Coffee Talk: The Stimulating Story of the World's Most Popular Brew
From its origins thousands of years ago in the Ethiopian highlands, coffee has become the world’s most popular drink. Satin, a coffee lover, molecular biologist, and retired director of the UN’s agribusiness program, offers a delightful look at coffee’s travel across time and continents to its current status. It was favored by Muslim clerics to keep the devout alert in prayer but later banned when coffeehouse customers were inspired to heated political debates. Coffee has been praised and vilified, its health properties debated but its stimulant qualities never denied. Coffee gained popularity in the American colonies after the Boston Tea Party and fueled debates in French coffeehouses frequented by Voltaire and Rousseau. Satin explores the geopolitics of coffee from slave labor on plantations to fair trade issues, as well as the commerce of coffee, including the history of coffeehouses and the rise of Starbucks. Whether coffee lovers or not, readers will love this exploration of the world’s favorite beverage. --Vanessa Bush