Ben Franklin's World 429 Coffee in Early America: Why Americans Really Drink Coffee
Think the Boston Tea Party made America a coffee-drinking nation? Historian Michelle McDonald reveals the truth: colonists were already choosing coffee over tea because it was cheaper.
Michelle Craig McDonald, the Librarian/Director of the Library & Museum at the American Philosophical Society and author of Coffee Nation: How One Commodity Transformed the Early United States, explains how coffee shaped American identity long before the Revolution.
You'll hear about Revolutionary-era women storming a Boston warehouse to seize hoarded coffee and sell it at regulated prices. You'll discover why Parliament protected coffee while taxing tea. And you'll learn how enslaved Caribbean laborers made America's favorite beverage possible.
From colonial coffee houses to debates about caffeine addiction in the early republic, discover how one imported commodity became distinctly American.
Michelle's Website | Book |
Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/429
EPISODE OUTLINE
- 00:00:00 Introduction
- 00:03:20 Meet our Guest
- 00:04:35 Coffee vs. Tea in Early America
- 00:06:50 Coffeehouses and How Coffee Was Served
- 00:08:04 Medical Concerns About Coffee
- 00:09:12 Coffee Production
- 00:12:35 Attempts to Grow Coffee in North America
- 00:14:04 The Use of Enslaved Labor in Coffee Cultivation
- 00:19:50 The Early American Market for Coffee
- 00:22:21 Early American Coffee Connoisseurs
- 00:29:57 Early American Coffeehouses
- 00:34:48 Coffee and the American Revolution
- 00:36:40 The Boston Coffee Riot, 1777
- 00:42:48 Coffee in the Early Republic
- 00:45:00 Coffee and the Haitian Revolution
- 00:47:53 Early Republic Attempts to Grow Coffee
- 00:50:55 Early Republic Coffee Culture
- 00:53:56 Time Warp
- 00:58:31 Conclusion
RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES
π§ Episode 160: The Politics of Tea
π§ Episode 161: Smuggling and the American Revolution
π§ Episode 288: Smugglers & Patriots in the 18th-Century Atlantic World
π§ Episode 294: 1774, The Long Year of American Revolution
π§ Episode 319: Cuba: An Early American History
π§ Episode 401: Tea, Boycotts, & Revolution
SUPPORT OUR WORK
π Make a Donation to Ben Franklinβs World
REQUEST A TOPIC
π¨ Topic Request Form
π« liz@benfranklinsworld.com
WHEN YOU'RE READY
ποΈ BFW Gazette Newsletter
π©βπ» Join the BFW Listener Community
π Join the History Explorers Club
LISTEN π§
π Apple Podcasts
π Spotify
πΆ Amazon Music
π Pandora
CONNECT
π¦ Liz on Bluesky
π©βπ» Liz on LinkedIn
π Lizβs Website
SAY THANKS
π Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
π Leave a rating on Spotify
*Book links are affiliate links. Every purchase supports the podcast.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices