We all know that the British invented 'Tea Time' but do you realize that we Americans invented the 'Coffee Break'?
Coffee has been consumed in this country since the early 1700 hundreds as the British had acquired a taste for it and most tea houses also offered coffee. Coffee became the preferred drink of Americans after the famous Boston Tea Party. The Americans considered it unpatriotic to drink tea during that time and turned to coffee. The colonists realized they could import coffee from South and Central America, cutting out the necessity of importing through England. By the early 1900 hundreds, Americans were already consuming half of the worlds coffee production.
We all know the cowboys were keen on their coffee and took it out west where it became a symbol of the cowboy and his camp fire.
The military also was responsible for spreading the love of coffee. The GI's in WWII drank coffee in large canteen mugs and even expected packages of instant coffee to be in their C-rats. The term 'Cuppa Joe' came from the GI Joe and his love for coffee.
Upon their return to the USA, the soldiers were heavily addicted to their coffee and it was soon available at every lunch counter in this country.
The next evolutionary event for the coffee bean, was with the invention of the drip coffee maker. This made a better tasting coffee than the peculator and housewives preferred it for it's easy clean up. Shortly after, we were introduced to the Travel Mug. This allows us to carry our coffee with us. Before this, one had to stop and drink their coffee at a road side diner, but now, we could carry it along for the ride.
The American 'coffee break' which was implemented after WWII as a time of rest for workers became a standard for the American work environment. The GI Joe's needed their caffeine jolt and began to expect it as a matter of fact. General Eisenhower even had an 'Operation Coffee Cup' during his presidential campaign. He would meet with voters at their place of work during their coffee breaks. This helped spread the social impact of the American coffee break.
Just one more reason to be proud to be called an America!
This may well be the next big thing in the coffee market!
12 comments:
I don't like coffee in the morning. I'm more of an evening drinker, and I like it dark!
GO, AMERICAN COFFE BREAKS!!!
I used to have a bumpersticker on my car that read:
I've got too much blood in my caffeine system.
Love the stuff, but the best brews are French Pressed.
Oh these pictures are classic. Definitely worthy of the next Twenty Items :).
In honor of my favorite Sailor and his addiction to coffee....
http://texassiren.blogspot.com/2007/10/big-mug-and-fall-harvest.html
I am just glad I was introduced to Venezuelan coffee. It makes any coffee in the states taste like swill!!!
Brooke, you have to work and have children to drink coffee at night and still SLEEP!
I can't drink it at all...caffeine's bad for me and I LOVE COFFEE. Decaf's okay, or some are, but...it's a great sadness I can't drink it anymore.
I believe living in Paris and drinking so much real coffee pushed me over the edge and I'm kind of allergic to it now. The symptoms of which have landed me in the ER 4 times and having 3 brain scans.! REAL fun!!!
Oh, JANE? ANY coffee other than America's shows us how bad our coffee really is, I think!! French coffee's divine, too.!
Well I've had a lot of people tell me that I'm not an American. And this is probably another reason they would tell me that I'm not an American, I don't like coffee. But I love tea!!!
Once my husband was working with someone from Columbia who was very arrogant about his coffee. My husband offered him some of his own coffee and asked him to guess what it was. He took several tastes and swirled it around and around in his mouth and then said it was definately a certain brand of expensive and high quality Columbian coffee. My husband couldn't help but happily state that it was not expensive and high quailty Columbian coffee, but simply instant Folgers! :)
I remember C-rations used to have a little package of instant coffee, and a little cream and sugar. Nobody ever threw them away, you could trade them for things like pound cake or ham and potatoes if you didn't drink coffee yourself. But when I think about it, back then just about everybody smoked and drank coffee.
Thinking of cowboys around a campfire drinking tea just doesn't cut it.
But I'll concede America is to coffee what France is to cigarettes, BLEEAAGGHH!!
O.O LOL!poor guy.
I learned a few things while reading this. God bless America then. I LOVE my "cuppa joe" in the mornings!
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