#698: Dr. Mark Plotkin on Coffee, The World’s Favorite Stimulant — Chemistry, History, and More

0:00 This episode is brought to you by my very own Cock Punch Coffee. Goodness gracious does it give me the giggles just to say that. This year. One way I've scratched my own itch is by creating cockpunch coffee. The first coffee I've ever produced myself and which I now drink every morning. It is a tie in to a fictional world that I created, but that is another bizarre story for another time. Now there is some karmic upside to this whole project that I'll get to in a second. Back to the coffee. I enlisted the help of world class experts. I have access to a lot of them and tested dozens of variations over many months. As longtime listeners know, I have very high standards when it comes to coffee, and I have been diagnosed also with moderate severe OCD, so I pay attention to the details in this case. And that is actually a true statement. After dialing in the sourcing, roasting, and more, this is the combo that finally made me say, this is the one. And it was very clear, it was immediate

0:54 It was Practically. Instantaneous. Nothing else had quite hit the mark, and then this one did after a lot of tweaking. To learn all about it, check out cockpunchcoffee.com spelled as it sounds, which is a mighty strange website in and of itself. Now here's the karmic side. 100% of my cockpunch related proceeds date. which are now around two point five million dollars, including those from Cock Punch Coffee, go to my nonprofit foundation, the Psi Foundation, which focuses on cutting edge scientific research and other uncrowded bets. Many of the game changing early stage psychedelic research that you've read about in the press, the news, the media,

1:33 over the last five years has been funded by the SISA Foundation behind the scenes, but that is not all that it does. To learn more about the latest projects that I am working on, you can check out Cisefoundation.org. That's spelled S-A-I-S-E-I. foundation dot orse foundation dot org Six. means, among other things, rebirth in Japanese. And having spent a lot of time there, that word has special meaning for me on a bunch of levels. And if you'd like some of the best coffee in the United States, at least in my humble opinion, check out cockpunchcoffee.com. I think you will love it as much as I do, and by buying a bag, you're doing some good at the same time, since my portion of the proceeds, go to the foundation. Grab a bag or two or three at cockpunchcoffee.com one more time because I get the giggles just saying it. That's cockpunchcoffee.com.

2:23 Optimal minimal. At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking. And then also do personal questions. No se cybernetic organism living tissue over metal into cellar. S

2:48 Hello, boys and girls, ladies and germs, this is Tim Ferris. Welcome to the Tim Ferris Show, where it is usually my job to deconstruct world class performers to tease out their routines, habits. etc. That you can apply to your own life. This is going to be a slightly different episode. This time around, we have a special edition featuring my friend, Dr. Mark. Plotkin, famed ethnobotanist. Mark takes over my duties as host for this episode and shared an episode of his Plants of the Gods. podcast, but you are hearing it before anyone else. You are hearing it before even his own podcast subscribers. So this is a Tim Ferris show exclusive.

3:25 But let's back up. Who is Dr. Mark Plotkin? Mark, you can find him online on Twitter at Doc DOC Mark Plotkin is an ethnobotanist who serves as president of the Amazon conservation team, which has partnered with roughly 80 tribes to map and improve management and protection. of roughly one hundred million acres of ancestral rainforests. He is best known to the general public as the author of the book Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, one of the most popular books ever written about the rainforest. His most recent book is The Amazon, What Everyone Needs to Know, and you can find my interview with Mark, where we dig into his history, his mentors, including Richard Evan Schaltes. the legendary Richard Evan Schultes and so on at Tim dot blog slash Mark Plotkin. This episode, however, this tightly packed episode explores all things coffee.

4:15 Which is the most widely consumed mind altering plant product in the world, and it gets into all different aspects. Of Coffee. Many of which I think will surprise you. So

4:29 Without further ado, please enjoy. Hello, everyone. I'm Mark Plotkin, Doctor Mark Plotken of the Amazon conservation team, and the host of the podcast Plants of the Gods, hallucinogens, healing, Culture and conservation. Kicking off this new season, we're gonna talk about the ethnobotany of coffee.

4:52 Over the course of our four seasons, we've talked a lot about how plants and fungi are woven through our history and our prehistory in surprising and often unexpected ways. We discussed how the battle over tall timbers to build tall ships led directly to the American Revolution. We looked into how ethnobotanist Richard Schulte's quest for the magic mushroom of Mexico. Led to the development. A blockbuster.

5:20 Beta blocker heart drugs. We examined how absent inspired both the greatest writer and the greatest painter of the twentieth century. Today, however. We're gonna talk about coffee. Truly.

5:33 A plant of the gods. Coffee is the most widely consumed mind altering plant in the world. And it has a rich and intriguing history. But first let me pose a question. The history of coffee features adultery,

5:49 Larceny? Spies. Smugglers. And slave revolts. If Hollywood can make hit movies.

5:56 Based on an amusement park ride like Pirates of the Caribbean, And based on a plastic doll like Barbie Why have they never made a film about the history of coffee? On a personal note, I've had the opportunity to drink a lot of great coffee in a wide variety of different settings. I've enjoyed superb cafe in such non-tropical places as Holland and Japan.

6:20 I've attended coffee ceremonies in East Africa, the original home of the coffee plant. I've drunk the famous Blue Mountain coffee in eastern Jamaica, and have downed many a cup in Latin America. From Mexico. to Argentina. But the best coffee I've ever had.

6:38 and continue to have on almost daily basis is the coffee we drink in my hometown of New Orleans. And this His coffee with chicory. Why do we drink coffee with chicory? During the Napoleonic Wars

6:52 After the defeat at Trafalgar of the French fleet by Admiral Horatio Nelson and his Navy in eighteen oh five, The British imposed a naval blockade. From entering France. The French, therefore, are

7:07 Like two tropical plant products that they craved. Sugar from sugar cane. And coffee. Napoleon, however, launched an innovative approach to attempt to solve this problem. He challenged his countrymen to produce sugar, and

7:22 and coffee, or a coffee like drink, from local plants, since neither sugar cane nor coffee could be grown outside of the tropics and in France. And France. From her tropical colonies. The success was that of the sugar beet, which grows well in temperate regions.

7:41 The French developed a strain of beet which yielded sufficient sugar However, they were never able to find a coffee substitute which had all the benefits and taste of coffee. One of the most popular species with which they experimented was the chicory plant, which thrives in temperate regions. Despite Napoleon claiming that chicory was an excellent for coffee and subsidizing its cultivation,

8:08 It is not. But it is an excellent adulterant. In other words, it can be mixed with coffee, so a little coffee would go a long way. Furthermore, coffee mixed with chicory is exceptionally flavorful. So even after the Napoleonic Wars had long ended, the

8:26 People had developed a preference for the taste of coffee mixed with chicory, which is why today, in parts of the world that were influenced by French colonialism, like New Orleans or Vietnam, Many people still prefer to drink their coffee with chicory. Perhaps the greatest irony of the coffee story is that it is unquestionably an acquired taste. Brian Cowan, in the social light of coffee, quotes behavioral psychologist Robert Bowles, an authority on motivation, who said quote.

8:57 Coffee is one of the great marvelous flavors. Who could deny that? Well, actually. Anyone drinking coffee for the first time would deny it. Coffee is bitter and characterless.

