian at all, but the taverns and bars will eventually reap the rewards from a financial innovation brought on by coffee, as boxes labeled to ensure prompt service are placed in English coffee houses, drawing patrons coins.
00:13:54:47 – 00:14:26:48
Agent Palmer
That’s right, coffee brought us the tradition of tipping. In 1669, France finally gets a taste of coffee when Suleyman Aga, the Turkish ambassador to Paris, brings coffee into the court of Louis the 14th. But before all of France can enjoy a cup of coffee, a class workers as the elite Parisians believe, coffee is for the lower classes. Eventually, they relent and shop owners open lavish, elegant shops and offer tea and chocolates in addition to coffee.
00:14:26:52 – 00:14:54:56
Agent Palmer
Now remember the governor of Mecca who attempted to banish coffee. King Charles the Second orders all of England’s coffeehouses closed for fear of revolution. Apparently, coffeehouses. These penny universities encourage ideas and talk that might lead to revolt. Protests in the face of this action are so severe that the ban only lasts 11 days.
00:14:55:01 – 00:15:27:56
Agent Palmer
And now we come to France. A story of incredible odds and the origin of Viennese coffee. In 1683, the Turks and their army of 300,000 were on the verge of taking Vienna during their second siege of the city. Though their numbers were many, a young Paul named Franz George scheme turned the tide on the Turks. Franz offered his clandestine services and infiltrated the Turkish army for vital strategic information.
00:15:28:01 – 00:15:58:28
Agent Palmer
With this information, the defending Austrian army led by the Prince of Lorraine attacked and sent the Turks running. The spoils of victory were beyond Grant. 25,000 tents, 10,000 oxen, 5000 camels, plenty of gold and 500 sacks of coffee beans. All of the spoils were divided except the coffee, which no one wanted, except for Franz. As the hero, Franz is awarded the coffee.
00:15:58:33 – 00:16:23:48
Agent Palmer
Austrian citizenship and permission to open the first coffee house in Vienna. The blue bottle. At first, business was slow, as the Viennese did not enjoy the coffee the way that Franz had learned to make it during his time in Istanbul. But Franz was a smart man who decided to make some changes. He filtered the coffee and added cream and honey to the drink, and the Viennese took notice.
00:16:23:53 – 00:16:32:31
Agent Palmer
Thus, Braun’s business took off and Viennese Coffee was here to stay.
00:16:32:36 – 00:17:07:33
Agent Palmer
Continuing this tradition, worldwide cream being added to coffee naturally lifts the flavor and reduces the acidity. Most world class coffee drinkers, in fact, don’t drink theirs black, but rather with a splash of cream. Although there’s probably plenty of debate on that and I drink my coffee black, so narrator’s prerogative, I guess. In 1686, Café Prokop, the first literary coffee shop, opens in Paris, where it remains in business to serve customers as it once served Voltaire and Napoleon.
00:17:07:38 – 00:17:29:04
Agent Palmer
In fact, as a young lieutenant, Napoleon had to settle a bill by leaving behind his hat. I wonder how much coffee his hat was worth. Anyway, the trade wars are starting to heat up as the Dutch finally break into the monopoly on coffee. The Dutch influence will heavily impact the transport of coffee across the ocean to the New World.
00:17:29:09 – 00:17:44:11
Agent Palmer
But before the 1700s can begin in London, Jonathans Coffee House begins listing stock and commodity prices. And the London Stock Exchange is born in 1698.
00:17:44:15 – 00:18:07:58
Agent Palmer
Early on in the 1700s, the French start making coffee with the grounds in an enclosed linen bag. No more coffee grounds in coffee, so just keep that in mind the next time you complain about the 1 or 2 that your coffee maker lets through. For almost the first millennia of coffee’s existence, there were always grounds in your cup.
00:18:08:03 – 00:18:42:10
Agent Palmer
Now, coffee, especially in fertile seed form, is an exquisite gift. So much so that the mayor of Amsterdam gives a young coffee plant to King Louis, the 14th of France, who places it within the Royal Botanical Gardens in Paris. Because clearly, if you can’t show it off, what’s the point? In Germany, the coffee trade expands beyond coastal trading ports such as Bremen and Hamburg to the German capital of Berlin, which finally gets its first coffee house back in Paris.
