Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. In this updated edition of the classic work, Mark Pendergrast reviews the dramatic changes in coffee culture over the past decade, from the disastrous Coffee Crisis that caused global prices to plummet to the rise of the Fair Trade movement and the third-wave of quality-obsessed coffee connoisseurs. As the scope of coffee culture continues to expand, Uncommon Grounds remains more than ever a brilliantly entertaining guide to the currents of one of the worlds favorite beverages.
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"Pendergrast's account satisfies...[he] unearths coffee-based trade wars, health reports and cafe cultures, bringing to light amusing treasures along the way."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Author
Why I wrote Uncommon Grounds
So, am I really some kind of caffeine junky? That's one of the first questions I get, since I have written histories of coffee and Coca-Cola. No, though I do love good coffee and I enjoy an ice-cold Coke on a hot summer day. The fact is, however, I only drink one or two cups of coffee a day, in the morning, and I drink more Sprite than Coke. I wrote the books because I am fascinated by how relatively nonessential items can have such an amazing meaning and influence upon our lives and cultures. Coffee is, after all, just the pit of a berry growing on a small tree native to the rainforests of Ethiopia. Coca-Cola is 99% flavored sugar water. Yet coffee is the second most valuable legal traded commodity on earth (after oil, another black energizing liquid), and Coca-Cola is the second best-known word on earth and the world's most widely-distributed branded product. How these things came to be turns out to be fascinating history, with quirky characters, high drama, tragedy, comedy, and inter-disciplinary contributions to anthropology, history, sociology, marketing, and management theory.
So, am I really some kind of caffeine junky? That's one of the first questions I get, since I have written histories of coffee and Coca-Cola. No, though I do love good coffee and I enjoy an ice-cold Coke on a hot summer day. The fact is, however, I only drink one or two cups of coffee a day, in the morning, and I drink more Sprite than Coke. I wrote the books because I am fascinated by how relatively nonessential items can have such an amazing meaning and influence upon our lives and cultures. Coffee is, after all, just the pit of a berry growing on a small tree native to the rainforests of Ethiopia. Coca-Cola is 99% flavored sugar water. Yet coffee is the second most valuable legal traded commodity on earth (after oil, another black energizing liquid), and Coca-Cola is the second best-known word on earth and the world's most widely-distributed branded product. How these things came to be turns out to be fascinating history, with quirky characters, high drama, tragedy, comedy, and inter-disciplinary contributions to anthropology, history, sociology, marketing, and management theory.
One of my frustations is that many people assume they must be coffee fiends in order to enjoy Uncommon Grounds, or Cokaholics to read For God, Country and Coca-Cola. That's why I was so pleased when Matthew Budman, a reviewer in a New Jersey newspaper, revealed that he has never drunk a cup of coffee in his life, then wrote: "So the fact that I stayed engrossed throughout Mark Pendergrast's history of coffee is an unmistakable sign: This is a wonderful book. No love of cappuccino or decaf lates is necessary to find Uncommon Grounds a fascinating read."
The book is garnering many glowing reviews such as that one. Like most authors, however, I obsess on any negative critique. The NYC Amazon reader (posted here) who said the book "doesn't deliver on its title on how coffee transformed our world" is offering an unfair critique, since the little bean has indeed prompted major environmental, social, and political changes. Read the book and you'll see what I mean. The same reader objects to my "moralizing," when in fact I simply stated the facts and allowed readers to form their own conclusions, until the last chapter, when I figured I had earned the right to state a few measured opinions. Finally, I did answer the question of why France uses so many inferior beans. It's a matter of history and habit. Napoleon's "Continental System" of the early 19th century forced chicory on the French, and they got used to it. Later, French colonies such as the Ivory Coast grew huge amounts of inferior robusta beans, which the French drank.
But of course I cannot please everyone. It is gratifying to know that so many people are enjoying the book, often along with some really fine coffee.
--Mark Pendergrast --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Stephen A. Haines
HALL OF FAME
Format:Paperback
Resting next to your mouse or keyboard - at a safe distance! - your cuppa steams aromatically. The morning coffee, whether at home or work, is the "kick-starter" of many a person's day. For some, it must be a special flavour, brewed to taste, yet often mixed with sweeteners or cow juice, real or otherwise. For the rest, anything hot and caffeine-laced is sufficient. Yet almost none of us ask where that beverage came from, why we drink it and why North Americans stick with coffee and others with tea. Mark Pendergrast asked, and asked some more and in many places. The result is this captivating book relating the history of our favourite beverage. It must be important if we write songs about it.
