America is coffee-obsessed. From Central Perk’s red couch being the centre of major plot twists in Friends to the fact the average American drank more than two cups a day.

And the conventional explanation is pretty straightforward: an English colonist introduces coffee to Jamestown in 1607. 150 years later Americans rebel against the British by throwing tea chests into Boston harbour and drinking coffee becomes their patriotic duty. Oh, and of course who won the civil war? The side that had the coffee.

But, actually, the truth is much more surprising, and reveals a much more counter-intuitive story of America.

In this final episode of Series Two of A History of Coffee, we offer you a story of America through the lens of a black drink, another black drink, a third black drink and perhaps even a fourth.

A History of Coffee is a collaboration between documentary maker James Harper of the Filter Stories coffee podcast and Jonathan Morris, Professor of History and author of ‘Coffee: A Global History’.

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This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Rancilio, manufacturers of professional Italian espresso machines for your home and coffee bar for almost 100 years

(https://bit.ly/3U3oLMz)

Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’ (https://amzn.to/3dihAfU)

Listen to other coffee documentaries on James’ Filter Stories podcast (https://bit.ly/3ajoT5e)

Download all episodes of this second series right now by subscribing to the ‘A History of Coffee’ podcast channel (http://bit.ly/2NArChO)

Learn how Brazil massively expanded output in episode three of the first series of A History of Coffee: Coffee Catches Fire (https://bit.ly/2NArChO)

Brew up some Yaupon Holly! (https://bit.ly/40R6IuY)

Discover Deb Hunter's All Things Tudor podcast (https://bit.ly/3L5OZet)

Live in Berlin? Join me for a free decaf cupping at Communal Coffee on the 12th December 2025. Reserve your ticket here: https://bit.ly/4nZXyrf.