00:18:42:11 – 00:18:55:11
Agent Palmer
Remember that gift of the coffee plant that is now sitting in the Royal Botanical Gardens? It’s now a full grown coffee tree and it’s about to get snipped.
00:18:55:15 – 00:19:24:13
Agent Palmer
At first, Gabrielle Matthieu de clou, a French naval officer on leave from Martinique, simply requests a few clippings from the tree. Believing that the plant would thrive in the Caribbean climate. But the king denies him outright. Undeterred, Gabriel remains as a guest of the court, enjoying wine. Women in song. Eventually, Gabrielle scales the walls of the Royal Botanical Garden and Snip Snip makes off immediately to set sail back to Martinique.
00:19:24:18 – 00:19:47:25
Agent Palmer
But the journey is perilous. He tends the plant in a glass cabinet, bringing it on deck during the day and protecting it below deck during the night for weeks without incident. Until one day a crew member pulls a dagger on him, though the crew member was able to cut off a side shoot from the plant. Gabrielle prevails and continues nursing his treasure.
00:19:47:30 – 00:20:19:57
Agent Palmer
One rogue member of the crew is one thing, but Pirates now that’s another. And the ship is besieged by pirates. Somehow, after surviving a daylong siege, the ship continues on before it’s almost sunk by a storm which shatters the glass cabinet housing Gabriel’s precious coffee plant. After the pirate attack and the storm, fresh water supplies ran low and were rationed, forcing Gabrielle to split his share of drinking water with the plant, which is now wilting.
00:20:20:06 – 00:20:49:09
Agent Palmer
As Martinique enters view on the island. Gabrielle hides his crop among native plants, and almost two years later he shares his spoils with others within a short period of time. Coffee plantations spread over the island and even over the islands of Saint Dominique and Guadeloupe. With all these prosperous plantations and a few Bountiful harvests, King Louis the 14th forgives Gabriel for his treachery and makes him governor of Antilles.
00:20:49:14 – 00:21:23:30
Agent Palmer
Gabriel’s Gambit would seed the trees of the Caribbean, South American, and Central American plantations. That’s quite a haul from just one small seedling stolen with a snip. With the wealth from coffee boosting the economies in the surrounding areas, Brazil decides that it too should have a future in the business of coffee. So, under the veil of a peacekeeping mission, the Brazilian government sends Colonel Francisco de Mello, have Hatta to settle a disputed border between French Guiana and Dutch Guiana.
00:21:23:35 – 00:21:54:18
Agent Palmer
Despite the Colonel’s success in brokering peace, the French governor refuses his request for coffee seedlings. But the Colonel is not to be deterred. While the governor heavily guarded the coffee plantations, he did not equally guard his beautiful wife during a state dinner. The seduction began, and the colonel did indeed capture the heart of the governor’s wife. While that night they just danced, there were a few other more intimate meetings, to say the least.
00:21:54:23 – 00:22:29:49
Agent Palmer
When at last Colonel Francisco departed for Brazil, the governor’s wife presented him as a token of her affection. A bouquet of flowers secretly concealing a few coffee seedlings. Upon his return to Brazil, the Colonel planted the seedlings on plantations in massive tracts of cleared rainforest. The resulting crop would later become an empire of coffee. Jamaica then jumps on the coffee bandwagon, where plantations in the Blue Mountain range are so Bountiful that Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee quickly becomes traded throughout the world.
00:22:29:54 – 00:23:05:38
Agent Palmer
Soon, the Dutch and French trading of coffee is so strong that the British East India Trading Company gives up on its coffee trade, and in short time, tea becomes England’s drink of choice. Despite this shift, coffeehouses still exist in England. Though coffee’s popularity isn’t what it was in the heyday of the penny universities. Meanwhile, the strength and worldwide trading reach of the Dutch brings coffee to Japan, although it remained a curiosity among the Japanese until the strict trade restrictions were lifted in the middle of the next century.
00:23:05:43 – 00:23:33:03
Agent Palmer
And then America hits England, where it hurts, having a meeting at the Green Dragon Coffeehouse in Boston, where the Boston Tea Party is planned and then carried out. As a result, the colonists start drinking coffee as a sign of patriotism. While England had its stocks and commodities. Newly independent America has Merchants Coffeehouse on Wall Street in New York, which will become the New York Stock Exchange.