Opening by relating the Ethiopian myth of the goat-herd wanting to learn why his charges danced about in the bush, Pendergrast quickly traces the spread of coffee elsewhere. Coffee houses, beginning long ago, became quickly popular as gathering places. News and gossip were swopped over steaming cups. Patrons didn't exactly dance about as the goats did, but there must have been something more than just lounging about. The coffee house, viewed as a den of vice or worse, sedition, has been banned by various insecure rulers. Charles II of England, fearful his reign might go the way of his father's, tried to shut them down. He was correct, since the howl of protest might have generated another rebellion. The king withdrew the ban.
While coffee houses remained in place, some becoming gloriously decorated institutions, it was the home market that enlarged the role of coffee. Pendergrast tracks that shift with a colourful history of coffee's economic growth in the Western Hemisphere.... Read more ›
Opening by relating the Ethiopian myth of the goat-herd wanting to learn why his charges danced about in the bush, Pendergrast quickly traces the spread of coffee elsewhere. Coffee houses, beginning long ago, became quickly popular as gathering places. News and gossip were swopped over steaming cups. Patrons didn't exactly dance about as the goats did, but there must have been something more than just lounging about. The coffee house, viewed as a den of vice or worse, sedition, has been banned by various insecure rulers. Charles II of England, fearful his reign might go the way of his father's, tried to shut them down. He was correct, since the howl of protest might have generated another rebellion. The king withdrew the ban.
While coffee houses remained in place, some becoming gloriously decorated institutions, it was the home market that enlarged the role of coffee. Pendergrast tracks that shift with a colourful history of coffee's economic growth in the Western Hemisphere.... Read more ›
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
This is an incredible book. The research must have taken years. The author provides fascinating stories over hundreds of years of coffee's history. I was most taken with the stuff on coffee in America over the last couple of centuries. The author obviously respects Alfred Peet tremendously, but he also gives a balanced account of the rise of Starbucks. And the C.W. Post section is hilarious. Americana at its best.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book on a caprice at my local borders. I love coffee and thought it might make for interesting brousing. Instead I read the entire book (more than 400 pages of text) in two sittings. This is a fascinating look at coffee's impact on the world with special emphasis on the last 300 years. It has dozens of fascinating photographs that range from exploited workers to "Mrs. Olson" to the original Starbucks logo. I can say honestly that anyone who enjoys a morning cup of joe should read this book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Ch0pski
Format:Paperback
Very enjoyable and well worth reading.
The author has undertaken valuable primary research, getting on the road and meeting growers, spending days picking coffee beans himself to try and understand the labour process, interviewing coffee characters around the world.
The book studies coffee's historical advertising and marketing, which is great (I found the story of Starbucks particularly interesting) but lost out on getting a fifth star in my review because it had too much detailed explanation of historical global coffee market fluctuations, which got a bit tedious after a while.
But the author has a light and easy writing style that makes reading his book easy and pleasurable. Let's face it: this has the potential to be a boring book. But it isn't, it's a tremendous success.
The author has undertaken valuable primary research, getting on the road and meeting growers, spending days picking coffee beans himself to try and understand the labour process, interviewing coffee characters around the world.
The book studies coffee's historical advertising and marketing, which is great (I found the story of Starbucks particularly interesting) but lost out on getting a fifth star in my review because it had too much detailed explanation of historical global coffee market fluctuations, which got a bit tedious after a while.
But the author has a light and easy writing style that makes reading his book easy and pleasurable. Let's face it: this has the potential to be a boring book. But it isn't, it's a tremendous success.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
It looks at the subject purely from the USA, which was disappointing as a UK reader, however some interesting content
By sideshowbob
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
My first coffee book.. And it is an astonishing read... You would not believe the level of detail and effort put on this single 480 page book.. A must for coffee lovers.. As a barista in a major coffee chain here in the UK I must say that the level of knowledge I have acquired from this single book surpasses by light years the one provided to us by the company. Is it worth the £12.59? YES! will be reading this again and again for years to come...
By D. King
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was after a book which would give a bit of guidance to my coffee drinking. With this in mind, I bought the wrong book. Uncommon Grounds goes into great detail on the economics behind the coffee trade since the 17th Century. It also describes the careers and fortunes of trailblazing coffee entrepreneurs and the big coffee companies. This bored me. I wanted to know the difference between the types of bean, roasts, etc, and I was left wanting. To end on a positive, if an economic history of coffee is what you're after then this seems very detailed (hence the 3 stars).
By C. Collins
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book assumes you don't know what the word guano means and you are incapable of using a dictionary. So one example among the many bits of the book that are maybe pitched at too low a reading level for the US audience - skip the long rambling bit in the middle about the US coffee advertising in the 30s and 40s, nothing of interest there. Its flaw is its geocentric bias but someone obviously mentioned this to him at some point as after the huge swathes of guff about Folgers or something there'll be a morsel about Germany or Peru something squashed on the end of the chapter. You'd be surprised Nestle even existed, that tiny little European coffee supplier. Otherwise, it was an ok read, it's most definitely not challenging, bits of it are interesting.
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