Capitalism’s Favorite Drug

Capitalism’s(ˈkapədlˌizəm) Favorite Drug

The dark history of how coffee took over the world

By Michael Pollan

Four hundred years ago, Coffea arabica(əˈrabikə), a tropical(ˈträpək(ə)l) shrub(SHrəb) bearing(ˈberiNG) glossy(ˈɡläsē) green leaves(lēvz) and bright-red berries(ˈberē), was virtually(ˈvərCH(o͞o)əlē) unknown outside of the Arab(ˈerəb) world and the corner of Ethiopia(ˌēTHēˈōpēə) where it had been discovered in the ninth century—by a goatherd(ˈɡōtˌhərd) who, legend(ˈlejənd) has it, noticed that his animals(ˈanəməl) would get frisky(ˈfriskē) and stay up all night after nibbling(ˈnibəl) its berries. In the years since people figured out that coffee could affect us in similar ways, the plant(plant) has done a great deal for our species(ˈspēsēz, ˈspēSHēz), and our species in turn has done a great deal for the plant. We have given it more than 27 million acres(ˈākər) of new habitat(ˈhabəˌtat) all around the world, assigned 25 million farming families to its care and feeding, and bid up its price until it became one of the most valuable(ˈvaly(o͞o)əb(ə)l) globally(ˈɡlōbəlē) traded(trād) crops. Not bad for a shrub(SHrəb) that is neither edible(ˈedəb(ə)l) nor particularly beautiful or easy to grow.

Coffee owes its global ascendancy(əˈsendənsē) to a fortuitous(fôrˈto͞oədəs) evolutionary(ˌevəˈlo͞oSHəˌnerē) accident(ˈaksədənt): The chemical(ˈkemək(ə)l) compound(ˈkämˌpound) that the plant makes to defend itself against insects(ˈinˌsekt) happens to alter human consciousness(ˈkän(t)SHəsnəs) in ways we find desirable, making us more energetic(ˌenərˈjedik) and industrious(inˈdəstrēəs)—and notably better workers. That chemical of course is caffeine(kaˈfēn), which is now the world’s most popular psychoactive(ˌsīkōˈaktiv) drug, used daily by 80 percent of humanity. (It is the only such drug we routinely(ro͞oˈtēnlē) give to our children, in the form of soda.) Along with the tea plant, which produces the same compound in its leaves, coffee has helped create exactly the kind of world that coffee needs to thrive: a world driven by consumer capitalism, ringed by global trade, and dominated(ˈdäməˌnāt) by a species that can now barely get out of bed without its help.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/04/michael-pollan-coffee/606805/