00:23:33:17 – 00:23:44:50
Agent Palmer
In an eerily similar echo of Jonathan’s coffeehouse becoming the London Stock Exchange.
00:23:44:55 – 00:24:15:09
Agent Palmer
As the 1800s begin, coffee is introduced to Hawaii and after eight years of failure, the crops finally take hold and Kona Coffee is soon to come to a coffeehouse near you. The 1800s are full of coffee related innovation. In Paris in 1818, the first coffee percolator is invented by a Parisian metal smith named Lawrence. Four years later, the world’s first espresso machine follows, also developed in France, in New York.
00:24:15:17 – 00:24:49:11
Agent Palmer
Jabez Burns patents the original Burns coffee roaster in 1864. Meanwhile, James H. Nason patents the first coffee percolator in the US. Whether he came up with it originally or stole it from the French somehow, the bottom line is that the technology had come to America. As for coffee itself, our buckles areas have becomes the first mass produced coffee in 1871, taking the country by storm and leading founder John Arbuckle to export the coffee around the world.
00:24:49:16 – 00:25:13:51
Agent Palmer
Earlier in the century, the corporate coffee empire start to take shape. James Folger founds the J, a Folgers coffee company, believing that serving those looking for gold and getting their money is easier than actually going out and looking for the gold itself. This is the origin of America’s West Coast coffee. Then in 1886, coffee with a slogan eventually arrives.
00:25:13:56 – 00:25:43:26
Agent Palmer
Joel Cheek names his coffee blend Maxwell House. After the hotel that served it in Nashville, Tennessee, Teddy Roosevelt’s 1907 comment good to the Last Drop launched the slogan that is still used to this day. It was also the first blended coffee in America. There are two different philosophies when it comes to blended coffee. The first that commercial blenders cut high quality with low quality to keep the taste at a fairly high level while cutting costs.
00:25:43:30 – 00:26:14:47
Agent Palmer
The second theory is completely based upon improving the flavor, though the price may increase. Well, both have their place alongside single origin coffee. All three varieties are widely available on the market for your pleasure. Before the turn of the century, coffee arrives in Tonkin, Indochina. Though it doesn’t really take off at the same time in Australia. Coffee is gripping the nation.
00:26:14:51 – 00:26:40:28
Agent Palmer
As the 1900s start, local coffee roasters, shops and mills are feeling the heat, losing market share and closing up all around America because of the Hill brothers, who packaged their roasted coffee beans in vacuum tins, resulting in fresher beans at home. Also around this time, Satori Kato invents a soluble blend of coffee and instant coffee is now available.
00:26:40:32 – 00:27:16:47
Agent Palmer
Meanwhile, the Germans, fond of their afternoon coffee, start describing women who gather to gossip over coffee as coffee klatch, to which coffee talk is the heir to the throne. Soon, coffee technology is moving at a much faster pace as the first commercial espresso machine is invented. Also, Karl Wimmer and Ludwig Rossi alias accidentally discovered decaf coffee, although their end result is salted, so it isn’t until the Swiss came up with a process that they would later brand Sanka that decaf became the decaf it is today.
00:27:16:52 – 00:27:53:32
Agent Palmer
Instant coffee gets a move on up with the creation of the first mass produced instant coffee, marketed as Red coffee. Next up, the coffee filter as we know it is created by German housewife Melita Bentz. In 1920, the US Congress enacts prohibition. And while speakeasies are on the rise, coffee sales go through the roof. More great news for the beverage hits in 1926, when the science newsletter declares coffee beneficial.
00:27:53:36 – 00:28:24:02
Agent Palmer
And now Brazilians have an issue with too much coffee and need something to do with their massive surplus. They enlist the help of Nestlé to find a way to capitalize on their crop, and after years of experimentation, they find the answer. With the help of Max Morgenthau, waste not once. Not freeze dried coffee is here to stay. By 1940, the United States is importing 70% of the world’s coffee.
