Sure, Americans love a good cup of coffee. But it wasn’t always this way. The truth is, early colonists preferred tea, rum, or cider, while coffeehouses were more places to trade than somewhere to grab a to-go cup. But how did this change? That’s what we’re going to find out today.
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Key takeaways
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- Where the first American coffeehouses popped up
- Why the U.S. Army made coffee a daily issue
- The invention that kept beans fresher longer
- How instant coffee fit into two world wars
- The campaign that made “coffee breaks” a thing
Coffeehouses arrive in British America
The first American coffeehouses looked nothing like the spots we know now. Boston opened one back in 1689 & New York followed a few years later, with these coffeehouses essentially being meeting halls with warm drinks. Merchants swapped news & ships were chartered. Philadelphia & Williamsburg joined in soon after. However, it would take many hundreds of years before we got modern-day lattes & chai teas.
Tea taxes and boycotts
Eventually, things started to change with Britain’s Tea Act of 1773 which annoyed a lot of colonists by dictating who they could buy tea from. Protests spread quickly. Soon enough, people avoided tea partly out of principle, giving coffee more room at the table.
The Boston Tea Party dumped British tea into the harbor and became part of a bigger wave of boycotts & households relied more on coffee than tea. Those leaves were just too politicized.
Spirits to coffee in U.S. Army rations
For a long time, soldiers got their daily buzz from booze, not beans, until the 1830s. This was when the Army swapped out spirits for coffee & sugar in the ration lineup. At first, it was just policy. But then Congress made it the law a few years later.
The amounts were generous enough that soldiers could actually rely on them. From that point on, coffee was a guaranteed part of Army life.
Soldiers brew through the Civil War
Coffee was survival fuel during the Civil War. In fact, Union troops carried whole beans & roasted them over campfires, brewing them however they could. That sometimes meant boiling it in a tin cup. Since the Army had increased the allowances, it wasn’t just a luxury & kept many soldiers alert. And maybe a little less homesick during long marches.
Factory roasting and the vacuum can
In 1900, Hills Bros. started selling beans in vacuum-sealed cans. It might sound small, but it meant coffee stayed fresh way longer, so households didn’t have to roast beans themselves or buy small amounts constantly. Good coffee at home no longer took much effort. Instead, you could just use a can opener & a pot. Coffee had a chance at lasting longer, and therefore, would be easier to store at home.
Instant coffee and two wars
Satori Kato invented instant coffee and received a U.S. patent for it in 1903. It really took off during World War II. Usually, the military packed it into soldiers’ rations because it was light & didn’t spoil, while people at home had to ration their coffee. They sometimes got one pound every five weeks. Yes, instant didn’t taste amazing, but it kept the habit alive when supplies were tight.
“Coffee break” goes national
In the late 1930s, a new wave of advertising pushed coffee even further into everyday life. A group called the Pan-American Coffee Bureau ran campaigns that made drinking coffee at work seem somewhat stylish. The coffee break went mainstream by the 1950s & offices set aside time for it.
Drip machines move into homes
Brewing at home got a lot easier in the 1970s, thanks to electric drip machines, especially Mr. Coffee. This launched in 1972. Drip machines began replacing percolators on kitchen counters because they were faster & cleaner. Plus, they didn’t need as much work. It was at this time that a pot in the morning became part of the normal household routine.
Starbucks also emerged in 1971, inside Pike Place Market in Seattle. However, it was a quiet little retail spot back then, with bags of beans & grinders for home use. A decade later, Howard Schultz joined the company and believed that Italian espresso bars could work in the U.S.
The arrival of single-serve pods
During the late ‘90s, Keurig brewers showed up in offices where nobody wanted to clean a pot or wait around for fresh coffee. Pods solved that. They were quick & effective enough to get through a workday.
Then the company saw another opening, which was home use, so their machines began appearing on store shelves in the early 2000s. They were a novelty at first. But then, people liked the idea of making one cup at a time without any mess & it spread faster than anyone expected.
It was clear that single-cup brewers had stopped being a side option by the end of the decade. They were one of the most popular ways that Americans made coffee at home. Many American families had a pod machine sitting right next to the toaster.
Mid-century peak and long-term trends
You might think people drink a lot of coffee now. And while that’s true, it’s nowhere near as high as levels in 1946, which is when Americans hit a record. They drank roughly 46 gallons per person, the highest amount of all recorded U.S. history. Of course, coffee has never really disappeared, but our drinking habits have changed over the decades with new trends & imports, as well as new gadgets. We have a love for coffee that’s utterly timeless and will never go away.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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