Coffee, a legend that can change the world

Have you ever had coffee? Is the coffee really "delicious"?

In fact, when we enjoy coffee, most of the time we just regard it as a drink, a different, unique, refreshing drink, but seldom think about it: what is the big name of a small coffee?

Cha-cha, the name of coffee is amazing--

It is the second largest export product in the world after oil. It has a history of nearly 2000 years since it was recognized and eaten by human beings for the first time. It is closely related to politics, religion, economy, war, medicine, social interaction and environmental protection.

It catalyzed the French Revolution.

It brought enough momentum to the British Industrial Revolution.

It plays a subtle role in the overlap of regimes in Latin American countries.

It made some kind of balancing rod during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.

It drove away dictators and set off revolutions.

mark? Long live Coffee: how Coffee changes the World (translated by Han Huaizong) is by far the most complete record of the legend of coffee. After it was published in the United States, it immediately attracted high media attention. CNN, ABC and others have interviewed the author for this purpose, and this magazine specially publishes an abstract of the book long live Coffee. After you read it, you may be tempted to ask for a cup of coffee.

Arab world: no coffee, no revolution?

Coffee historian Ukes wrote in his most authoritative book, the Coffee World (All About Coffee): "whenever coffee is introduced, it encourages the revolution." Coffee is the most extreme drink in the world. Caffeine stimulates thinking. Once people think deeply, they want to rebel, endangering the status of tyrants. "

As early as the 16th century, coffee became popular in the Arab world and won the title of "troublemaker". The ruler thought the cafe was a breeding ground for madness. Berg, the young governor of the holy city of Mecca, was furious when he found that satirical poems about him were coming out of the cafe and decided to ban coffee. All the cafes in Mecca were forced to close in 1511. Other rulers and religious leaders of the Arab world have also declared coffee an illegal drink.

The emperors of Constantinople worried that people would make reactionary remarks that would affect morale after drinking two more cups of coffee during the war, so they ordered the closure of cafes in the country. And strict laws and regulations have been issued to restrain the public: anyone who is caught drinking coffee should enjoy the "flesh and blood suffering" brought by a stick; for the second time, sorry, you are finished. Repeat offenders are packed in leather bags, sewn tight, and thrown into the Bosporus.

However, there are still many people who drink coffee at the risk of feeding fish at the bottom of the sea. After all, the ban failed to keep up with the trend and came to an end.

Coffee was a necessity of life for Turks in the 16th century, and it was even explicitly stipulated that if the husband could not meet his wife's need for coffee, the woman could use it as an excuse for divorce.

France: the Catalyst of the Great Revolution

At first, Westerners did not know how to describe this strange drink from Arabia. The English poet Sandez, who traveled in the Middle East in 1610, wrote: "the Turks often drink something called coffee, ha ha all day." This drink is as black as soot and tastes like soot. "

But it wasn't long before Europeans fell madly in love with this soot. The French reduced their consumption of alcohol because of the introduction of coffee. The cafe has even become a place for intellectuals to criticize the current situation. In 1689, Italian immigrant Procob opened the later famous Procobo Cafe directly opposite the famous Francis Theatre in Paris. It is not only the first coffee shop in Paris, but also the most classic coffee shop. A large number of actors, novelists, playwrights and musicians gather here. Voltaire, Rousseau, Franklin and other celebrities have patronized. French historian and philosopher Voltaire often drinks 40 cups of coffee and chocolate here at a time. Danton and Marla, the famous leaders of the French Revolution, often discuss great plans here. Napoleon, who was an artillery officer at that time, once had no money to pay the bill and left his cap as collateral.

This cafe drives the coffee craze in Paris. Many progressive ideas are brewed and formed under the stimulation of coffee. The catalysis of the French Revolution in 1789 was obvious. It is conceivable that the revolutionaries delivered an impassioned speech in front of Cafe'Foy, refreshed themselves with a few cups of coffee (is it similar to Wusong drinking 18 bowls of wine over Jingyanggang) and captured the Bastille in one breath. There is a poem as proof:

Dandong, the awesome Dandong, drink a few cups of coffee before jumping onto the podium, just like a horse always eats food before going to work.

-- Mitchell, a 19th century historian

Britain: injecting momentum into the Industrial Revolution

After 1700, Britain entered the era of industrial revolution. This trend also swept through other European countries and North America after 1800. The development of the factory system has greatly changed the pace of life, attitudes and eating habits of ordinary people. Coffee became part of the diet of the working class, bringing enough momentum to the industrial revolution. Workers began to drink coffee under the condition of poor living conditions and long working hours. They mistook it for a tonic because they were full of energy after drinking it.

A historian wrote: "in order to earn a few more cents, workers constantly operate the weaving machine and have no time to prepare three meals. Coffee and bread become sacred food. At least people feel warm and refreshed after drinking coffee."