00:28:24:03 – 00:28:53:07
Agent Palmer
Apparently, the drink is here to stay even after the end of prohibition. Not to be overlooked. Cappuccino is born by Achille Gaggia in Italy, 1946. Then in the 1950s, in coffee houses in America and England, the beat movement takes over with jazz and poetry and beatniks sitting around philosophizing. This isn’t much of a stretch from the penny universities of old England and the original coffeehouses in Arabia.
00:28:53:11 – 00:29:20:58
Agent Palmer
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Meanwhile, in Quincy, Massachusetts, Dunkin Donuts is founded by William Rosenberg in 1950. But is there a feud in the family? Harry Winokur worked with the brother in law of Dunkin Donuts founder Rosenberg, after he broke his partnership with Rosenberg. He created Mr. Donut in 1955, and the franchises were two of the largest in the country by the 1990s.
00:29:21:00 – 00:29:53:36
Agent Palmer
When Dunkin Donuts acquired Mr. Donut, ending the rivalry. Coffee marketing gets a face. In 1958, as the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Columbia introduced the world to the fictional Juan Valdez. But that doesn’t mean coffee isn’t getting political. On trade agreements, President John F Kennedy says in 1962, quote, we are attempting to get an agreement on coffee because if we don’t get an agreement on coffee, we’re going to find an increasingly dangerous situation in the coffee producing countries.
00:29:53:47 – 00:30:22:25
Agent Palmer
And one which would threaten the security of the entire hemisphere. End quote. Later that year, an international coffee agreement is passed through the United Nations. The agreement sought to, quote, create trading partnerships that are based on dialog, transparency and respect that seeks greater equity in international trade. These partnerships contribute to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to coffee bean farmers, end quote.
00:30:22:30 – 00:30:49:37
Agent Palmer
And it did. While it was renegotiated in 1968, 1976 and 1983, impacting the fairness of retailers, importers and exporters. In short order, the other two of the current big three coffee chains in North America will be founded to join Dunkin Donuts in Hamilton, Ontario. Canadian hockey player Tim Horton and Jim Sherard found Tim Hortons in 1964, initially a hamburger joint.
00:30:49:46 – 00:31:23:17
Agent Palmer
It expands into over 4000 locations seven years later in Seattle, Washington. The first Starbucks opens. In Holmes, Mr. Coffee is born in 1972 as the world’s first automatic drip home coffee maker, thanks to Vincent Marotta of Cleveland, Ohio, ushering in a new era of home brewed coffee. In 1989, coffee prices dropped radically as the participating nations in the International Coffee Agreement failed to reach a new agreement.
00:31:23:22 – 00:31:55:03
Agent Palmer
Coffee is now more accessible and cheaper, but that doesn’t mean what Kennedy said in 1962 isn’t still valid. After all, coffee is a commodity like oil. In 1992, a new agreement is reached and has been successfully renegotiated since two.
00:31:55:08 – 00:32:21:14
Agent Palmer
In conclusion, I don’t think it’s too big of a stretch to say that coffee was bound to be globally popular. Just as civilization grew from Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent. Coffee two originated from the same geographical area. Today, coffee is known and being consumed the world over. Amazing how all of this happened from one little bee or fairy.
00:32:21:25 – 00:32:44:00
Agent Palmer
If you put a.
00:32:44:05 – 00:33:06:54
Agent Palmer
There you have it. The history of coffee in some very broad strokes. Sure. But it’s fairly complete. And I think it gives you enough of the story to appreciate the journey that coffee has taken. But wait. There’s more. That’s right. There’s the after credits thing that happens after this. But often it’s one final question asked of me from one of my guests.
00:33:06:58 – 00:33:34:30
Agent Palmer
I’ve done some compilations on them in the past, but this time there was no guest. So instead of rambling like I usually do, I have invited someone from my past and who’s appeared on this show before, whom I have shared many, many, many, many, many gallons of coffee with to partake in and after credits with me. Why? Because I wanted to change things up from the usual solo episode where again, I just ramble on.
00:33:34:31 – 00:33:55:12
Agent Palmer
So perhaps this is a one off. Perhaps it’s a sign of things to come. Who knows? So let’s get this out of the way. I enjoy my coffee, black and sweet. I have moved on from processed white sugar to pure maple sirup. And when I’m out, I try to use the pure cane sugar. Although, hey, it’s a small change, but I drink a lot of coffee.
