The story of coffee in the US is linked to the story of how coffee was grown and traded around the world. The history of how coffee got to the United States is shown below:
Colonial America: At first, tea was more popular than coffee in the American colonies. But as things got worse between the colonies and Britain, colonists looked for options to tea, which made coffee more popular.
Revolutionary War Era: In the 1800s, during the Revolutionary War, the famous Boston Tea Party, which was a protest against British tea taxes, caused Americans to change the way they drank. As a patriotic alternative to tea, which was linked to British rule, coffee became more popular.
Dutch Influence: Coffee trees were brought to the Dutch settlement of Java in Southeast Asia by the Dutch in the early 1700s. Later, the Dutch brought coffee farming to their South American settlement in Suriname. The Dutch had an effect on how coffee was grown, which helped coffee spread around the world.
Caribbean Effects: Growing coffee grew in the Caribbean, especially in Saint-Domingue, which is now Haiti and was a French colony. It later spread to Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States got coffee from these Caribbean regions through trade.
Expansion of Coffee Plantations in the Americas: The number of coffee farms grew in the Americas. Coffee farming spread to more areas, and now there are plantations in both Central and South America. Since the 1800s, Brazil has been a big coffee grower, and its coffee has been coming to the US.
Coffee and the Civil War: Soldiers on both sides of the American Civil War (1861–1865) drank a lot of coffee. The desire for coffee went through the roof, making it even more common in American society.
Growth of Coffee Shops and Culture: People continued to drink more coffee in the late 1800s and early 1900s. People liked to meet up in coffee shops and bars, and the coffee culture we know today started to take shape.
20th Century Trends: In the 20th century, trends like the rise of coffee shops like Starbucks and the wide availability of already-ground coffee were big events. For many Americans, coffee became something they did every day.
Trends in Specialty Coffee: There was a move towards specialty coffee at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. People started to value high-quality beans that were found in an ethical way, and the artisanal coffee trend grew.
The United States is one of the biggest coffee users in the world today. There are a lot of different kinds of coffee in American culture, from gourmet brews to instant coffee.