Stars, Stripes and Grinds: Coffee, America’s first favorite drink

Everyone knows (or should know) that coffee is America’s favorite beverage, with more Americans choosing coffee every day (nearly 60%) than tap water. But did you know that coffee has played an important role in American history? It turns out that Independence Day gives us all kinds of new reasons to celebrate coffee as America’s brew of choice everywhere from Main Street to the White House.?

Some might assume that tea would play a bigger role than coffee in America’s history, but drinking coffee in America is actually older than America itself – there’s evidence that the first cup of coffee consumed in what was to become the United States was brewed by Jamestown settlers in 1607.?

More than a century later, early patriots gathered in coffee houses, sharing revolutionary ideas and sipping coffee instead of the tea more associated with the British Empire. In fact, drinking coffee became a political statement in the colonies. John Adams, our second president, concluded forcefully in one of his famous letters to his wife Abigail: “Tea must be universally renounced…” (Don’t worry, tea friends, we don’t agree, and think we can all get along.)

It’s been said that the Continental Congress declared coffee the national drink, and starting with our first president, America’s leaders have had some strong feelings about coffee. George Washington imported coffee from Yemen and even attempted to grow coffee (not so successfully) at Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson is said to have roasted his own beans, designed a silver coffee urn to his own specifications, and kept 60 pounds of coffee in the cellars at Monticello.

The presidential coffee history doesn’t stop with the Founding Fathers. In 1832, President Andrew Jackson changed army rations to include coffee and sugar rather than rum and brandy, further popularizing coffee with soldiers and the public and spiking U.S. coffee imports from 12 million pounds per year to more than 38 million pounds.?

By the time the Civil War broke out, the United States was importing more than 182 million pounds of coffee, much of it arriving through the port of New Orleans. When President Lincoln established a blockade of Confederate ports following secession, coffee was among the products blocked and became a coveted, hard-to-find luxury in Southern states. Confederate troops tried to substitute all kinds of substitutes including roasted corn, rye, sweet potatoes, and chicory - but, just like today, no fake brew can come close to substituting for the real thing.??

The military might also have been the source of the American slang for coffee - a “cup of Joe.” It’s possible the phrase refers to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels who in 1914 banned alcohol aboard U.S. Navy ships, leading sailors to drink more coffee.?

America’s first pre-roasted and packaged coffee was made by Pittsburgh-based brothers John and Charles Arbuckle. Their "Arosia" coffee was popular across the American west, helping to fuel the country’s westward expansion. Arosia paved the way for James Folger to begin selling coffee to the gold miners of California, followed by the founding of other modern brands like Maxwell House and Hills Brothers.?

Before World War II, Americans were drinking about 20 pounds of coffee per adult per year, but the war led to rationing. In February 1943, the ration was reduced to just one pound every six weeks, one of the most unpopular wartime sacrifices made by the Greatest Generation. After just five months, President Franklin Roosevelt made coffee one of the first items to be removed from the rationing list.

Many more recent presidents have also enjoyed coffee. John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. and George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton are known coffee drinkers. George H. W. Bush was said to enjoy as many as ten cups per day. President Barack Obama was more often seen drinking tea than coffee, but reports indicate his White House ordered both regular and decaf coffee from a farm in the president’s home state of Hawaii.

President Joe Biden has been spotted drinking coffee while walking his dogs, and Vice President Kamala Harris has posted on social media that she also enjoys America’s favorite brew.?

These are just some fun reminders that coffee is at the heart of American history, American communities, and the American economy. The coffee industry supports more than 1.7 million jobs in the United States and 125 million farmers around the world. It might even be more American than apple pie.?

NCA: We Serve Coffee.

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