Reviews"With wit and humor,Pendergrast has served up a rich blend of anecdote, character study, marketanalysis, and social history....Everything you ought to know about coffee ishere, even how to make it."-- New York Times, "Ask anyone in thecoffee world and they will cite this book as a favorite...[I]t gives acomprehensive understanding to the history and complexities of your favoritedrink."-- The Kitchn, "Pendergrast...hasproduced a splendid tale, setting out all one could hope to know aboutcoffee."-- Scientific American, "An exhaustive, admirablyambitious examination of coffee's global impact, from its roots in 15th-centuryEthiopia to its critical role in shaping the nations of Central and LatinAmerica....Should be read by anyone curious about what goes into their dailycup of Java"-- Kirkus, "Pendergrast'ssprightly, yet thoroughly scholarly, history of America's favorite hot beveragepacks the pleasurable punch of a double espresso."-- Booklist, "Pendergrast's accountsatisfies because of its thoroughness....Pendergrast unearths coffee-basedtrade wars, health reports, and café cultures, bringing to light amusingtreasures along the way."-- Mother Jones, "Pendergrast's broadvision, meticulous research, and colloquial delivery combinearomatically."-- Publishers Weekly
Dewey Edition23
SynopsisThe definitive history of the world's most popular drug Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. Mark Pendergrast reviews the dramatic changes in coffee culture over the past decade, from the disastrous "Coffee Crisis" that caused global prices to plummet to the rise of the Fair Trade movement and the "third-wave" of quality-obsessed coffee connoisseurs. As the scope of coffee culture continues to expand, Uncommon Grounds remains more than ever a brilliantly entertaining guide to the currents of one of the world's favorite beverages., First published in 1999, Uncommon Grounds tells the story of coffee from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks and the coffee crisis of the 21st century. Mark Pendergrast uses coffee production, trade, and consumption as a window through which to view broad historical themes: the clash and blending of cultures, slavery, the rise of brand marketing, global inequities, fair trade, revolutions, health scares, environmental issues, and the rediscovery of quality. As the scope of coffee culture continues to expand, Uncommon Grounds remains more than ever a brilliantly entertaining guide to one of the world's favorite drinks., Uncommon Grounds is the definitive history of coffee, from its discovery on a hill in ancient Abyssinia to the advent of Starbucks. In this sweeping epic, Mark Pendergrast uses coffee production, trade, and consumption as a window through which to view major themes of the last three centuries of world history: the clash and blending of cultures, slavery, revolution, global inequity, the rise of brand marketing, fair trade, health scares, environmental issues, and the rediscovery of quality. Pendergrast's treatment is fully up-to-date, reviewing how coffee culture continues to change in the twenty-first century, shaped by pricing crises, climate change, social unrest, and the enduring passion of the "coffee connoisseur." Uncommon Grounds is nothing less than a coffee-flavored history of the world, a brilliantly entertaining guide to the currents of one of the world's favorite beverages. Book jacket.
LC Classification NumberTX415.P45 2019