Coffee was originally an aristocratic drink, and since then it has become a necessary pick-me-up for the working class, and the beer and thick soup that ordinary people must have for breakfast have also been replaced by coffee.

El Salvador: light the flames of war in the name of coffee

In many countries in Latin America, wars, bloody killings and waves of revolutionary struggles are carried out in the name of coffee. Coffee, for example, accounted for more than 90% of El Salvador's exports in the 1930s, but Indians who bled and sweated in the coffee fields earned only 12 cents a day for 10 hours, making them no different from slaves. On January 22, 1932, Indians in the highland coffee-producing areas of western El Salvador revolted at the call of Communist Party leader Marty. That night, Mount Izako suddenly erupted, seemingly to vent the anger of farmers who had been persecuted for a long time. However, farmers with sticks and iron hoes could not resist the army's bullets and were brutally suppressed by dictator Martinez. In order to protect the safety of coffee field owners and high society, the military went on a killing spree. In just a few weeks, 30,000 people were slaughtered and Marty was also killed. The coffee-related killing is still listed as an important historical event in the country.

Guatemala: power comes out of coffee beans

Ebanz was elected president of Guatemala in 1951 and decided to implement land reform. The authorities handed over more than 100 coffee fields run by foreigners to farmers' cooperatives.

However, this reform has touched the nerves of Americans. The hardest hit is the United Fruit Company, which is invested by Americans and is also in the coffee business. Much of the company's fertile land to be reclaimed as coffee fields has been confiscated by the authorities of the dangerous country. Under such circumstances, US Secretary of State Dulles came forward to fight for justice for the United Fruit Company. His brother Alan? Dulles is not only the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, but also a director of United Fruit. The two men joined forces to vilify the country's "land reform".

Because the United States feared that communism would take root in the American backyard at that time, the powerful Dulles brothers could easily persuade President Eisenhower in August 1953 to approve a "successful action" for the CIA to secretly subvert the Ebanz regime. Ebanz resigned under pressure from the United States, and the new President Armas was "hand-picked" by the United States. After taking office, he immediately abolished the "land reform", banned the activities of political parties, set up the secret police, and disbanded trade unions. The farmers, who were about to acquire arable land under Ebanz's rule, suddenly had nothing.

The United States turned a blind eye to this and pretended that Guatemala was the laboratory of political, social and economic reform in Latin America. Armas was unpopular, assassinated in 1957, and Guatemala was plunged into long-term unrest, all as a result of coffee annoying the Yankees and American intervention.

Us: giving up hundreds of millions of inheritance rights for coffee beans

In the 1970s and 1980s, the rulers and generals of Guatemala and El Salvador had huge coffee fields, devouring most of their profits, while farmers had no food to eat. Many farmers, especially Indians, joined the Communist guerrillas and attacked government forces, and the authorities responded with the Holocaust, exacerbating the hatred between coffee farmers and the government. In 1981, General Lucas of Guatemala came to power and swept the guerrillas with an iron fist, resulting in a massacre. It is the United States again, lest Guatemala and El Salvador follow in the footsteps of Nicaragua and be "reduced" to the Communist Party, so they turn a blind eye to the atrocities of government forces and even send helicopters to help sweep down the guerrillas.

Under such circumstances, even many people of insight in the United States have risen up to tell the truth and do something for the suffering coffee farmers. Their efforts have made great contributions to peace in Central and South America.

The great-grandson of the founder of Baoqiao, one of the four largest coffee companies in the world? Campbell lived in El Salvador for two years and hated human rights violations by the military. After returning to the United States, he found that his Foggis Coffee actually bought a large number of raw beans from El Salvador, in order to protest against "Baoqiao" funding the executioner, Ruby? Campbell announced that it would give up the inheritance right of Baoqiao Group, which caused an uproar.

Brazil: coffee abolishes the throne, coffee kills the president

It was only after Brazil and Central American countries separated from the colonial rule of Portugal and Spain in 1821 and 1822 that they began to attach importance to coffee crops. Because of the massive cultivation of coffee, Brazil retained slavery for longer than any other country in the Western Hemisphere. Brazilian coffee owners looking forward to using coffee profits to help Brazil move towards a modern country advocated the abolition of slavery and the implementation of serfdom with higher production capacity and lower production costs, and took advantage of King Pedro II to go abroad. His daughter Princess Isabel signed the Golden Act on May 13, 1888 to liberate all black slaves. A year later, under the activities of coffee owners, the Pedro royal family was forced to hand over the monarchy, and Brazil became a republic. For the next few years, Brazil's national politics was in the hands of the coffee people.

