Lecture Description
400 years ago, coffee was $35 a cup at today’s prices. 300 years later, it fell to $3 a cup. This lecture unpacks the roles of colonialism, slavery and industrialisation in driving coffee prices down and embedded coffee consumption into everybody’s lives. Led by coffee historian and author Professor Jonathan Morris and moderated by documentary maker James Harper, the session shows how the seeds of today’s ecological, economic and social sustainability crises were planted centuries ago. Starting in 1600s, Yemeni coffee was a scarce, expensive luxury savored by European elites. Slavery and colonialism in the 1700s Caribbean began coffee’s price fall accompanied by staggering human suffering. Brazil’s industrialisation, deforestation, slavery and wealth concentration finally drove prices to today’s price floor and mass market drinking culture. For lasting solutions to today’s sustainability crises, it's crucial to understand the historical factors that continue to keep prices low.
Date: Saturday, April 13, 2024
Time: 10:15am - 11:15am
Room Number: S401ABC
Instructor
James Harper (he/him)
Audio Documentary Maker, Filter Stories Podcast
James Harper is the creator of Filter Stories, a podcast that uses our morning coffee as a lens to understand the world. His narratives explore history, science and sustainability.
Since 2018, he has produced narrative audio for the BBC, Porsche, SCA, 5THWAVE, and others.
Growing up in Australia and Italy, James began his career at the Bank of England, but decided to follow his passion for coffee in 2015. After working in Melbourne and Berlin’s coffee scenes, his love of storytelling and burning curiosity to understand the layers of the coffee industry led him to starting the Filter Stories Podcast.
Professor Jonathan Morris (he/him)
The Coffee Historian, University of Hertfordshire
Jonathan Morris aka the Coffee Historian is a Research Professor in History and the Director of Research Culture and Environment for the University of Hertfordshire, UK. His book Coffee: A Global History analyses the evolution of the coffee industry, and how coffee became popular the world over. Jonathan is the co-creator of the A History of Coffee podcast series, which explains how coffee’s dark history laid the foundations for the current sustainability crisis. He is a judge of the SCAs World of Coffee Best New Product Awards and winner of the 2023 Sprudgie for Best Coffee Writing of the year.