The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to CoffeeIn this captivating book, Stewart Lee Allen treks three-quarters of the way around the world on a caffeinated quest to answer these profound questions: Did the advent of coffee give birth to an enlightened western civilization? Is coffee, indeed, the substance that drives history? From the cliffhanging villages of Southern Yemen, where coffee beans were first cultivated eight hundred years ago, to a cavernous coffeehouse in Calcutta, the drinking spot for two of India's three Nobel Prize winners . . . from Parisian salons and caf s where the French Revolution was born, to the roadside diners and chain restaurants of the good ol' U.S.A., where something resembling brown water passes for coffee, Allen wittily proves that the world was wired long before the Internet. And those who deny the power of coffee (namely tea-drinkers) do so at their own peril. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - kukulaj - LibraryThingA fun enough romp. Ping-pongs between the history of coffee consumption and the wild adventures of the author. The wild adventures do give us some pictures of places connected with coffee somehow or ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - jennorthcoast - LibraryThingThis book had me craving a cup of good coffee after I finished reading! While it was a bit confusing to understand at times, overall I enjoyed the coffee history mixed with travelogue misadventures and the inveterate good cheer of Allen. Definitely worth reading. Read full review