Coffee
The Epic of a Commodity
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- £1.99
Publisher Description
“A cup of coffee is a miracle, a wonderful assemblage of relationships”. This classic follows coffee's journey around the world, from London to Brazil, telling in fascinating detail and amusing anecdote the singular history of the legendary commodity, from its discovery that chewing on the beans were keeping goats awake in Yemen to the author’s own experiences with the bean in 1935.
Referred to as a “documentary novel” back during its inception, H.E. Jacobs pioneered the concept of creative nonfiction, combining the reality of nonfiction with the epic presentation and prose of fiction. This genre exploded into popularity and remains so today. Coffee tells the story of this popular beverage in short, fun to read essays that will entertain anyone that enjoys a good, strong cup of coffee.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jacob was a German poet, novelist and journalist who was based for some time in Vienna, still and ever the home of the coffeehouse. Coffee, for Jacob, was the "anti-Bacchus...the great resurrector, that gave me courage and vigor." In 1935, he and his friend, the publisher Ernst Rowohlt, contravened the Nazi ban on Jacob's work to publish his "documentary novel" of coffee. The author does a masterful job of tracing the popularity of coffee from Yemen through Europe and the Americas, recording its reputation not only within the commercial sphere but within the medical and religious ones as well. However, this is much more important as a glimpse of attitudes toward coffee in the '30s than as a general history: there is a heavier emphasis on Brazil than now seems appropriate, obviously no mention of developments of the past 65 years and some of Jacob's observations seem astonishingly naive--e.g., his argument that planters' numerous illegitimate children "prevented the extremity of mutual hatred between master and slave." The vintage--and the translation--also leads to awkward reading, with many exclamations and cliches, such as "their lot was not a happy one," "King Louis waxed angry" and the like. For readers who are consumed with curiosity about the origins, the ups and downs and the difficulties that coffee has faced over the centuries, this book is, however, quite satisfying. 75 b&w illustrations.
