It’s election season, and we want to take a few minutes to reflect on how coffee has impacted our 239 years of history. We’ve compiled a list of presidents known for their love for coffee and the great accomplishments carried out as a result of the hallowed beverage. #Coffee2020?
George Washington
Everybody adores our first president and his extensive legacy of bringing the United States independence from Britain.
We bet you know that George Washington had wooden teeth and crossed the Delaware river during the revolution, but did you know he also once ordered 200 pounds of coffee in 1770?
Coffee made the American Revolution possible - frequent planning sessions happened solely in coffeehouses because they inspired creative and egalitarian problem-solving.
Not to mention, our nation’s father drank the good stuff everyday. Thank you coffee for FREEDOM.
(Disclaimer: Do not confuse our founding father with George Constant Louis Washington, who was the first to mass produce instant coffee in 1910.)
Image courtesy of: http://cdn.history.com
John Adams
John Adams was known as a relatively short and hot-tempered man, especially when compared to Washington and Jefferson.
While he was known to love tea, after the Boston Tea Party in 1773, he pronounced tea “unpatriotic,” and switched his morning beverage over to coffee.
His contribution to the United States is by no means short. Alongside fighting for a strong central government and the establishment of republicanism in our current political system, he also fathered the American Navy, all while fueled on coffee.
Image courtesy of: http://cdn.history.com
Thomas Jefferson
“[Coffee is] the favorite beverage of the civilised world,” is probably Jefferson’s most important written work, maybe with the exception of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson loved coffee - he imported beans from the West Indies because they were that much better than all other beans. You can tell he has refined tastes because his face is featured on the two dollar bill.
He definitely powered through writing several of our nation’s most important documents with endless cups of coffee. We can’t even begin to imagine where we would be as a country without his caffeinated brain.
(Side note: How many times do you think he had to get up to go to the bathroom? Too bad he didn’t have CoffeeBars at the time.)
Image courtesy of http://features.aol.co
Abraham Lincoln
If you wanted to take Abe Lincoln out on a date, you’d have to opt for an afternoon coffee date, as “he was almost entirely indifferent to food, except that he liked apples and hot coffee,” as many historians note.
A man of many achievements and little time, Abraham Lincoln was known to eat very irregularly - his White House kitchen staff reported that most days, he would only eat a breakfast of an egg, toast, and a cup of coffee and then disappear for the rest of the day.
Clearly, he didn’t need much food to make a huge impact. Between the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation (the document that stated that all slaves were officially free) and his Gettysburg Address (Four score and seven years ago…), Lincoln is one of our most treasured presidents in history.
Could he have done it all without coffee? Maybe. Will we ever know? Nope.
Abe + Coffee = Forever
Image courtesy of https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abraham-Lincoln/Leadership-in-war
Theodore Roosevelt
Teddy Roosevelt drank one gallon of coffee everyday. That’s 16 CUPS. This man was serious about his coffee.
One time, he visited Maxwell Coffeehouse in Nashville and coined their slogan “Good to the last drop” after drinking a full cup of their coffee.
There’s no denying that he depended on the drink during his surprise rise to the presidency following President McKinley’s assassination.
Through the power of many, many cups of coffee, Teddy Roosevelt successfully negotiated peace in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906!
Image courtesy of http://www.baerpm.com
John F. Kennedy
JFK owes his political career in part to coffee. In 1952, two ads aired for “Coffee with the Kennedy’s” where he and his family held conversations over coffee in several Massachusetts homes.
As president, he was known to have coffee with several members of Congress, making it easier for him to relate to them on different issues. This similar method of conflict-resolution was seen in his establishment of the Peace Corps in 1960, prompting young students to actively make measures to initiate peace in areas that needed it.
From Brookline, Massachusetts (go Boston!) to the world, coffee helped JFK to his rise to success.
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As we can see, coffee has had a substantial impact on the development of our nation, and in this particularly political time, we should always remember the unifying force across our nation: the love for coffee.
Don’t forget to vote this season!
