Mona Barista

Sometimes nothing is more fun or potentially embarrassing than having friend with no sense of inhibition. Harrison and I are in a local cafe and he sings out "Mona Barista, men have named you" in his version of Nat King Cole's classic song. Lucky, it has the desired results, it gets the attention of Harrison's favorite server. I'm not too critical because Harrison can actually sing and I couldn't carry tune to save my life.   

In the cafe it's not difficult to think about how much of the world's economy is tied up with coffee. To grow it, roast it, brew and serve it is a multi-billion dollar endeavor. Though Harrison is at this cafe because he's without a girlfriend and has taken a liking to the woman making his cappuccino -otherwise we would have gotten our coffee at the convenience store. 

Actually coffee generates over 30 billion dollars worth of commerce in just the United States alone, that's over 400 million cups a day. It no secret Brazil produces the most but a little bit of a surprise to see Vietnam is the world's second largest producer. India the home of tea and is the sixth and Honduras the tenth largest producer but what's interesting about Honduras is they don't export any of their crop.  Which makes you wonder if they are the most caffeinated people in the world.

Coffee has probably had it effect on social movements for the last 300 years. Before coffee and tea Europeans drank either beer, wine or hard cider. The water was often too polluted and alcohol can protect you from water borne illnesses but then most of the society was at least a little drunk most of the time.   

Introduction of tea and coffee stimulated people. The age of reason and the Enlightenment were brought on by caffeinated beverages. The coffeehouse of the 16th and 17th centuries weren't just places to sip a cup of Joe but they became the internet or the informational hub of community. Most coffeehouse were known as "penny universities" because hosted debating societies and paid lecturers.  People that were physically stimulated were interested in being mentally stimulated as well.

Voltaire, one of the spiritual fathers of the Enlightenment was said to have drank 50 cups of strong coffee every day. That might be more legend than fact, partly because 50 cups a day gets dangerously close to a fatal dose of caffeine but it does show how important coffee was for the thinkers that were challenging kings and championing the rights of men.

Colonial Americans were tea drinkers like their British cousins. The British held a monopoly on the distribution and importation of tea -all tea in America went through the hands of the British East Indies Corporation. They were the Exxon of tea backed by a royal charter. When the English Crown taxed tea to pay for the French and Indian War -well it was time for a revolution in the colonies. Proves you should never mess with a person's morning jolt.

So how did America get off tea and start on coffee?

The Revolutionary War did not go well for the colonists. New York City was occupied for the entire conflict by Lord Howe and his troops. During that time there was the Great Fire of New York, where on September 21st 1776 about a third of the city burned down. It was rumored the British started the fire to punish a few patriots but then the blaze got out of hand.

In 1776 New York City was only about a square mile from the Battery (a fortified artillery position and now Battery Park)  up to about where Barkley Street is. Everything west of Broadway was left in ruins after the fire.

New York was the last colonial city to be liberated and  when the British finally left on November 11th 1783, there was no love lost. The British were so despised November 11th would be celebrated as a holiday for the next 100 years known as Evacuation Day. The people of the city stopped drinking tea immediately. Smashing your tea pot became a patriotic act and coffee was the new drink in town.    

New York City did not recover from the destruction of the Revolutionary War until after the completion of the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal linked New York City with trade from the Mid-West. Without the Erie Canal neither New York City or Chicago would have grown to be as large or as important as they are today. Like what one former history teacher would say -small things in the past can cast long shadows on the present.

Other American cities continued to drink tea for a couple of more decades. But because of the growth and influence of New York City as well as the constant decline in coffee prices only the rich, old or pretentious drank tea by the start of the Civil War.

After the Civil War America ran on coffee. The percolator was invented in 1865 and the electric percolator in 1910. For American soldiers in the trenches of World War 1, they were issued instant coffee. The soldiers and coffee were so closely associated together, a soldiers was known a Joe and his coffee became a cup of Joe.

If you ever wonder why coffee is also known as Java, that comes from the Dutch. They were the first Europeans to grow their own coffee on their colony island of Java. Before that Europeans bought their coffee from the Middle East and the Ottoman Turks. Then it was sometimes known as the "wine of Islam".

The coffee break was became part of American culture during World War 2. Defense industries found that quality and production improved if you gave the workers short breaks and access to plenty of coffee.

I can only imagine coffee becoming a bigger part of the world economy. It's spreading into new markets like China, there is a Starbucks just outside the gates of The Forbidden City in Beijing.

Artist have used coffee as a water color pigment. So you can get these wonderful painting that kind of look like faded old photographs.

One future you'd probably never think of for coffee is biodiesel. Coffee is loaded with plant oils. These oils could be extracted from most coffee grounds and refined into fuel. I found out about these oils when I went to the doctor for blood work. My triglycerides were high and the doctor asked if I drank coffee and how did I brew it?

At that time I used a French Press and I was drinking all those extra oils that make coffee rich and flavorful. If you brew your coffee with a paper filter, the filter will trap and hold these oils. After switching to a drip percolator my triglycerides dropped by a third.

So drink up. Your future cup might soon help save the planet, biodiesel from coffee would be carbon neutral. The diesel engine was originally build to run on vegetable oil, it would be like things coming back full circle.

I'm looking at the clock and it's almost time for my afternoon coffee break.