9:09 It simply tastes bad the first time you encounter it. By the time you've drunk a few thousand cups, though, you You cannot live. Without it. End of quote.

9:18 From a broader perspective, note that Over the course of the four seasons of the Plants of the Gods podcast, We have heard different theories as to the ethnobiological origins of human consciousness. Several thousand years ago. The size of our ancestors' brains increased by about thirty percent.

9:39 According to the late ethnobotanist Terrence McKenna, This was due to these creatures discovery. And ingestion of hallucinogenic mushrooms. The so called stoned ape. Hypothesis.

9:52 A competing and possibly complimentary explanation for the birth of consciousness is that these primates were feeding on ripe fruits in which the sugars had fermented into alcohol. This theory put forward by the Yale primatologist Ian Tadersall and others, is known as the Drunk? Monkey hypothesis.

10:13 Meanwhile The current consensus is that our species evolved in or near the Great Rift Valley of Eastern Africa. The writer Anthony Wilde has proposed a different ethnobotanical explanation as to why our species may have evolved in the region. Why cranial capacity increased here? And the plant native to the region that drove this evolution.

10:36 is coffee. Wild wrote. Quote. It's tempting to wonder whether the proliferation of wild coffee trees in the same Ethiopian highland forest could also have had a hand in the process.

10:50 Coffee has always been associated with speed of cognition and expression. And the sudden dawn of self awareness in the Genesis story of the Bible concerning the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge is Is something that could have been prompted. By a psychoactive substance such as caffeine. Such awareness is also an attribute of language and thought.

11:12 to place coffee center stage in the story of the fall is altogether a more inspired piece of casting than the choice of a lowly golden delicious apple. Imagine coffee berries driving their eaters into a caffeine fueled frenzy of quick fire contention and ingenious thinking. Engines of brain.

11:34 Evolution. End of quote. Keep in mind that the Bible about the tree of knowledge Not the mushroom of knowledge. Or the grapevine of knowledge.

11:44 And in the Ethiopian highland forest where it is native, coffee is a tree that can reach well over twenty feet. And height. On a side note. One of the earliest prehuman fossils from Indonesia is known as Java Man. For reasons that will become clear

12:01 We can refer to the human ancestor from the coffee forests of Ethiopia as Mocha Java Man. No. The origin story of coffee. It was supposedly discovered by a goat herder named Caldi who

12:15 who noticed that his goats became frisky and animated after eating the fruits of a local tree. He consumed a few and felt a similar burst of energy. The original precursor. If Caldi did in fact exist.

12:31 He was probably a member of the Oromo peoples, O R O M O Native to southwestern Ethiopia. The Uromos considered coffee to be the tears of Waka, the supreme sky god, and they and the other early Ethiopians devised a variety of means for consuming coffee. Both the beans and the leaves were chewed.

12:53 And they were said to make a wine out of the fermented pulp. The fruits were ground and mixed with butter or other animal fat, Meaning that coffee was a key component of the original Granola bar.

13:10 There may have been several other reasons for devising so many ways of ingesting the plant. But one reason was undoubtedly the driving force. Caffeine. In an ancient world devoid of many, if not any other stimulants, The discovery of caffeine was a revelation, and we will delve deeper into this later in the program.

13:31 But let me define what a stimulant is. A stimulant is a substance which tends to increase activity in the central nervous system Leading to an increased alertness and energy. Enhanced focus.

13:45 And performance. And decreased drowsiness. In moderation, a stimulant can produce a sense of comfort and well being. Even a subtle sense. of euphoria.

13:57 Caffeine clearly represents one of the first stimulants discovered by humans, if not by prehuman ancestors. It is an alkaloid found in the coffee plant. Alkaloids, as we've heard in previous episodes, are are naturally occurring compounds that often have pronounced physiological and sometimes mental effects in humans and other animals. Some of the alkaloids we've already discussed in earlier episodes are Or cocaine.

14:22 Morphine. And nicotine. Caldi and the Aroma's discovery of coffee was somewhere around the ninth century. As word spread of this remarkable plant product. Coffee traveled across the Red Sea to the Arabian Peninsula where

14:37 Where the beans were being roasted and coffee was served as a drink. According to Mark Pendergast and his excellent book On Common Grounds, Legend has it that Muhammad himself was Claim that. Under the invigorat of coffee, he could quote

14:53 Unhorse forty men and possess forty women. So coffee was the first Viagra. Coffee found particular favor amongst the Sufis in Yemen. Members of a mystical and spiritual sect of Islam. Some Sufis are best known to the outside world as whirling dervishes. Look them up on YouTube.

15:13 Suvis employ chanting, dancing, and meditation to enter a trance like state To attain union with the divine. And they cherished coffee as an invaluable aid For maintaining concentration and staving off drowsiness. During nocturnal.

15:29 Prayer. Ceremonies. To meet this growing demand in Arabia. Major plantations were established in the mountains of Yemen and In addition to those already created in Ethiopia.

15:41 The major port from which coffee was exported to the rest of the Islamic world. Was mocha. on Yem's southwest coast. As a result of this trade. Coffee has often been known as mocha.

15:55 Yet another explanation is Is that the chocolatey flavor of this Yemeni coffee has resulted in today's drink, known as mocha, which usually consists of coffee to which chocolate As demand for coffee grew, coffee houses attracted unanticipated and unwanted attention by the ruling authorities. Alexander Dumont

16:16 best known as the author of The Three Musketeers, wrote that Quote. The Imams complained their mosques were empty, while the coffee houses were We're always full. End of quote.

16:29 According to botanist Estelle Leviton, Quote. Religious leaders felt that the time spent in the coffee houses should have been spent in the mosque. Political leaders also felt threatened by the political discussions common in coffee houses. Pendergraft in his classic Uncommon Grounds wrote quote.

16:48 Coffee gained its reputation. As a trouble making social brew. Various rulers decided that people were having too much fun in the coffee houses, including gambling, Writing satirical poem about political and rel religious leaders and quote. Irregular and criminally unorthodox.

17:08 sexual situations. End of quote. As a result Coffee and coffee houses were banned in certain locales. In a few extreme cases, some coffee drinkers were beaten, while others were drowned.

17:21 But the custom of coffee consumption Persisted. Why would coffee drinking continue in the face of this persecution? Certainly the Lorent grip of caffeine was part of it. Pendergast explains, quote,

17:35 Coffee provided an intellectual stimulant, a pleasant way to feel increased energy without any apparent ill effects. Coffee houses allowed people to get together for conversation, entertainment, and business, inspiring agreements, Poetry and irreverence in equal measure. So important did the brew become in Turkey that a lack of sufficient coffee provided grounds for a woman to seek a divorce. End of quote.

18:01 Coffee became deeply ingrained in Muslim culture, so much so that it became known as quote the wine of Islam. Remember that Islam Prohibits the consumption of alcohol. So coffee was the alternative. Sometimes a culture will adopt a drink to better differentiate themselves from another society.

18:20 Like we heard in our Rum episode. where Americans turned to bourbon and coffee and away from Ramman tea to demonstrate they were no longer Typical British subjects. As Western infidels drank alcohol, which was forbidden to Muslims, coffee helps stimulate the mind and maintain attention during prayers or while reducing the appeal of prohibited items like alcohol.

18:44 And hashish. And if coffee was the wine of Islam Coffee houses were the Islamic equivalents of taverns and bars in the West. Coffee houses spring up in Aleppo. Cairo.

