In mass media and everyday life, coffee has been part of the background of American life. Generally prepared in a weaker form than European expresso, this drink (with or without sugar and cream) can be consumed by the cupful during the work day at social gatherings (as in the earnest conversations of television soap operas) and with dinner— during the meal as well as after. Many diners or roadside restaurants even place large pots of coffee on each table prior to customers ordering. Down from its height of popularity in the 1930s, coffee remains a very visible cultural landmark with the ongoing Starbucking of America and the development of designer coffees as well as new spaces for consumption.
Through the early twentieth century leading coffee companies like Folger’s, Hills Brothers, Maxwell House and A&P roasted coffee beans and supplied coffee in cans. Later, with the popularity of “instant” coffee, Folger’s crystals were marketed as indistinguishable from the coffee “served in the finest restaurants,” while Maxwell House “remained good to the last drop.” Meanwhile, growing concerns at the beginning of the physical fitness fad that strong coffee might represent a health problem led to the popularity of (Sanka) decaffeinated instant coffee, followed by other brands. During the 1950s, dissatisfied with coffee that didn’t fit the advertised billing, William Black founded his own brand, Chock Ful ’o Nuts, in New York. Black was followed in Berkeley California, by Alfred Peet, who dark-roasted quality beans at Peet’s Coffee and Tea in Berkeley As these better quality beans hit the market, new delivery systems—Mr Coffee and those of the German producers, Krups and Braun—became available, making the freshly brewed coffee more convenient than previous methods of percolation, and bringing lattes, expressos and cappuccinos out of the “finest” restaurants and into the yuppie home. Coffee-houses in New York, meanwhile, also offered more European expressos with beat poetry and smoky conversations.
These set the stage for three students in Seattle in the 1970s to establish Starbucks. When Starbucks’ specialty brand went national it benefited from the increased demand for freshly brewed coffee made from quality beans at a time when the overall demand for coffee was declining. New chain stores began to push the smaller, local-owned cafés out of the market, while bookstores opened their own cafés for their customers. FBI Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) seemed to represent the shift in American culture from quantity to quality in Twin Peaks (ABC, 1990–1), revealing his partiality for the Pacific Northwest town’s “damn fine coffee.” However, scandal revealed that some of the Starbucks’ coffee had not been so fine—Robusta beans had surreptitiously been substituted for Arabica beans. Concerns over labor and environmental conditions have also shaped consumer preferences, perhaps giving some smaller cafés a new lease of life. Some believe their coffee purchases can help Haitians recover from economic turmoil, or express solidarity with Cuba; others see coffee growing as a way to save the rainforest.
