Empires of Coffee

Undergraduate

It is estimated that 2 billion cups of coffee are consumed daily worldwide, making it one of the most popular beverages, second only to water. How did coffee conquer the world in a span of a few centuries? In this course, we study coffee’s origins from Ethiopia and Yemen to its spread across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Americas, and Africa from the sixteenth to the twenty first centuries. We consider the intertwined history of coffee with religious practices, imperial expansions, renaissance, exchange houses, industrialization, colonialism, slavery, revolutions, civil wars, decolonization, genocides and much more! We examine politics and economics of coffee production, processing, and consumption by considering the spaces within which these activities happen. From farms to plantations, ports to factories, and coffee houses to coffee shops, we study the significance of coffee in the lives of billions of people throughout the world and history. The final project for this course is a podcast, where you get to research and present your study of one country’s history of coffee. Enrollment limited to first-year students. WR , HU TTh 11:35am-12:50pm