18:56 Damascus and other cities throughout the Arab world were where they quickly became hubs of social interaction. In the words of coffee historian Jonathan Morris, quote The admin to the coffee house created possibilities for new forms of social interaction. The coffee house's appeal lay in providing the first legitimate public space for

19:16 for socialization among Muslim men. The layout of these early coffee houses facilitated an egalitarian Ambiance. His patrons were seated. According to the order in which they arrived.

19:30 rather than by their social rank. Morris posits that some of the attacks on coffeehouse culture are by religious and political conservatives may have been due to their progressive orientation that defied existing social and existing economic hierarchies. As we will hear This foreshadows similar uncertainties by political conservatives in Europe.

19:53 Many years later. Non the less. These lively Arabic and Turkish coffee houses were visited by European travelers who enjoyed their first tastes of coffee. So embedded in local culture was coffee by then, that these Europeans assumed the plant was native to the Middle East, So much so that Linnaeus, the father of scientific classification, named the plant

20:16 Cafe Arabica. An incorrect appellation for a plant. Native to Ethiopia. Much of what we know about the early use of coffee in Ethiopia is derived from the writings of a fascinating but much overlooked British ethnobotanist named James Bruce, who One of the most extraordinary characters in the history of exploration.

20:38 Bruce also a wine merchant, a linguist, antiquarian, anthropologist, self-taught physician, cartographer, artist, and explorer. Best known for helping determine the origin of the Blue Nile. Having taught himself both Arabic and Giz, An ancient and sacred Ethiopian language. Bruce traveled to Ethiopia in seventeen seventy and spent two years exploring local peoples and their uses of medicinal plants.

21:06 And coffee. Not just the drink, but but to ritual preparation and serving ceremony. Bruce's writings make gripping reading. Some of the customs he described were so bizarre and westernized that he was widely disbelieved by many of his contemporaries, though subsequent explorers were able to confirm the accuracy of many of Bruce's descriptions.

21:28 Furthermore, his accounts provide ample evidence of the dangers and challenges early plant explorers faced. In one instance, he was heading east through the desert to meet up with a local Muslim dignitary in the belief that joining forces with him would convey some protection from local brigands, but Such was not to be. Bruce and his colleagues found only the remains of the caravan and the corpses of the dignitary and his men, who had been tacked Robbed. And murdered. Nevertheless, there was Ethiopians who discovered coffee.

22:02 It was the Arabs who introduced it to the outside world. and they proved to be shrewd business people anxious to maintain their monopoly as the popularity of this new drink spread to the West. Once Venetian traders brought coffee to Europe around sixteen fifteen, the And caffeine exerted its inexorable grip on these new consumers, but

22:24 The European colonial powers are recognize the economic potential and realized that coffee could become a valuable cash crop in their tropical colonies. The first Europeans to break the Arab monopoly were the Dutch, the greatest commercial entrepreneurs in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The so called Dutch century was a period of extraordinary economic prosperity, and their powerful navy and vast merchant fleet generated the wealth and artistic innovation manifested in the paintings of Rembrandt, Vermeer,

22:57 and Franz Halls. Much of this wealth was derived from tropical trade, and Nicholas Whitson, explorer of Siberia, Maritime author, mayor of Amsterdam, and member of the governing board of the Dutch East India Company, encouraged the Dutch merchant von Broek

23:16 Live coffee plants from Mocha in sixteen sixteen. The Dutch planted them in the Dutch East Indies on the island of Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, in sixteen fifty eight, And then Java. In sixteen ninety nine. And then in their colony in Suriname.

23:33 Which was the first plantation in South America. In seventeen sixteen. Production from the East Indies soon eclipsed that of Yemen, and coffee from these Dutch colonies. Named in honor of the island on which it grew.

23:50 Hence the generic name. Mocha Java. Trees from the Asians were were shipped to the Amsterdam Botanical Garden in seventeen oh six. But only a single specimen survived the arduous journey.

24:04 One seedling from this plant was gifted to French King Louis the fourteenth in seventeen thirteen And it was planted in the Jardin de Plomb. In Paris. A cutting from the French tree was taken to the Caribbean island of Martinique, where the where it eventually gave rise to the

24:20 To many of the world's coffee plantations. particularly in central and south America. From this single specimen in the Amsterdam Botanical Garden. Historian Henry Hobhouse wrote

24:34 Quote. No other single plant has ever had such an influence on world trade. No other single plant can be identified as the mother and father of a whole way of life. At least half of the huge coffee industry. Worth over a hundred billion dollars a year.

24:52 Springs from a single ancestral plant. Grown. in the Amsterdam. Botanical garden. How the lonely plant made it from Paris to the Caribbean.

25:03 It's the stuff of legend. According to his personal account, the A French naval officer named Gabrielle Mathieu Desclue wanted to bring coffee to the French West Indies. But the king of France has ordered that his coffee plant was not to be touched.

25:19 The clue, however, was knew that the royal physician had carte blanche To collect any botanical material he might need for medicinal purposes, since most remedies at that time were made from plants. De Clube bribed the physician for some seedlings and set sail with his botanical booty. For the Caribbean.

25:40 The trip. Was not a smooth one. Off the coast of Tunisia, the ship was attacked by Barbary pirates who who were fended off by the onboard cannons. According to the clue.

25:52 On the ship was a spy in the employ of the Dutch, who did not want the French to start a coffee industry which would compete with their own. Though the Frenchman was able to keep the Dutch spy away from his precious seedling, another threat arose which When the ship was nearly destroyed by a tropical storm, which sharply reduced the onboard supply of potable water. Trapped in the windless doldrums for over a month, The indefatigable Frenchman shared his tiny water ration with his beloved plant.

26:21 Which ultimately survived and thrived when planted. In Martinique. Nor was this the only story of intrigue in the coffee saga. There are three small countries nestled in the northeastern shoulder of South America. Moving west to east.

26:38 Gaiana. Formerly British Guiana. Surinam, formerly Dutch Guiana, and French Guiana. Suriname is where the Dutch had made the first South American plantings in seventeen sixteen, but without much commercial success.

26:53 Ironically, Suriname was to play an important but indirect role in the creation of the Brazilian coffee industry. Ever since the first arrival of the Europeans over five hundred years ago, the There have existed border disputes between the three Guianas, disagreements that have continued to the present day. In an attempt to resolve a problem between Dutch Guiana in seventeen twenty seven, Colonial officials asked a Portuguese military official named Francisco de Melo Paleta in neighboring Brazil to adjudicate the dispute.

27:29 Meno Padietta was not only a soldier and a diplomat, but also a fervent nationalist, And a bit of a rig. He was determined to smuggle some coffee plants to Brazil. since their export from French territory was expressly forbidden. While casting his wandering eye on

27:45 On French Governor Dauvier's wife. He decided His two pursuits. In the course of the border negotiations in the capital city of Cayenne, he

27:57 He managed to seduce Madame Dourvilliers. At the closing banquet, she handed her charming paramore an invaluable parting gift. A bouquet in which was hidden coffee seeds descended from the immortal plant that Declou had brought from Paris to Martinique, These smuggled seeds gave birth to the Brazilian coffee industry, today valued at more than ten billion dollars. Or about thirty five percent of the world's coffee.

