In the Western world, coffee consumption is around one-third that of tap water. After petroleum, coffee is the second-most traded commodity in the world. Over 7 million metric tons are produced annually. By the end of 2015, Great Britain had more than 20,000 coffee shops across the country, and even after fifteen years of rapid expansion, Britain's coffee-shop sector still continues to grow. Despite the fact that a pope once called it ‘the devil’s drink’, there is a jar in every kitchen and it is a fact of life that drinking coffee is here to stay.

Whether you drink instant or fresh, decaff or espresso, this book brings together the facts and ephemera relating to this globally crucial beverage, examining its origins and the stories of its discovery, its production and its growing popularity over time. In doing so it shines a light on coffee’s important place in British life.

• Author of the successful 'Tea: A Very British History'. This will

  be a companion volume

• Full-colour illustrated

  history of the world’s most fashionable drink

• Covers early origins, the

  arrival of coffee in Europe and subsequently in England, the part coffee has

  played in British history, the old English coffee house and its development

  into the coffee house today, modern coffee culture

• Accompanied by a host of

  fascinating facts and figures and more than forty illustrations

• Reviews in the national

  press to include the Daily Mail

• The perfect book to stock in

  high-street bookshops and cafés throughout the country