00:33:55:12 – 00:34:14:29
Agent Palmer
Like a lot of coffee, so it does add up. So how do you take your coffee if you enjoy it at all? And if not, what do you drink to get yourself going in the morning? Thanks for listening to the Palmer Files episode 99. And now for the official business. The Palmer Files releases every two weeks on Tuesdays.
00:34:14:32 – 00:34:35:27
Agent Palmer
If you’re still listening, I encourage you to join the discussion. You can find all related ways to contact myself in the show notes. There you can find links to the original Coffee Declassified History of Coffee Post or other posts from the original Palmer’s Week of Coffee. The music for this episode was provided by Henno Heitur. Email can be sent to this show at The Palmer Files at gmail.com.
00:34:35:29 – 00:34:50:20
Agent Palmer
And remember your home for all things. Agent Palmer is Agent Palmer dotcom.
00:34:50:25 – 00:34:58:18
Unknown
You.
00:34:58:22 – 00:35:16:27
Unknown
Will see.
00:35:16:32 – 00:35:26:57
Unknown
Me?
00:35:27:01 – 00:35:30:19
Agent Palmer
Mr. Zapata, I’ve shared a lot of coffee with you. Did you learn anything?
00:35:30:34 – 00:35:42:53
Jason Zapata
I did, I learned quite a bit. I thought the I was not aware that there is so much back and forth in terms of coffee being considered blessed and damned.
00:35:43:02 – 00:35:46:29
Agent Palmer
It’s light. Light. It’s like anything good, right?
00:35:46:32 – 00:36:08:16
Jason Zapata
Yeah. That was very funny. Especially with the part with Pope Clement the seventh. Oh, yeah. Infidels should not have exclusive access to this every now fire killed me. I was like, wow, that’s so funny. And the as a as a student of history and having some understanding of some of the popes, popes are some of the most hypocritical figures within the church.
00:36:08:16 – 00:36:12:37
Jason Zapata
So I just that that in itself, along with that statement, it’s very, very funny.
00:36:12:40 – 00:36:33:01
Agent Palmer
But you have to you have to, I don’t know, admire the lack of history lessons for the things that the, for like, like banning it multiple times. Oh yeah. It never worked out well. Like, this is like the definition of stupid, right? Like, let’s just keep trying it. Maybe we’ll get a different result this time. Like, just. Yeah, sure.
00:36:33:01 – 00:36:34:24
Agent Palmer
Why not?
00:36:34:29 – 00:36:51:25
Jason Zapata
Yeah. Prohibition, alcohol, stuff like that. Yeah. It’s it’s, it’s funny, they try to take a similar approach to that. The fact that these coffee exchange houses ended up becoming the stock exchanges for various countries, like, wow. Again, you know, I mean.
00:36:51:32 – 00:36:57:55
Agent Palmer
What else are you going to do over a cup of coffee? What have you? And I have solved plenty of world problems over a cup of coffee.
00:36:57:55 – 00:37:10:26
Jason Zapata
Well, I don’t know if the world was willing to, to, the world take our situations, naturally, but, yes, we we’ve we’ve figured enough things out over a cup of strong brew in our time. Yeah.
00:37:10:31 – 00:37:14:55
Agent Palmer
Yeah, we’ve we’ve, we’ve been at the penny universities as it.
00:37:14:55 – 00:37:28:21
Jason Zapata
Well, yeah. Without caffeine, the I don’t know, I don’t see me graduating college. I without being able to do all nighters without being able to, to grind through stuff without that enablement.
00:37:28:26 – 00:37:29:54
Agent Palmer
Was it was it always coffee.
00:37:29:58 – 00:37:35:21
Jason Zapata
Yeah I was that they did the the addiction set in during during college.
00:37:35:21 – 00:37:37:35
Agent Palmer
When did you get your first cup?
00:37:37:40 – 00:37:47:34
Jason Zapata
I think my parents shared it with me when I, during high school. Okay. They would make a Spanish plan. They. It was kind of like this espresso with a little bit of milk.
00:37:47:39 – 00:37:49:09
Agent Palmer
And so that was your first taste?
00:37:49:09 – 00:37:50:39
Jason Zapata
Yeah. It was like. Really?