28:26 Melo Paleta's introduction of coffee into Brazil in the early eighteenth century was not an immediate success. Whereas he and his colleagues began planting it in the Amazon. Coffee production began to skyrocket about a century later, when Brazilians began planting it further south, in the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro. And Sao Paulo.

28:48 while destroying vast tracts of the Atlantic rainforest in the process. As coffee is a labor intensive crop, the Enormous numbers of Africans were imported and enslaved in appalling conditions. As is so often the case with economies closely tied to a few commodities, booms and busts enriched and impoverished locals. As power and wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few, the

29:13 A new class of ultra wealthy coffee barons arose. Detailed in the books of Brazilian authors like Jorge Mano. And Euclid's Dacuna. The Buzz Cycle and the abolition of slavery extraordinarily late in eighteen eighty eight in Brazil.

29:29 saw former slaves flock to major cities like Rio creating enormous shanty towns known as favelas That persist to the current day. And the abolition of slavery and the resulting demand for cheap labor led to an influx from various parts of the world. Immigrants from Italy, Lebanon, Syria, and Japan, among others.

29:51 It's a little known fact that Brazil harbors the largest population of Japanese people outside Japan. Ironically. Many coffee enthusiasts that visit Brazil Find that much of the local coffee known as Cafezino. It's awful.

30:08 In my opinion, the world's best coffee is grown on rich, usually volcanic soils and under shade. Which is why Colombian and Costa Rican coffee are so spectacular. However, much, if not most of Brazilian coffee is grown on poor soils. Directly exposed to the burning tropical sun. And failing to develop the oils and aromas that characterize the best Moka Java.

30:33 I was once in an upscale bar in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and ordered a cup of coffee, which was so dreadful that I expressed my disdain to the bartender. He smiled. reached under the bar, and pulled out a small burlop sack that had printed on the side Só para exportação. Only for export.

30:52 He made me a delicious expresso. Winked and said. Brazil makes more money when we send the best stuff. Abroad. Brazil went from exporting twenty two thousand tons of coffee in eighteen hundred to more than three million tons in nineteen hundred.

31:08 An increase of over a hundred and thirty times. Today Brazil is exporting about four million tons. Meaning that's producing about thirty five percent of the world's coffee, as I mentioned earlier. Worth noting is the inextricable link between coffee and slavery during the early days of the coffee industry. And not just in Brazil.

31:28 The most productive plantations in the French Empire were We're in Santo Domingo. Now known as Haiti. In the late seventeen hundreds, the It was said to be the most profitable colony in the tropical world.

31:41 Producing not only coffee, but sugar, cocoa, and indigo dye. So brutal were the conditions of the enslaved Africans, however, that that a series of slave revolts eventually led to the Haitian revolution With the remarkable Toussaint L'Ouverture in charge, the slaves overthrew their colonial overlords and established the first independent black republic in the world.

32:06 In the year eighteen oh four. With the loss of Santo Domingo as a major coffee exporter, Other central and south American countries began planting coffee. Ever since coffee has played a major role in tropical American countries. Contributing to economic development, employment, and

32:25 Export revenues and other benefits. However, the flip side of the story is a negative one. Establishment and expansion of coffee plantations has usually been at the expense of tropical rainforests. And the economic yields have typically been concentrated at the very top of the economic pyramid. As is often the case in the capitalist system, the

32:47 The rich got richer. And the poor got a lot poorer. A highly recommended account of this is detailed in the book Coffee Land by Augustine Sedgwick. The author details how a poor but upwardly mobile Englishman makes his way to El Salvador in Central America.

33:05 becomes fabulously wealthy coffee baron, controlling enormous amounts of land in a tiny country. and essentially impoverishing his workers who end up worse off. The pattern repeated itself elsewhere. According to Pendergraus book.

33:22 In northern Guatemala. In the thirties. Germans owned eighty percent of the arable lands. yet paid their primarily indigenous workers as little. As three cents a day.

33:34 And many of the coffee barons in Central America in the thirties were not only German, but But also Ardent Nazis. According to Pendergra's quote. Local Gestapo members

33:46 brought increasing pressure to bear on non Nazi Guatemalan Germans, sometimes threatening them if they did not comply, These Nazis compiled a secret list of forty unpatriotic Germans who were to be executed Once Germany won the war and took over Guatemala. The US took an even more active interest in Latin America as a result.

34:10 To keep the Nazis at bay, and maintain the flow of coffee to the homeland and to Allied soldiers overseas. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the sinking of Brazilian ships by Nazi submarines, Latin America. particularly numerous

34:25 Political fence sitters. Firmly embraced. The Allied cause. The number two major coffee power in South America after Brazil. has long been Colombia, whose volcanic soils, mountain slopes, and ample rainfall

34:41 Create optimal conditions for coffee cultivation. Coffee is said to have been introduced in Colombia in the eighteenth century by Jesuit priests. Supposedly the Jesuits are said to have helped spread coffee trees by requiring their parishioners to plant them as part of their penitence or For misdeeds. As in Brazil.

35:02 The economic importance of coffee was led to the construction of infrastructure like roads and railroads to facilitate the transport of the beans to larger cities and to ports for export. And As in Brazil. The concentration of wealth is

35:17 from the business created a powerful class of coffee barons. Notable exception to this seemingly unavoidable process was Costa Rica. Coffee was introduced in the Central Valley in the seventeen hundreds. As in Colombia, volcanic soils and ample rainfall proved ideal. And coffee soon became the major export crop.

35:39 Costa Rica, however, never developed a coffee culture built on an overconcentration of wealth in the hands of a very few coffee barons. It may be the Tikos, as Costa Ricans are generally known, but possess a much more egalitarian nature Or it may be that there was no tradition of autocratic rulers Unlike the Maya in Guatemala.

36:00 The cheap chair in Colombia, the Incas in Peru. Or the Aztecs in Mexico. Whatever the reason. They produce some of the best coffee in the world. About the same time that coffee was being introduced into South America, the

36:14 The Dutch East India Company began importing large shipments of coffee. From Java. Now part of Indonesia.

36:25 Into Holland in the year seventeen eleven. And As it happened in the Muslim Middle East, the Demand for coffee. Short.

36:33 In Christian Europe. Artists, writers, and composers who began singing the praises of coffee. Sometimes literally. Johann Sebastian Bach

36:44 Compose the coffee cantata. One of his most beloved pieces. As part of the library. He wrote quote. How sweet coffee tastes.

36:53 Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter than Then Must could tell wine. Henry de Balzac. the famous French playwright and author

37:04 The pleasures and pains of Of coffee. I believe Balzac provided the best explanation as why artists fell so deeply in love with with Mocha Java. Quote.

37:16 Once coffee hits your system, a Ideas quickly march into motion like the battalions of a great army. End of quote. This underscores a point I've been emphasizing throughout the Plants of the Gods.

37:31 That these substances are ideogens, not just hallucinogens. Ideogens, they help create new ideas and concepts. Once coffee hits your system, the Ideas quickly march into motion like the battalions of a great army. Much of Balzac's prodigious output was turbocharged by his coffee consumption.

37:57 According to some reports, the Frenchman was downing fifty cups a day. His death at the age of fifty one might in some part be due to his coffee addiction, but After all, one must wonder what How the poor man ever got to sleep. Yet his countrymen, the philosopher Voltaire, was even more addicted.