After World War II, relations between the United States and Latin American countries were strained because of small coffee beans. When the price of beans is too high, the United States criticizes the producing countries for hoarding hype; if the price of beans is too low, the producing countries bombard the blood of coffee farmers in the United States. Only when the soybean price is reasonable, the tension can be eased, but the reasonable price will not last long.

In July 1954, the price of Brazilian beans plummeted under the influence of the international coffee market. In order to maintain the price of beans, Brazil was forced to buy beans in excess of demand, spending a lot of money. President Vargas sent representatives to borrow money from the Bank of America to repay the huge debt owed by maintaining soybean prices, but was refused. Brazil's inflation has worsened, its currency has depreciated, and political and economic chaos has emerged one after another. Under the pressure of internal and external difficulties, Vargas shot himself in his bedroom on August 24 that year at the age of 71. "for decades, international consortia have been ravaging our country," he wrote in a suicide note. Trying to prevent me from creating wealth for my country and interfering with our autonomy. Once we defend the stubbornly high soybean price, we will be under unbearable pressure and eventually give in. Now I have nothing to give to my country but blood. " Vargas took power in 1930 because the price of beans collapsed and Brazil fell into an economic crisis. 24 years later, he lost his life because of the sharp fall in the price of coffee beans. His political career, like Brazilian history, is entangled with coffee trees.

Uganda: coffee beans get rid of dictators

After the Ugandan strongman Amin came to power in 1971, he imposed a dictatorship and drove out Asians in the country, which seriously hindered the development of the domestic economy. Only coffee became the lifeblood of the country's economy. Amin's autocratic behavior was condemned internationally, and the New York Times satirized that the United States purchased 200 million US dollars worth of coffee beans from Uganda every year, which was tantamount to subsidizing Amin. Ohio Congressman Donnapis introduced a bill to the House of Representatives asking the US government to stop importing Ugandan coffee in order to force Amin to step down. American General Foods, Baoqiao, Nestl é and other large roasters also issued a joint statement condemning the Ugandan government through the American Coffee Association. In this situation, the United States Congress held a hearing on the situation in Uganda in February 1978 and passed a boycott of Ugandan coffee beans in July. The ban in the United States greatly weakened Amin's financial resources. The morale of his army has been damaged. The following year, Tanzania sent troops to Uganda and Amin was forced to step down. After Amin stepped down, the United States lifted the shipping ban. For a generation of strong man A Ming, Cheng Ye Coffee is also a coffee. American politicians rely on coffee without using a bullet to bring down the Amin regime, adding a legend to the history of coffee.

The United States and the Soviet Union: hot coffee and the Cold War

1956, Economic and Social Advisory meeting of the Organization of American States (ECOSOC? Reports sent to Latin American countries predict future overproduction and that soybean prices are in danger of plummeting again, unless producing countries immediately take strong measures to set quotas and seal up surplus raw beans. This report is not alarmist. Surprisingly, Landau, the State Department representative at the ECOSOC, was the first to sign the agreement. The United States has always been intolerant of collective interference in market supply and demand. Why did the United States change its position this time? The reason is the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union, rather than providing timely assistance. In the mid-1950s, US intelligence showed that the Soviet Union was stepping up its economic and political offensive against all countries in the world, and Latin America was also one of its goals. In horror, the United States had to make some concessions to its backyard neighbors and release some doves of peace. Even Nixon, the then vice president of the United States, began a goodwill trip to South America in an attempt to bring the two sides closer. However, wherever Nixon went, he was abused by the public, threw stones and almost died in a foreign land, and the sound of "Nixon to die" could be heard all the time. The bad impression that the United States used to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and squeeze the blood and sweat of South American coffee farmers cannot be dispelled for a year and a half.

After Nixon was humiliated and returned home, the US authorities realized that the situation was serious and from time to time discussed the issue of coffee with the embassies of Central and South American countries in the United States by telephone. After all, only coffee is the most interesting topic for Latin American countries. Coffee representatives in Colombia threatened Americans: "Coffee farmers are suffering from weak soybean prices, which may affect the attitude of producing countries towards the United States."

In 1960, Brazil deliberately sent a delegation to the Soviet Union to negotiate barter contracts for Soviet oil, wheat and aircraft in exchange for coffee, thus increasing its bargaining chips with the United States. In the same year, Cuban Castro announced an alliance with the Soviet Union and nationalized American companies in the country. The United States feels all the more necessary to sign a coffee quota agreement.

In March 1961, Kennedy made a speech and bowed to the "coffee politics".

In July 1962, the export quota of coffee from various countries was initially determined. After two years of heated debate between the Senate and the House of Representatives in the United States, Uncle Sam finally bowed and the agreement on international coffee quotas came into effect in July 1964. This agreement is Uncle Sam's biggest concession to take advantage of soybean-producing countries, and the United States has also "effectively prevented" the Soviet Union's attempt to "kidnap" African and Latin American soybean-producing countries into its own circle.