00:37:50:44 – 00:37:53:57
Agent Palmer
And is that when you start drinking it regularly?
00:37:54:02 – 00:38:00:18
Jason Zapata
No. It’s college. Okay. I needed something to keep me up at night. And, you know, the black bean did it.
00:38:00:23 – 00:38:29:18
Agent Palmer
Okay for for me, high school. Kind of the same in terms of a milky drink. Like that was when the, the the cold, the by cold, glass bottle frappuccinos started. Yeah. But if you discount that, it’s not until I go to Israel and I’m drinking it to stay awake after a night out. That, like, it really takes off.
00:38:29:18 – 00:38:53:38
Agent Palmer
And then in college, it’s like a no brainer. Like, by the time you get your taste, if if you acquire the taste young enough, you will be hooked at some point. Yeah. Maybe not right away, like, because when I was overseas, it was very much it as needed. It wasn’t a, an, a require. I bet you. Yeah it wasn’t, it wasn’t a requirement.
00:38:53:42 – 00:38:58:46
Agent Palmer
Now, it’s a requirement to starting the day.
00:38:58:51 – 00:39:17:31
Jason Zapata
Yeah, yeah. For me, it’s at least 1 or 2 mugs in the morning, like, period. Like I just need that to kind of get the the left I need for the day, but, No, going back to your your, your episode here, the other, fun kind of story fact I enjoyed Gabriel. Matthew Gabriel’s can be real.
00:39:17:42 – 00:39:19:08
Jason Zapata
Yeah. Man, what a story.
00:39:19:09 – 00:39:21:43
Agent Palmer
How to start? I have an HBO special. Yeah. Like. Right.
00:39:21:56 – 00:39:22:16
Jason Zapata
Yeah.
00:39:22:21 – 00:39:24:13
Agent Palmer
Like. Come on. I mean.
00:39:24:18 – 00:39:34:09
Jason Zapata
For a movie, I think if you were to at least do a movie. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that’s that’s a slam dunk. Yeah. Even if it’s done like a, like, direct to to, streaming thing like on, on prime.
00:39:34:09 – 00:39:36:25
Agent Palmer
So. Oh that guy. Yeah.
00:39:36:26 – 00:39:37:26
Jason Zapata
Oh that guy that story.
00:39:37:31 – 00:40:00:40
Agent Palmer
If you think about like everything that happens after that from that it’s just. Yeah. No. Absolutely. Yeah I mean but my, my favorite still like oh that guy just he wants to protect his coffee. Maybe he should have protected his wife. You know, like I just come on, dude. Like.
00:40:00:44 – 00:40:01:31
Jason Zapata
Yeah. Yeah.
00:40:01:42 – 00:40:23:33
Agent Palmer
It it it’s for I feel like. And it was a happy surprise when I did the research for the, the blog post that originated all of this. But like, you can it the this research made me think like, well, there has to be coffee’s not exciting, right? You just heard the the probably the most exciting parts of it.
00:40:23:45 – 00:40:52:08
Agent Palmer
But generally speaking, before you heard this. Hey man, you think the history of coffee will be interesting? There’s no way you would have said anything other than. I mean, maybe there’s a story in there, right? Like just. And so for me, having done this research and found all these stories about something as quote unquote mundane as coffee makes me believe, like, do your homework on any one thing, right?
00:40:52:08 – 00:40:54:48
Agent Palmer
And you will find that there are some stories.
00:40:54:57 – 00:41:06:12
Jason Zapata
Yeah. I’m not that surprised. Being honest like you. You like. It’s not quite the same there. Technically, it’s a drug, but it’s not the same as, like, you know, poppy leaves or, like, caffeine.
00:41:06:12 – 00:41:07:31
Agent Palmer
Is the drug. I mean.
00:41:07:42 – 00:41:25:53
Jason Zapata
So so my whole take on it that I, that I, I kind of especially how was trying to be smuggled out of the places it was growing in. Oh yeah. It’s very reminiscent of the Silk Road, where the Mongolians were trying to keep people from smuggling out silkworms, the country. And you’d have all this kind of similar type.
00:41:26:00 – 00:41:26:51
Jason Zapata
It’s been. It’s all.