38:15 The author of over twenty thousand letters and two thousand books and pamphlets, he was said to have consumed as many as seventy two cups of coffee a day. To understand why coffee had an even more profound impact in Europe than it did in the Middle East, two topics merit a bit of discussion. The first is potable water.

38:37 As the human species began to relinquish the hunter gatherer lifestyle, people began to live together in greater numbers and in greater proximity than ever before. With no understanding of hygiene. or the germ theory of disease One's pristine water sources like streams, rivers, and lakes are

38:59 If not just outright toxic and poisonous. This at least partially explains what Why beer was invented at the same time and in the same place as agriculture. The fertile crescent of Mesopotamia. About eight thousand years ago.

39:14 In what is now Iraq. Because the preparation of beer Microorganisms were reduced or killed. And because beer and wine were alcoholic,

39:27 Microorganisms were reduced or eliminated. Hence beer, wine, and coffee were We're much safer to drink. than water. Prior to the advent of coffee in Europe,

39:39 And given the absence of the Islamic prohibition of alcohol Many Europeans drink the equivalent of near beer. Oh Day. Wow.

39:49 The result was a population which lived and worked in what was essentially a constant state of Of mild. Beefdlement. The advent of coffee. Proved to be a revelation.

40:01 Thanks to the caffeine. Coffee, in moderation, at least, enhances. Alertness. Concentration.

40:09 In the words of Anthony Wilde. They quote exchanged a state of permanent inebriation with For a state of permanent Caffeination.

40:20 I love that quote. Not only was coffee safe to drink, but But consumers could think more clearly and work better. Harder and longer hours. The increasing availability of coffee is

40:33 And the growing number of coffee houses in which it was consumed and new ideas were proposed and debated, has been hailed as quote a brain explosion None unlike what most certainly happened when our pre human ancestors first consumed magic mushrooms, fermented fruits, and coffee beans in East Africa. As had been the case in the Muslim world, Coffee houses became wildly popular and proved to be a meeting of the minds in different classes and cultures with endless conversations.

41:03 Literally fueled. by a botanical stimulant. Many historians lose sight of the biological irony of this intellectual fervor. But not Anthony Wilde. Who wrote?

41:15 Hm. Caffeine. Is nothing more. than a natural insecticide. And the high caffeine levels

41:22 Protect the coffee fruit. From unwanted attention. Hapless in sex find that their nervous systems go into overdrive.

41:33 By the miracle of international trade. The same symptoms can be observed in office workers. the world over And in the ancient coffee houses of Europe. The same symptom could be observed.

41:46 The first establishments in England were opened in the sixteen fifties by Pasquale Roset, a Greek trained in Turkey in London, and the Angel in Oxford, by a Lebanese gentleman known to history as Jacob the Jew. The Angel is still in operation at forty High Street in Oxford, although it is now known as Queens Lane Coffee House, and across the street is the Grand Cafe, a relative newcomer's having been founded two years later after the Angel in sixteen fifty four. The grand was established by a Syrian Jewish Meaning that coffee was essentially introduced to England by a Turk, a Lebanese, and Assyrian

42:26 Which demonstrates how coffee was essentially percolated in the Middle East as it made its way from Africa. to mid western Europe. Nearly twenty five years after the first coffee houses opened in England, The total number exceeded Three thousand.

42:43 Conversation, debate, and learning. Did not end with the coffee houses in seventeenth century Europe. When I moved to Cambridge in nineteen seventy four. The real Cambridge.

42:57 The one in Massachusetts, not the one in England. Harvard Square was percolating with great coffee houses. like the Cafe Pomplona and the Cafe Algiers, and bookstores like Schaenhoffs and Groyer's. And this helps explain

43:11 Why college and university towns almost always feature great coffee shops. The combination between coffee drinking and And coffee thinking is a real one. Let me repeat that. And this explains

43:25 Why coffee and university towns almost always feature great coffee shops. The combination between coffee drinking and And coughly thinking. Is a real one. In point of fact.

43:38 One can argue that this coffee drinking played an unquestioned role in moving humanity. From the Renaissance all the way forward to the internet age. The Renaissance. was a period in Europe in which society emerged from the preceding morass of the Dark Ages into an era

43:58 With a focus on the classical arts. learning and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, which in turn foster the development of new ideas, perspectives, and technologies. This period then led to the Enlightenment, where Which, while honoring the wisdom of the ancient Mediterranean, sought new ideas. Based in reason.

44:18 An empirical observation. As we move into this part of the discussion. I want to pay special tribute to Tom Standage's wonderful book A history of the world in six glasses. Which explains this aspect of the coffee story in great detail.

44:35 It is one of my favorite books on drinks in history, along with those of Doctor Patrick McGovern, In an upcoming episode. In any case, as we heard in the episode on the ethnobotany of wine, The civilizations of the ancient Greeks and Romans were awash of

44:52 And wine. And as the intellectuals of the Enlightenment sought to move beyond these Mediterranean societies, the Coffee. A drink unknown to the classical world. Was seen as one way of doing just that.

45:06 To a society during the Enlightenment which prize clear and rational thought In the same way that coffee was the opposite of alcohol, Coffee houses were the antithesis of bars and taverns. Yeah. As was the case in the Islamic world, the

45:22 All this gathering and blathering in the coffee houses was Made at least some of the authorities. In this new environment. People of all classes.

45:31 could interact and engage in free and open discussions. Challenging traditional beliefs and traditional power structures like the monarchy. And the church. Which made these traditional power centers Very

45:45 Nervous. According to Standage, Catholic opponents of coffee Claim that quote. Since Muslims were unable to drink wine, the The devil had punished them with coffee instead.

45:57 So that Christian should not be permitted To drink coffee. In a possibly apocryphal encounter. Near the dawn of the seventeenth century. Pope Clement the eighth.

46:08 was asked rule on the question of whether coffee should be banned. After he sampled a cup He smacked his lips and announced Quote. This Satan's drink is so delicious that it would be a pity to let the infidels have exclusive use of it.

46:24 And he approved. Coffee. For Catholics. In sixteen seventy five, King Charles II of England proved apprehensive about commoners and nobility gathering in coffee houses and having unfettered and caffeine fueled discussions and debate about political and social issues.

46:42 He issued a proclamation aimed at suppressing coffee houses. Claiming that these venues were quote. Seminaries. That we're spreading.

46:52 Quote. Diverse. False reports. End of quote. The seventeenth

46:57 Century equivalent, I suppose, of Of fake news. Parallel concerns were expressed by the women of the day, who were excluded from British coffee houses. They complained that their husbands were spending so much time in coffee houses that quote The whole race was in danger of extinction.

47:16 Not the similar argument was put forward. In a lew pamphlet. From women excluded from these cafes entitled, quote, humble petition and addresses of several thousands of buxom good women languish in an extremity of want, end of quote, who complained that men were spending so much time in coffee houses and drinking so much coffee that they arrived home with quote. Nothing stiff but their joints. What then was the draw in addition to the caffeine that drew these men in, whose debates and discussions made the Enlightenment.

47:49 So enlightening. Unlike today, these coffee houses were centers of financial, intellectual, political, and scientific activity. According to Standage. These institutions were quote centers of self education, literary and philosophical speculation, Commercial innovation and in some cases.

