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Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World
 
 
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Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How it Transformed Our World (Paperback)

by Mark Pendergrast (Author) "Possibly the cradle of mankind, the ancient land of Abyssinia, now called Ethiopia, is the birthplace of coffee ..." (more)
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 504 pages
  • Publisher: Basic Books (1 April 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0465054676
  • ISBN-13: 978-0465054671
  • Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.5 x 3.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 253,747 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #42 in  Books > Food & Drink > Drinks & Beverages > Coffee & Tea
    #51 in  Books > Business, Finance & Law > Professional Finance > Investments & Securities > Commodities
    #59 in  Books > Science & Nature > Food & Farming > Agricultural Science

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Product Description

Product Description

Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in Abyssinia to its role in intrigue in the American colonies to its rise as a national consumer product in the twentieth century and its rediscovery with the advent of Starbucks at the end of the century. A panoramic epic, Uncommon Grounds uses coffee production, trade, and consumption as a window through which to view broad historical themes: the clash and blending of cultures, the rise of marketing and the national brand, assembly line mass production, and urbanization. Coffeehouses have provided places to plan revolutions, write poetry, do business, and meet friends. The coffee industry has dominated and molded the economy, politics, and social structure of entire countries. Mark Pendergrast introduces the reader to an eccentric cast of characters, all of them with a passion for the golden bean. Uncommon Grounds is nothing less than a coffee-flavored history of the world.


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.

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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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "Let's have another cup of coffee . . . ", 6 Oct 2006
By Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
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. As tea was consumed in Britain in a form of support for the East India Company, so did coffee rise as part of North American patriotic fervour. The nascent United States took up coffee with alacrity, the habit made easier by the proximity of the growing nations. The author notes that once coffee took root in Brazil, that nation became the backbone of the coffee industry.

Coffee's status as a cash crop, however, made it vulnerable to numerous forces - not the least weather. Grown at various elevations, but rarely on environmentally stable plains, coffee is subject to storms and frosts. Like grape vines, coffee is also vulnerable to a virus infestation. Prices rise and fall in a highly unpredictable market. Pendergrast notes how at the beginning of the 20th Century, the US penchant for cheap coffee led the government to make early attempts at meddling with Brazil's domestic economy. It was easy to claim Brazil's growers and wholesalers were "fixing" prices by storing millions of bags in warehouses, when their real intention was price stablilisation.

Pendergrast traces the growth of this industry with a fine flair for detail. Price shifts, marketing techniques, changes in tastes and the growth of dealers from small shops to national chains are all covered well. While there are many names and control shifts about in various locations, the author keeps us with him as he recounts the interactions. There is little technical to distract or delay the reader - he keeps the chemistry of coffee tucked away in a final chapter. To reach that point, however, the reader is guided through the founding and expansion of such names as Folger's, Hills Brothers and A&P. It's not all pleasant reading, of course. We must pause to cope with the palate-insulting phenomenon of "instant" coffee [you don't actually drink that stuff, do you?]. There are a few unpleasant people to meet. However, we also learn that with home-served coffee being served by sometimes abused housewives, some enterprising women entered the coffee trade arena. Some of these did so well they are legends in the industry.

This is an excellent book on a "hidden" topic. To understand why coffee prices shift and wobble, why this is the second most valuable resource in the world, why one brand is a delight to drink while another goes down the drain after the first taste, this is the place to find out. While you're ordering your copy, i'll just nip off to the kitchen for another cuppa . . . [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Tour De Force, 5 Aug 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Java Nation: Spilling Beans on the Coffee Industry (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.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully written and informative, 9 Jun 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Java Nation: Spilling Beans on the Coffee Industry (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.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and enjoyable
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The author has undertaken valuable primary research, getting on the road and meeting growers, spending days picking coffee... Read more
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