Uncommon grounds : the history of coffee and how it transformed our world / Mark Pendergrast.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 461-495) and index.

Prologue: The Oriflama Harvest. Introduction: Puddle Water or Panacea? PART 1. Seeds of Conquest : 1. Coffee Colonizes the World -- 2. The Coffee Kingdoms -- 3. The American Drink -- 4. The Great Coffee Wars of the Gilded Age -- 5. Hermann Sielcken and Brazilian Valorization -- 6. The Drug Drink. PART 2. Canning the Buzz : 7. Growing Pains -- 8. Making the World Safe for Coffee -- 9. Selling an Image in the Jazz Age -- 10. Burning Beans, Starving Campesinos -- 11. Showboating the Depression -- 12. Cuppa Joe -- PART 3. Bitter Brews : 13. Coffee Witch Hunts and Instant Nongratification -- 14. Robusta Triumphant -- PART 4. Romancing the Bean : 15. A Scattered Band of Fanatics -- 16. The Black Frost -- 17. The Specialty Revolution -- 18. The Starbucks Experience -- 19. Final Grounds. Appendix: How to Brew the Perfect Cup.

Publisher 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.