48:10 Political. Fermentation. Take that, Doctor Seuss. Europe's coffee houses functioned, according to Standage, as the internet Of the age.

48:20 Of reason. One underappreciated aspect of the power and purpose of these seventeenth century cafes was public education. In most of the Western world at the time, particularly in class written England, higher education was open to and affordable by the extremely wealthy. Yet any man

48:40 For the price of a cup of coffee. could enter, rub shoulders, ask questions, or debate ideas with some of the greatest minds of all time. Mathematician Isaac Newton, economist Adam Smith, Satirist Jonathan Swift, and architect Christopher Wren were all devoted denizens of the coffee houses of their day. that these venues were so highly regarded as a place where the common man could enter and learn from brilliant thinkers led to the coffee houses to be known as quote

49:09 Penny universities. Which was the cost of a cup of coffee. Take that, Starbucks. It's hard to overestimate the intellectual prowess of some of the polymaths who frequented the coffee houses. Christopher Wren was not only an architect, he was also an astronomer, a physicist, and a co founder of the Royal Society.

49:30 Britain's most prestigious scientific organization of the day. Wren is best known for designing and building some of London's most iconic edifices after the great fire of sixteen sixty six, including Saint Paul's Cathedral. Robert Hooke was an astronomer, biologist physicist and microscopist and urgent planner. Using the microscope.

49:54 He is the person who discovered The cell Edmund Halley was an astronomer, mathematician, and physicist who described the orbit of the comet which was eventually named after him. And perhaps the two most impactful gentlemen who did some of their most creative thinking and arguing in British cafes were Isaac Newton, Astronomer, mathematician, and physicist, and Adam Smith.

50:20 Scottish economist and philosopher. Newman's book Principia generated in part by coffee house conversations Detailed his thoughts. On the laws of motion and gravitation

50:33 And served as the basis for modern physics. Adam Smith authored The Wealth of Nations. which was to capitalist economics What Newton's book was to physics. and Smith pinned much of his master work in the British coffee houses and Coxburgh Street, a gathering place

50:51 For Scottish intellectuals. Note that the scripting of immortal works in British coffee houses did not cease with the conclusion of the Enlightenment in the late eighteenth century. While Adam Smith was a Scot who wrote his enduring treatise in England, A British woman penned her timeless books in Scottish Coffee houses.

51:12 Just a few years back. Slightly more than two centuries after the publication of The Wealth of Nations, the A single mother living on welfare began writing fiction in Edinburgh coffee houses. She commented, quote. It's no secret that the best place to write, in my opinion, is in a cafe. You don't have to make your own coffee. You don't have to feel like you're in solitary confinement.

51:35 And quote if you have writer's block, you can just get up and walk to the next cafe while giving your batteries time to recharge and your brain. Time to think. The best writing cafe is crowded enough to allow you to blend in, but not too crowded that you have to share a table. With someone else. End of quote.

51:54 Sometimes calling herself Joanne Murray, She's more widely known to the world as J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, which is sold to date. Over five hundred million books. And eighty languages.

52:07 It's important to emphasize once again that coffee was much more than a drink and a wonderful new book by Jacob Mikanowski called Goodbye Eastern Europe. He points out that that coffee was this almost unattainable goal that people would would would strive for, would lust for, would do just about anything they get a hold of. Let me read a wonderful quote that encapsulates us talking about The role of coffee in communist Romania.

52:31 Quote. Coffee, real coffee. had less spiritual significance than some other products, but it was just as valuable. Most of what one could find in stores was a coffee substitute made from burnt eggs. chick pea flowered called

52:46 Necazol. Actually no one was really certain what it was made of. It might have contained barley, chestnuts, or chickpeas. Probably with a small admixture of coffee to boot. Some people would sieve it before brewing, that is drain it, but

53:00 To get the bits of straw out. Even coffee dregs were a treasure. to be used and reused again and again until they lost all their flavor. Pure natural coffee. Was almost too precious to use right away.

53:15 One Romanian father. Managed a few dozen real coffee beans for his son. In those days. It felt as if time had

53:25 reached a total standstill, and socialism But last forever. The father was convinced that authentic coffee would soon disappear from his part of the world for good. So he kept his handful of beans. Safely hidden.

53:40 in a hermetically sealed container. As an inheritance For his little boy. He wanted to be sure that That one day

53:49 When he was a grown man, his beloved son would be able to have a single cup of real coffee and savor. Just once. The smell. Of freedom. End of quote.

54:03 One particularly noteworthy development and outcome of British coffee houses during the Enlightenment was how they began to specialize in turbocharge developments in certain fields, from science to insurance. Standage wrote. Quote Coffee houses functioned as information exchanges for scientists, businessmen, writers, and politicians. Depending on the interests of their customers, some coffee houses display commodity prices, share prices, or shipping lists on their walls.

54:32 Others subscribe to foreign newsletters filled with news from other countries. Coffee houses became associated with the specific trades. acting as meeting places where actors, musicians, and sailors could go if they were looking for work. Coffee houses catering to a particular clientele are

54:52 were often clustered together in a single neighborhood. This specialization around a topic or a business culminated in the creation of major and enduring institutions. According to Anthony Wilde. Quote. Shipping interest at Lloyd's coffee house was

55:08 The powerful insurance underwriter. The London Stock Exchange emerged from Jonathan's coffee house. In Oxford. Tilliards was the coffee house in which was founded the Royal Society, which was to become the most illustrious scientific institution of the age.

55:27 Meanwhile, in France, Coffeehouse culture not only led to intellectual advances, but also The violence. As in England. Cafes were popular gathering places for discussion and dissemination of new ideas, like individual rights and questioning the value of the monarchy.

55:45 Thinkers and coffee drinkers like Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire, and even Benjamin Franklin were regular customers. The combination of caffeine or Radical ideas. And the development of revolutionary fervor Proved.

56:00 A combustible one. Ironically, the French monarchy support of enlightenment ideals in America. Prove part of their undoing. According to Standage quote.

56:12 As France struggled to deal with a mounting financial crisis largely caused by its support for America in the Revolutionary War, Coffee houses became centers of revolutionary ferment. Enlightenment ideas and economic hardship made France a tinderbox. As pressure mounted, the The French philosopher Montesquie wrote

56:34 Cool Were I the king, I would close the cafes. For the people who frequent those places heat their brains in a very tiresome manner. I would rather see them get drunk in taverns. Then at least they would only harm themselves or

56:48 While the intoxication which coffee arouses in them causes them to endanger. The country's future. Montesquieu's analysis proved present. The leaders of the French Revolution had

57:00 Men like Des Moulins. Danton, Barrard and Robespierre. fomented their insurrectionary plans at Parisian coffee houses. Like pro corpse. Which still stands in the heart.

57:11 of Saint Germain. In fact A speech by Des Moulins at the Cafe de Foy. In Paris in seventeen eighty nine. Calling the citizens to arms set the chaos in motion, and the caffeinated mob stormed the Bastille,

57:26 Just a few days later. Before I wind up this episode in response to our listeners request I want to add a bit of botanical background for my fellow plant nerds. The genus Kofaea is native to Africa and the island of Madagascar. It is a member of the rubiaca family, which also contains the quinine tree, which

57:47 Which we'll be discussing in a later episode. Most of the world's coffee is derived from one species. Koffea Arabica. Native mostly to Ethiopia. Although some specimens have been found in neighboring Kenya and South Sudan.

