Coffee: The Drink that Changed America
Join coffee roaster and social entrepreneur, Dean Cycon and Globe Trekker host, Judith Jones, as they unravel the secrets behind Coffee: The Drink that Changed America.
Dean and Judith chart the discovery of the bean in Ethiopia more than a thousand years ago, its journey into Arabia where it became a drink favoured among Moslems, and then to the growing number of coffee houses in the Ottoman Empire.
Brought to Europe by the Venetians, coffee houses sprung up in major continental cities throughout the17th century, around the same time coffee made its way across the Atlantic to America.
After the Boston Tea Party, coffee replaced tea as America’s favorite hot beverage and became an essential ration for soldiers in the civil, first and second world wars. It went on to be established as the national staple drink served at the iconic American eatery, the Diner.
While the Italians invented the culture of drinking espresso, it was an American who invented instant coffee, and when American entrepreneurs brought espresso back from Europe, it was the catalyst for an artisanal coffee revolution exported around the globe.
Today, the so-called ‘third wave’ of the artisanal coffee revolution is taking the world by storm with America at the forefront.
Along the way:
* Visit a coffee plantation in Hawaii where beans are grown, harvested, dried and processed.
* See how coffee is roasted, blended and brewed.
* Learn how to identify different coffee flavors.