Eddie Wesson (Year 12), a regular customer at Upper School café, Ned’s Place, and a trained barista, delves into the history and social significance of coffee BREWING UP A STORM
I magine a world without it. Not the nicest idea for many – the absence of that rich aroma of a freshly brewed coffee in the morning, the 3am study session without a black coffee at your side, the daily commute lacking a latte. Coffee – and caffeine more broadly – forms an integral part of our day-to-day lives, and has shaped our society into the productive workforce it is today. Productivity is at the heart of the history of our coffee habit, as demonstrated by the key legal case of the United States vs Phil Greinetz (1955). Greinetz, who owned a Denver tie company, introduced mandatory coffee breaks for his workers, not out of the kindness of his heart, but
because he had identified that caffeinated workers are productive workers. Studies done since then have proved his hypothesis to be correct, showing that caffeine con- sumption improves alertness, vigilance, reaction time and attention. It’s a drug that improves performance across the board (literally, in the case of chess). Due to this, the court ruled, in the Greinetz case, that employers must compensate workers for their breaks, since their busi- nesses benefit from increased productivity and output as a result of those mandatory coffee breaks. The discovery of coffee can be traced back to Ethiopia in 850 AD. According to tradition, a herder noticed that his goats became jumpy after eating the berries of an Arabica plant (caffeine jitters, anyone?). He then gave the berries to a local monk, who used them to make the world’s first cup of coffee. The monks found that the drink helped keep them alert during long hours of prayer. Still used today, Arabica beans are now the world’s most popular bean; they and their sub-varieties make up nearly 60% of all coffee beans grown worldwide. The name dates back to the 7th century, in a nod to their production on the Arabian Peninsula (modern-day Saudi Arabia and Yemen). Arabica beans have a distinctive sweet and nutty fla- vour, as opposed to the bitter and earthy flavour of their main rival, Robusta beans, which make up around 40% of worldwide exports. Here at the College, Ned’s Place uses Arabica beans provided by Change Please, a charity combatting homelessness by training homeless people to be baristas and providing them with support. At the time of writing, Ned’s Place uses Adventurous beans, which have hints of buttery vanilla, hazelnut and caramel, with a milk chocolate finish.
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