58:03 Coffee is a beautiful shrub or small tree. Which can reach an excess of twenty feet, thirty feet in some cases in the wild. It features smooth dark evergreen leaves. Born in pair on opposite sides of the stem,

58:17 Exquisite white flowers are extremely fragrant. The fruits. known as coffee cherries. resemble large hollyberries. Coffee beans are not beans at all.

58:29 But resemble true beans which are members of the legume family. Coffee fruits. Which are actually seeds. That are covered by pulp mucilage.

58:41 And parchment. So to be clear. Coffee beans, botanically speaking, are not beans. Their seeds. Once the ripe beans have been picked.

58:50 Usually by hand, since they're delicate and must be picked at the peak of ripeness, the so called beans are extracted Processed. Cried. and roasted to produce commercial coffee. One peculiar and somewhat more expensive form of coffee is peabry.

59:07 A pea berry is simply a double coffee bean. Most coffee fruits produce two beans per cherry. But in one case out of ten, only a single bean develops. Some coffee aficionados claim that pea berries produce a more intense, more flavorable cup of coffee, but if so The difference is lost on me.

59:27 As an aside, an even more expense of coffee is quote. Copy look. From Indonesia. Coffee fruits.

59:35 Kno also as coffee cherries, as noted earlier. Or fed to palm civet cats. Which are small mongoose like mammals in South East Asia. Enzymes in the civet's digestive tract are supposed to alter the bean's flavor. Which were then excreted, then washed.

59:52 Carefully I hope. Then roasted. Ground and prepared. Inspired by this weird process, the Brazilians are doing something similar with Guans. which are rainforest turkeys, known as Jaku Bird Coffee.

1:00:06 And the Tis are doing it with elephants. Which is then sold as black Ivory coffee. Which can cost up to A thousand dollars.

1:00:17 A pound. Meanwhile, there's another species, in addition to Cafe Arabica, which plays an important role in coffee cultivation and production. Robuster coffee. With the scientific name of Cafe. Cinephera.

1:00:31 Robusta is hardier than Arabica. Whereas Arabica must be grown above two thousand feet on well drained mountain slopes. Robusta can thrive from sea level up to two thousand feet and can survive warmer climates as well. Moreover, robuster beans are contain twice as much caffeine as those of Arabica, meaning they require fewer pesticides since caffeine as we've heard, is actually an insecticide.

1:00:57 And they have a stronger flavor and more bitter taste and produce more crema. Which is why Robusta is often used to make espresso. Or included. And espresso blends. To coffee aficionados, Robusta is generally considered a less expensive and lower quality product.

1:01:14 But it's hardiness. Lower susceptibility to disease and ability to grow in hotter and lower regions and desirability for espresso blends make it a valuable commodity and In its own right. Worth noting is that there are dozens of endemic species of Cofaea found in Madagascar. The enormous island located off the southeast coast of Africa across the Mozambique Channel.

1:01:38 As far as we know, these species are caffeine free. meaning that these wild species might one day prove useful in crossbreeding with commercial species To reduce caffeine content. increase yields and enhanced resistance. to pest and diseases.

1:01:55 Meanwhile, the global economic value of coffee is staggering. After petroleum products and precious and industrial Metals. Coffee represents one of the world's most valuable commodities. Put another way, Americans are estimated to consume more than four hundred million cups of coffee every day.

1:02:15 And several northern countries like Finland, Norway, and Sweden drink way more coffee than Americans on a per capita basis. In fact Again in terms of per capita. The US, with coffee houses on so many corners, does not even rank in the top ten of coffee drinking.

1:02:33 Countries. Let me say that again. In terms of per capita consumption, The US With coffee houses on so many corners.

1:02:41 does not even rank in the top ten of coffee drinking countries. Yet one can accurately state the demand for coffee is out of this world. According to Jonathan Morris, not only do scientists drink coffee at the Antarctic research lab, but there is an Italian espresso machine on the on the international space station. So let's talk a bit about the role of coffee in the culture and history.

1:03:07 of the United States. Coffee had been available in Boston for over a century prior to the American Revolution. When the British imposed heavy taxes on T Coffee was considered a patriotic alternative. In fact, the famous Boston Tea Party on the evening of december sixteenth, seventeen seventy three, was planned in the Green Dragon. which was both a coffee house and a tavern, and served as a meeting place for Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere, and other members of the Sons of Liberty.

1:03:39 Daniel Webster call the Green Dragon, quote, Of the revolution. Coffee. as would also be the case with bourbon, was seen to be a patriotic drink

1:03:50 versus British tea and British rum. According to Hobhaus. Quote. There were tea parties in emulation of the affair in Boston Harbor that took place in every one of the other colonies. Social events pledging those present to drink coffee instead of tea became badges of respectable.

1:04:08 revolutionary fervor. It was a socially and politically brave man or woman who Who stuck to T. After independence. As would be the case in France, the

1:04:20 Caffeine generated upheaval. In nineteen twenty two, American journalist William Euchers pened the classic book All About Coffee, in which he stated Wherever it has been introduced. Coffee has spelled revolution. It has been the world's most radical drink in that its function has always been to make

1:04:40 People Think. And when the people begin to think. They become dangerous. The tyrants.

1:04:47 Coffee played a role in both the colonies and the new nation. Alexander Hamilton drew up plans for the Bank of New York a predecessor of the National Bank at a coffee house on Wall Street in seventeen eighty three. The declaration of independence was first read aloud to the public at Philadelphia's merchant coffeehouse. And as the Enlightenment gave way to the Industrial Revolution, as the seventeen hundreds drew to a close,

1:05:14 The role of coffee shifted as well. In the American colonies, just as in Europe, coffee and coffee houses catalyze development and promotion of new ideas. With the industrial revolution, however, Tenizens of rural areas flock to the cities to take time consuming, monotonous, and often dangerous factory jobs. In these settings.

1:05:35 Coffee enhanced alertness and improved coordination, which not only increased productivity, but could mean the difference between life and death. And coal mines. Textile mills and iron foundries. Which featured few safeguards. During the Civil War.

1:05:52 Coffee assumed a primary role in maintaining soldiers' morale, alertness, and well being. Coffee beans as a relatively light and non perishable foodstuff. served as a treasured and essential component of the Union Army rations. Jonathan Morris wrote quote. Coffee centrality to the troops' existence can be gauged from the fact that the word coffee

1:06:15 appears more frequently in civil war soldiers' diaries of the period than rifle, cannon, or bullet. Soldiers then and now prize coffee as an appetite suppressant and an unfailing source of of alertness. And energy.

1:06:31 One peculiar coffee laced episode from the Civil War. Led to an American presidency. And thus bears retelling. The bloodiest day in American history was september seventeenth, eighteen sixty two at the Battle of Antitum, where the With a combined tally of twenty two thousand seven hundred and twenty seven dead

1:06:53 Wounded. Or missing. Future US president, but then Sergeant William McKinley. Made his way to the front lines. dodging heavy fire and serving hot coffee to his fellow Union soldiers

1:07:05 McKinley's actions were considered such a morale booster that That his efforts became known as quote. McKinley's Coffee run. and were immortalized by a monument on the battlefield near Sharpsburg.

