There's a cup sitting on my desk.
It seems ordinary. But inside that cup is a history of religion, information, commerce, empire, labor—and one of the most widely consumed psychoactive drugs on Earth.
Long before coffee became the fuel of offices, factories, night shifts and morning commutes, people gathered around it to pray, talk, exchange news, argue about politics and do business.
In this episode of The Rosenberg Podcast, Dan Rosenberg follows coffee from its early use in Yemen through the coffeehouses of the Ottoman world, into the information networks of London, the beginnings of Lloyd's, the industrial workplace, the coffee break—and eventually the energy drink.
It's the story of how a drink became a social network, an information network, and eventually something remarkably well suited to a world obsessed with productivity.
And it raises a strange question:
Did modern civilization simply develop a taste for coffee—or did coffee help shape modern civilization?
The Rosenberg Podcast is a podcast about history, psychology, technology, communication, mystery, and the ideas and hidden forces that shape the world around us.
Hosted by Dan Rosenberg, from the eastern edge of The Pacific.
Go further down the rabbit hole
If this episode made you look at your morning coffee a little differently, The World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffmann is a beautiful deep dive into where coffee comes from, how it's grown and processed, and the enormous world behind what's in your cup.
The World Atlas of Coffee — James Hoffmann
https://amzn.to/45xQdsh
Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi Turkish Coffee
This is the Turkish coffee I personally drink and recommend. Mehmet Efendi has been making coffee in Istanbul since the 19th century, so it also has a nice connection to the Ottoman and Turkish coffee culture I talk about in this episode:
https://amzn.to/4xHHUpA
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What is The Rosenberg Podcast?
The Rosenberg Podcast is a weekly trip through the strange, fascinating and occasionally ridiculous things happening in our world.
Join Dan Rosenberg from the eastern edge of the Pacific for an unpredictable mix of strange news, science, technology, mysteries, unexplained phenomena, unusual discoveries, internet rabbit holes and whatever else has him asking, “Wait…what?”
Some weeks we'll go deep. Other weeks we'll wander completely off course.
That's kind of the point.
New episodes weekly.