UNCOMMON GROUNDS : THE HISTORY OF COFFEE AND HOW IT TRANSFORMED OUR WORLD / MARK PENDERGRAST.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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 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 -- Bitter brews. Coffee witch hunts and instant nongratification ; Robusta trimumphant Romancing the bean. A scattered band of fanatics ; The black frost ; The specialty revolution ; The Starbucks experience ; Final grounds.

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. Baker & Taylor.