Meanwhile, the Brazilians had got into the act. In 1727, a Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Melo Palheta came to arbitrate a border dispute between the French and the Dutch colonies in Guyana. By all reports, he did his job well, but while he was at it, he shacked up with the wife of the Governor of French Guyana. When Palheta departed, the lady saw him off with a bouquet containing hidden coffee cuttings and fertile seeds.In 1773, Americans threw coffee and tea overboard to protest English taxes on the nation, bringing about The Boston Tea Party and spurring a revolution. In Europe at the same time, Prussia’s Frederick the Great tried to block imports of green coffee to stop Prussia’s economy going south. He needn’t have bothered, for the public outcry that ensued soon proved impossible to bare and he revoked the ban.Fast forward 120 years and the local roasting shop and coffee mill is a commonplace sight in most western cities – that is, until Hills Bros. begin packing roast coffee in vacuum tins, destroying the roasting shop industry for all but a few large companies in the process.
Meanwhile, the Brazilians had got into the act. In 1727, a Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Melo Palheta came to arbitrate a border dispute between the French and the Dutch colonies in Guyana. By all reports, he did his job well, but while he was at it, he shacked up with the wife of the Governor of French Guyana. When Palheta departed, the lady saw him off with a bouquet containing hidden coffee cuttings and fertile seeds.In 1773, Americans threw coffee and tea overboard to protest English taxes on the nation, bringing about The Boston Tea Party and spurring a revolution. In Europe at the same time, Prussia’s Frederick the Great tried to block imports of green coffee to stop Prussia’s economy going south. He needn’t have bothered, for the public outcry that ensued soon proved impossible to bare and he revoked the ban.Fast forward 120 years and the local roasting shop and coffee mill is a commonplace sight in most western cities – that is, until Hills Bros. begin packing roast coffee in vacuum tins, destroying the roasting shop industry for all but a few large companies in the process.