Coffee

Dive into the fascinating history of the world’s best-travelled beverage

Everywhere humans have been, coffee has followed. Whether plodding through the snows of Antarctica or floating in zero gravity on the International Space Station, or simply refuelling before a regular day at the office – this warm beverage is an essential part of routine life all over the globe.

Once known as the ‘Wine of Islam’, cultivated on Yemen’s mountain terraces and traded among the Muslim peoples around the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, it travelled as far as Java and Jamaica as a colonial good. In a first-of-its-kind account, Coffee traces how this wondrous bean made its way out of the forests of Ethiopia to the fincas of Latin America and Ottoman coffee houses.

Historian Jonathan Morris relates the remarkable story of who the drinkers of coffee were, how they prepared it, why and where they drank it, and what it tasted like. Follow its enlivening aroma through farms and plantations across various regions, discover who worked them and who owned them, how the beans were processed, traded and transported, and finally, the geopolitics governing the coffee industry today. Complete with vibrant illustrations and delicious recipes, this is a pocket-sized guide to navigating the world in your cup.