1:07:18 Marilyn. None the less Compared to Jimmy Doolittle's daring raid on Tokyo in nineteen forty two, Paratroopers dropping behind Nazi lines the night before D Day in nineteen forty four. her Navy SEALs helicoptering into hostile territory to finish off bin Laden in twenty eleven.

1:07:38 McKinley's Coffee run. doesn't rank very high on the list. Of US military heroics. The end of the nineteenth century in the US saw a shift towards convenience over freshness and taste in food and drink, and coffee was no exception

1:07:55 Fast paced lifestyles, demand for instant gratification, and the move towards standardization led consumers to canned an instant coffee. Taste and quality took a back seat. Not just with coffee, but with all consumables. With hairy consumers egged on by clever and insistent marketing, Frozen and canned foods dominated the pantries and kitchens of Americans.

1:08:21 The cultural revolution of the sixties and seventies Driven by the baby boomers, and fueled by not a few plants of the gods, wink, wink. saw increased appreciation and demand for fresher, healthier Tastier and even organic foodstuffs. Including coffee.

1:08:39 We tend to associate this counterculture with the so called hippies. But the movement really began with the beatniks. Young people in the nineteen fifties who rebelled against conventional societal norms were rejected materialism and expressed their creativity, Through literature, poetry, and folk music.

1:08:59 Part of their rebellion was expressed in their disdain for their parents' drug of choice, alcohol. Instead, famous beatnicks like Alan Ginsburg and Jack Karaouac Down coffee and famous coffee houses like the Vesuvio in San Francisco, the Cafe Reggio in Greenwich Village, Or the club Passim. In Harvard Square. As part of their rejection of mindless consumerism and materialism.

1:09:25 These folks helped spearhead the specialty coffee movement. Which focused on the production and enjoyment of high quality coffee. Eventually coffee was treated as wine, but Not something to quaff in a hurry, but But a libation.

1:09:40 To save her. And appreciate it Note that wine, according to Jonathan Morris, was contains about three hundred compounds affecting flavor. Whereas coffee

1:09:50 has well over a thousand. Meanwhile, the specialty coffee movement places a strong emphasis on quality and flavor and artisanal craftsmanship. Direct trade relationships with coffee farmers. Feature top prices. For high quality beans to emphasize fair trade, address economic inequalities, and support sustainable practices.

1:10:13 And these coffee enthusiasts employ special brewing methods unknown to their parents, like cold water process, French press. And pour overs to enhance the enjoyment of both the coffee and And the experience in general. No electric percolators.

1:10:29 Or m Mr. Coffee Machines for them. So why did this movement originate in the Western US? Whereas the earliest and most important ports For importing coffee. Were New York and New Orleans, several historical events led to the West Coast becoming the leading center of coffee culture.

1:10:48 One was the gold rush in the mid eighteen hundreds, in which people from the East Coast chose to travel through the isthmus of Panama and Central America to reach California, which was quicker than traveling overland across the US in those days. This increased maritime connections between the West Coast where the demand was and the and Central America, where the coffee was produced. And the forty niners, as the miners were then known, wanted coffee for all the same reasons cited above. And to increase its competitive advantage.

1:11:20 The port of San Francisco developed better unloading and distributing facilities than existed in New York. the predominant coffee ports of the day. Shortly thereafter, during the First World War, the The coffee from Central America.

1:11:35 Often produced on German owned plantations and intended for the port of Hamburg, Germany, To San Francisco. Instead. Meanwhile

1:11:45 A boom in coffee shops in both the Bay Area and Seattle. Pete's was founded in Berkeley in 1966. While Starbucks was founded in Seattle in nineteen seventy one, fostered increased interest in, demand for, and appreciation for specialty coffee throughout the West Coast. So it is no accident that this revolutionary brew

1:12:08 Coffee. Married to a culture of creativity and innovation, the help foster the birth of Microsoft in Seattle and Silicon Valley in the Bay Area. One of the greatest technological advancements in human history. In the words of Tom Standage.

1:12:25 Coffee remains the preferred drink for anyone seeking an intellectual edge and In the twenty first century. Just as it was in the seventeenth. Its association with innovation, reason, and networking. Plus a dash of revolutionary fervor.

1:12:41 has a long pedigree. End of quote. And thank you, Coffee. Hey guys, this is Tim again, just one more thing before you take off, and that is Five Bullet Friday. Would you enjoy getting a short email from me every Friday that provides a little fun before the weekend? Between one and a half and two million people subscribe to my free newsletter, my super short newsletter called Five Bullet Friday. Easy to sign up, easy to cancel. It is basically a half page that I send out every Friday to share the coolest things I've found or discovered or have started exploring over that week.

1:13:16 It's kinda like my diary of cool things. It often includes articles I'm reading, books I'm reading, albums perhaps, gadgets, gizmos, all sorts of tech tricks and so on that get sent to me by my friends, including a lot of podcasts. guests and these strange esoteric things end up in my field and then I test them and then I share them with you. So if that sounds fun again it's very short a little tiny bite of goodness before you head off for the weekend something to think about. If you'd like to try it out Just go to Tim.blog slash Friday. Type that into your browser. Tim dot blog slash. Friday, drop in your email and you'll get the very next one. Thanks for listening.

1:13:56 This episode is brought to you by my very own Cock Punch Coffee. Goodness gracious does it give me the giggles just to say that. This year, one way I've scratched my own itch is by creating Cock Punch Coffee. The first coffee I've ever produced myself and which I now drink every morning. It is a tie-in to a fictional world that I created, but that is another bizarre story for another time. Now there is some karmic upside to this whole project that I'll get to in a second. Back to the coffee. I enlisted the help of world class experts. I have access to a lot of them and teste dozens of variations over many months. As longtime listeners know, I have very high standards when it comes to coffee, and I have been diagnosed also with moderate severe OCD, so I pay attention to the details in this case. That is actually a true statement. After dialing in the sourcing, roasting, and more, this is the combo that finally made me say, this is the one. And it was very clear, it was immediate, it was

1:14:52 practically. instantaneous. Nothing else had quite hit the mark, and then this one did, after a lot of tweaking. To learn all about it, check out cockpunchcoffee.com, spelled as it sounds. which is a mighty strange website in and of itself. Now here's the karmic side. 100% of my cockpunch related proceeds date, which are now around$2.5 million, including those from Cock Punch Coffee, go to my nonprofit foundation, the Psi Foundation, which focuses on cutting edge scientific research and other uncrowded bets.

1:15:24 Many of the game changing early stage psychedelic research that you've read about in the press, the news, the media, over the last five years has been funded by the Psy Foundation behind the scenes, but that is not all that it does. To learn more about the latest projects that I am working on, you can check out sisefoundation.org that's spelled S-A-I-S-E-I. foundation.org. Saisei Foundation.org. Saise means, among other things, rebirth in Japanese. And having spent a lot of time there, that word has special meaning for me on a bunch of levels. And if you'd like some of the best coffee in the United States, at least in my humble opinion, check out cockpunchcoffee.com. I think you will love it as much as I do, and by buying a bag, you're doing some good at the same time, since my portion of the proceeds go to the foundation. Grab a bag or two or three at cockpunchcoffee.com one more time because I get the giggles just saying it, but that's cockpunchcoffee.com.

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