00:41:26:51 – 00:42:04:58
Agent Palmer
About that. You want to keep the. You want to keep the monopoly going. It it’s just I didn’t like I knew before it, before the research. I knew that Americans don’t genuinely drink tea. I mean, we do. We’re not against tea, but we’re very much a coffee nation. And it’s it feels like a historical precedent that perhaps had coffee not come to the new land, that maybe we don’t do the Boston, maybe we throw something else into the ocean because tea’s caffeinated, right?
00:42:04:58 – 00:42:10:36
Agent Palmer
Like if, if, if we didn’t have a fallback, if we didn’t have coffee in our back pocket like.
00:42:10:47 – 00:42:15:02
Jason Zapata
Biscuits, crumpets. I don’t know what else goes into debate like, so they’re.
00:42:15:06 – 00:42:19:41
Agent Palmer
Just anything else. I’m just saying, man, it’s. Yeah, it’s. Yeah. It’s important.
00:42:19:45 – 00:42:36:23
Jason Zapata
Yeah. It’s funny you bring that up because we don’t have like tea houses. Now you mom and pop store or of, you know, off off brand things somewhere out. I’m sure it exists somewhere. But you don’t have a Dunkin. You don’t have, like a Starbucks. You don’t, you know, not pretty. Not for tea, you know. So it’s it’s very true.
00:42:36:23 – 00:42:39:23
Jason Zapata
It’s like coffee became the drink.
00:42:39:28 – 00:42:43:45
Agent Palmer
Are you are you brand loyal or like any, any coffee will do I.
00:42:43:45 – 00:42:55:48
Jason Zapata
Well, I know certain people are brand, loyal. I am a coffee mercenary. I will enjoy whatever flavor that I happen to like. There are certain Starbucks, flavors that I enjoy.
00:42:55:53 – 00:43:13:27
Agent Palmer
It’s. Look, we got into this in our friendship episode that I spent some time with you. I lived with you in the cabin for a few weeks. Yes. That was when I discovered you had been turned on to flavored coffee.
00:43:13:27 – 00:43:15:59
Jason Zapata
Yeah. There’s something not all flavor.
00:43:16:02 – 00:43:35:58
Agent Palmer
No, no, no, but like. Yeah, but up until that point the pot of drinks is coffee black regular coffee, coffee flavored coffee like. And I think it was just it was just that weird because you’re like, oh, yeah, I have hazelnut. I was like, well, I did a double take. So I was like, yeah, and I’m not picking on you.
00:43:36:03 – 00:43:37:55
Jason Zapata
There’s there’s a judgment there. There’s a little joke.
00:43:38:00 – 00:43:39:06
Agent Palmer
There was not any.
00:43:39:06 – 00:43:44:53
Jason Zapata
More residual judgment. Now, I, I know this seems a little jet. You there little judgy.
00:43:44:59 – 00:43:47:26
Agent Palmer
It was. I was very judgy. Yeah.
00:43:47:31 – 00:43:47:53
Jason Zapata
There you go.
00:43:48:00 – 00:43:50:20
Agent Palmer
It’s like, what do you mean you’re not drinking coffee flavored coffee?
00:43:50:20 – 00:43:55:30
Jason Zapata
Yeah, but I’ll be honest. Like, I even experiment a little bit more.
00:43:55:35 – 00:43:56:27
Agent Palmer
With other flavors.
00:43:56:27 – 00:44:11:50
Jason Zapata
Yeah, yeah, I my the one crackpot dream that I have that I’ve shared with you is, if at some point I make enough money in the economy, gets, good enough, I’d love to open up a little cafe somewhere. I mean, that’s I would love to do that.
00:44:11:52 – 00:44:15:46
Agent Palmer
That’s fine. As long as long as you. Long as you hire me. We’re all good.
00:44:15:51 – 00:44:20:58
Jason Zapata
We’ll see. And I gotta have high requirements, man. Yeah, you gotta. You gotta get past that bar.
00:44:20:59 – 00:44:22:03
Agent Palmer
Start working on my resume.
00:44:22:05 – 00:44:24:12
Jason Zapata
There you go. Am I seeing duplicate?
–End Transcription–
This transcription was processed by PalmerTech 3.1 and may contain errors for HUMINT (human intelligence).