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A History of Coffee

by James Harper

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Filter Stories - Coffee Documentaries

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Latest episodes

Guatemala’s Inconvenient Truth, Part 2: Who does specialty serve?

April 20, 2026 · 29 min

Specialty coffee changes the story for the indigenous people of Guatemala. Coffee as a tool of oppression finally offers hope....and then something a bit more complicated. This episode explores the tension between the values of the Mayan…
Guatemala’s Inconvenient Truth, Part 1: Whose land is it anyway?

April 20, 2026 · 44 min

When you buy a bag of coffee labelled fifth-generation family farm, it feels like a good choice. But in Guatemala, that label might actually be a signal for a more uncomfortable truth. This episode explores how land has been understood…
Surrogates: Anything but the coffee

March 2, 2026 · 46 min

What happens when coffee disappears? This is not a thought experiment! It’s happened many times in history: War, blockades, tariffs, ideology, health panics, sanctions, supply shocks. When coffee is not around, people still need something…
Mother Coffee: The history and heritage of Ethiopia’s wild coffee forests

February 9, 2026 · 49 min

Most coffee is grown on vast plantations using machines, pesticides and fertilisers. But in Ethiopia, coffee grows wild in humid forests surrounded by birds. And that wild coffee matters more than most of us realise. It is the genetic…
We Built This City…On Coffee: Hamburg and the making of Europe’s coffee trade

January 5, 2026 · 50 min

On a long walk through Hamburg, somewhere between the fish markets and giant cranes, you might stumble a giant bronze coffee bean looks like its crash landed from space. But this giant coffee bean represents a staggering fact: one in…

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Introducing: Series Three of A History of Coffee

December 1, 2025 · 3 min

We’re back with more stories about the tiny psychoactive seed that changed the world and continues to shape our lives today. Is it possible to follow the story not just to Ethiopia, not just to a single town, but all the way back to one…
4) Just Friends? America’s love affair with coffee

April 17, 2023 · 44 min

America is coffee-obsessed. From Central Perk’s red couch being the centre of major plot twists in Friends to the fact the average American drank more than two cups a day. And the conventional explanation is pretty straightforward: an…
3) Espresso Lungo: The slow road to Italy’s democratic espresso culture

April 17, 2023 · 45 min

One morning back in the ‘80s, Howard Schultz walks out of his Milan hotel, stumbles into an espresso bar, and fundamentally changes coffee history. He discovered (and then popularises) the iconic, timeless Italian coffee experience: Rich…
2) A Lasting Stain: Haiti, Colonialism and Coffee

April 17, 2023 · 48 min

Haiti was once the biggest, most profitable coffee growing region in the world. But today Haiti is one of the world’s poorest nations where you can’t get a bag of Haitian beans delivered to Berlin in a week for love nor money. In this…
1) It’s Just Coffee? How coffee houses changed the world

April 17, 2023 · 45 min

A coffee shop is a lot more than just a place to drink coffee. The seats and sofas encourage you to invite a friend, and chat. And chatting is powerful: ideas that emerge from these caffeine-fuelled conversations give birth to modern…
Introducing: Series Two of A History of Coffee

April 3, 2023 · 5 min

We're back with more stories about the tiny psychoactive seed that changed the world and continues to shape our lives today. In Series Two, we reveal how the invention of the coffee shop revolutionised societies, why colonialism, racism…
BONUS: Coffee’s Ticking Time Bomb

May 31, 2022 · 46 min

We have an exciting announcement....AND, a story about Sri Lanka and coffee history we think you're really going to like. Sri Lankan coffee has delicious notes of chocolate and caramel. But it’s basically impossible to find, and we’re…

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About the show

A History of Coffee is the story of how a tiny psychoactive seed changed the world and shapes our lives today. Across six episodes, documentary maker James Harper and professional historian Jonathan Morris narrate how humans race coffee across oceans to keep up with demand for this addictive drink. Coffee creates enormous fortunes for some, and misery for others. Sometimes the environment benefits, but more often it is plundered. If we want to make coffee a more equitable industry that’s also kinder to the environment, a place to start is understanding the stories and systems that put the coffee into your cup this morning. Press the Subscribe button so you don’t miss future episodes! Follow Jonathan Morris @coffeehistoryjm and James Harper @filterstoriespodcast. Read full transcripts at www.historyofcoffee.org.