Traces the use and popularity of coffee from ancient Ethiopia to the present, describing the effect of the coffee trade and industry on economic, political, and social history.

Includes map.

Prologue: The Oriflama harvest -- Introduction: Puddle water or panacea? -- PART ONE: SEEDS OF CONQUEST: Coffee colonizes the world -- The coffee kingdoms -- The American drink -- The great coffee wars of the Gilded Age -- Hermann Sielcken and Brazilian valorization -- The drug drink -- PART TWO: CANNING THE BUZZ: Growing pains -- Making the world safe for coffee -- Selling an image in the jazz age -- Burning beans, starving campesinos -- Showboating the depression -- Cuppa Joe -- PART THREE: BITTER BREWS: Coffee witch hunts and instant nongratification -- Robusta triumphant -- PART FOUR: ROMANCING THE BEAN: A scattered band of fanatics -- The black frost -- The specialty revolution -- The Starbucks revolution -- Final grounds -- Appendix: How to brew the perfect cup.