# 1950s/1960s: What was it about coffee? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** coffee\ **Created:** [December 27, 2025, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088 "2025-12-27T10:24:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/21 "2025-12-27T16:46:28Z")
I’ve also noticed how coffee washed down hamburgers in scenes showing old 1940s diners in movies. I guess Coca Cola became an aggressive marketing force with all the money they earned supplying the troops in WWII And then we all got fat. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/22 "2025-12-27T16:50:48Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Do they still give endless coffee refills in American diners? In my experience, yes, both at mom-and-pop diners and breakfast places, as well as chain places. If you order a regular coffee (as opposed to a fancy coffee drink, if the place even offers those), it’s almost always unlimited refills. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/23 "2025-12-27T16:51:45Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > American coffee, like American beer, is famous worldwide for being like fucking in a canoe: bloody close to water. When other countries copy their coffee drinking habits you get sleepless nights. > Starbucks changed that, it seems. And a faible for craft beers is aparently improving beer over there, we’ll see whether this lasts. It feels so out of caracter. I think you and your compatriots are relying on old memes as fact. I buy, brew and drink Ethiopian coffee made with an espresso machine. I’m sure there are still people who drink Maxwell House or some blend like that, but people who really like coffee drink properly roasted, ground and brewed java. Good coffee houses make a proper cup and I personally loathe Starbucks. As for beer, you do know that there is this process called importing that allows one to drink beer that is brewed in Europe 😄. The trend for craft beers seems to be waning a bit, but all pubs that hope to stay open have locally brewed beers, ales and IPAs on tap and I can’t imagine anybody craving the good old days of pisswater brews, although Pabst made a comeback for reasons unknown and unfathomable to me. And don’t get me started on “lite” beer. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/24 "2025-12-27T16:53:07Z")
I used to drink a lot of coffee and caffeinated soda at all hours of the day. I calculated I was consuming about 800mg a day of caffeine, at all hours of the day (including at night). It never bothered my sleep, I guess because my body was adjusted to it. However after I quit drinking caffeine regularly, if I drink it at night it does keep me up now. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/25 "2025-12-27T16:55:30Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > although Pabst made a comeback for reasons unknown and unfathomable to me. 2010s hipsters drinking it “ironically” ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/26 "2025-12-27T16:57:37Z")
Because coffee went well with the cigarettes everyone smoked constantly. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/27 "2025-12-27T16:57:50Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > 2010s hipsters drinking it “ironically” Well that’s two ways to piss away one’s money. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/28 "2025-12-27T17:00:42Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I think you and your compatriots are relying on old memes as fact. You’re not trying to ruin my preconceptions, are you? > [@Chefguy](#): > > And don’t get me started on “lite” beer. An abomination, no doubt about it. You could only make it worse by pouring instant coffee into it and stirring. Don’t try this, you’ll be sorry you brought this subject up. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/29 "2025-12-27T17:02:46Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > American coffee, like American beer, is famous worldwide for being like fucking in a canoe: bloody close to water. [nitpick] It’s like making love in a canoe: Fucking near water. [/np] ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/30 "2025-12-27T17:08:58Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I think you and your compatriots are relying on old memes as fact. Possibly so. It’s been discussed on these boards many times, but mass-market coffee in the U.S., after WWII, and up through the '80s, was generally terrible. The big consumer brands (Maxwell House, Folgers, Chase and Sanborn, etc.) had largely switched from arabica beans to the more-bitter robusta beans, initially during the war (due to availability), but afterwards, because robusta beans were cheaper. The net was that American coffee had become bitter and nasty, but people who were already coffee drinkers didn’t really notice (or care much about) the switch, as (AIUI) it had happened gradually. So, those adults who were drinking coffee constantly in the '50s and '60s were likely drinking some (comparatively) nasty stuff. As a result, young people in that era (and into the '70s) who tried coffee for the first time were largely turned off by it, because of the bitterness. I was born in 1965, and when I was in high school and college, virtually no one in my generation drank coffee, and those who did were doing so entirely for the caffeine value. I suspect that you could probably get good, arabica-based coffee back then, if you went to a restaurant with a European cuisine, which served imported European-style coffee, but that would have been the exception to the rule. It was in the '80s when companies like Peets and Starbucks started offering arabica-based coffee in the U.S., that widely-available coffee started to become good here again. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/31 "2025-12-27T17:11:38Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > You’re not trying to ruin my preconceptions, are you? Quite possibly, though I wasted a lot of breath in the past trying to convince my fellow Americans that all French women don’t stink, German food is NOT horrible, Africans don’t actually have bones in their noses and not all Italians are Mafioso. Talk about an uphill battle. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/32 "2025-12-27T17:12:24Z")
Interesting info about percolated coffee-it was all I ever served at convention hospitality suites. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/33 "2025-12-27T17:19:50Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I dimly remember a saying or meme that went something like this: “What’s a programmer? It’s a machine you pour coffee in and generates code”. Maybe someone has a better memory and can remember the correct quote. I haven’t encountered that particular variation, but there’s a well-known (among mathematicians) quote that “a mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/34 "2025-12-27T17:21:32Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Because coffee went well with the cigarettes everyone smoked constantly. I’m not a smoker, but it’s my impression that smoking, especially if you do it constantly, tends to dry out one’s mouth, so people may have wanted something to sip on. And soft drinks weren’t consumed in nearly such large quantities back then. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/35 "2025-12-27T17:22:53Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > American beer, is famous worldwide for being like fucking in a canoe: bloody close to water. Nitpick..the Monty python line is: "Drinking American beer is like making love in a canoe-- it’s fucking close to water. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/36 "2025-12-27T17:23:28Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I haven’t encountered that particular variation, but there’s a well-known (among mathematicians) quote that “a mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems.” Yeah, that’s it. Exchange “mathematician” with “programmer” and “theorems” with “code”, and you have the quote I was thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/37 "2025-12-27T17:31:09Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > I’ve also noticed how coffee washed down hamburgers in scenes showing old 1940s diners in movies. If 80s sci-fi comedies are any guide, it was what you’d receive at a diner in the 50s after ordering “something without any sugar in it.” ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/38 "2025-12-27T17:34:17Z")
> > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > 2010s hipsters drinking it “ironically” Well, let’s not also forget that it was incredibly cheap, especially compared to the microbrews that my local hipster bar is also served. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/39 "2025-12-27T17:43:33Z")
Once a batch of coffee is made, it’s use it or let it get rancid. For the goodwill that both free refills and non-rancid coffee earns, some places think it’s worth it. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/40 "2025-12-27T17:44:37Z")
Technology Connections did a video about how terrible percolators are at making coffee. I have no opinion; I don’t drink the vile stuff no matter how it’s made. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/E9avjD9ugXc/maxresdefault.jpg "Coffee Percolators: An Explanation and Roast") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9avjD9ugXc) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088.md?page=3)