Black Gold

Black Gold
Antony Wild

The extraordinary tale of the wildfire spread of a drink which is embedded in our history and our daily cultural life – and which provides a compelling allegory for corporate greed, mercantile ruthlessness and global expansion.Arguably the most valuable legally traded commodity in the world after oil, coffee's dark five-hundred year history links alchemy and anthropology, poetry and politics, and science and slavery. Revolutions have been hatched in coffee houses, secret socities and commercial alliances formed, and politics and art endlessly debated.With over a hundred million people looking to it for their livelihood, the coffee industry is now the world's largest employer and the financial lifeblood of many third-world countries (or the blood with which they feed the global capitalist vampire, depending on your point of view). But with world prices at a historic low, the future looks uncertain. In this thought-provoking exposé, Antony Wild, coffee trader and historian, explores coffee's dismal colonial past and its perilous corporate present, revealing the shocking exploitation at the heart of the industry.To many people, coffee has become largely just another commodity. Black Gold restores our faith in the mystery of this unique beverage.

Copyright (#ulink_bd0dae87-8933-51dd-9570-6aa9541fc51b)

4th Estate

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This eBook first published by 4th Estate in 2019

First published as Coffee: A Dark History by 4th Estate 2004

Copyright © Antony Wild 2004

PS Section copyright © Antony Wild 2005

‘The Importance of Cupping Protocol’ by Mike Riley, courtesy of the author

PS

is a trademark of HarperCollinsPublishers

Antony Wild asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780008353438

Ebook Edition © 2019 ISBN: 9780007387601

Version: 2019-05-09

Contents

Cover (#ud89ac89c-be46-59cb-a343-1b3ad5748402)

Title page (#ub2eb6f24-4798-5fe8-9611-c094902924ba)

Copyright (#u62543dfd-4847-5af7-852b-1b1aadf30a22)

Preface (#u35053111-0efc-5cfe-bcd0-8f2914eed8c2)

Prologue (#ub831d52d-c4e0-50a1-b155-e632f88e719b)

Introduction (#u7f73fcbe-d66e-5385-bdcc-8b11e4856f58)

1 The Way We Live Now (#u2ac092e6-2124-5457-bbaf-3c222c7d78dd)

2 Origins (#u7c1dbc8c-bc0d-504a-8fc2-c72520c38abc)

3 Enter the Dragon (#ufb2007ab-e1f9-5d99-9304-6772148f4fa0)

4 The Mocha Trade (#uca88494d-00ab-5378-89e0-e8df4935a0ee)

5 Coffee and Societies (#litres_trial_promo)

6 The Fall of Mocha (#litres_trial_promo)

7 Slavery and the Coffee Colonies (#litres_trial_promo)

8 The Continental System and Napoleon’s Alternative to Coffee (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Napoleon and St Helena (#litres_trial_promo)

10 Slavery, Brazil, and Coffee (#litres_trial_promo)

11 The Great Exhibition (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Harar and Rimbaud: the Cradle and the Crucible (#litres_trial_promo)

13 Modern Times (#litres_trial_promo)

14 Coffee, Science, and History (#litres_trial_promo)

15 The Battle of the Hemispheres (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Fair Trade (#litres_trial_promo)

17 Espresso: the Esperanto of Coffee (#litres_trial_promo)

18 The Heart of Darkness (#litres_trial_promo)

Coda (#litres_trial_promo)

Appendix – The Find at Kush (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

List of Illustrations (#litres_trial_promo)