# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/141 "2026-01-05T18:41:18Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Where I am, all the Costcos got rid of the coffee grinders years ago. Unfortunately, even in Costco, which generally filters out the worst of the public by its membership fee, people were doing things like putting hot dogs in the coffee grinders, so they had to get rid of them. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/142 "2026-01-05T18:58:34Z")
I don’t think it’s that they returned home from a party elsewhere at 11 pm and they put on the coffee- because you’re right , why wouldn’t they just go to sleep . In my memory of TV parties ( and I think in the OP) it was the person who hosted the party who was putting on the coffee and everyone was drinking it to stay awake for the drive home. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2026, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/143 "2026-01-05T19:09:57Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > In my memory of TV parties ( and I think in the OP) it was the person who hosted the party who was putting on the coffee and everyone was drinking it to stay awake for the drive home. Those really were different times. Stupid times… ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/144 "2026-01-05T19:20:08Z")
Yes, that makes more sense. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2026, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/145 "2026-01-05T19:22:46Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > In my memory of TV parties ( and I think in the OP) it was the person who hosted the party who was putting on the coffee and everyone was drinking it to stay awake for the drive home. And, there was, as I remember it from back in the '70s, a mistaken belief that coffee would help “sober you up,” as mentioned in earlier posts about the TV shows. Of course, we now know that all it does is make you a more-awake drunk. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/146 "2026-01-05T20:18:36Z")
My memory is a little different - I don’t remember people in the 70s even _caring_ about sobering up for the drive home, just staying awake. But that also could have just been the people I knew. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/147 "2026-01-05T20:42:53Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > That’s still standard in full service restaurants, i.e. any restaurant where they seat you and bring everything to your table as the meal progresses. Also often soft drinks. And hot water for tea, but generally no more tea bags. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/148 "2026-01-05T21:09:41Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > My memory is a little different - I don’t remember people in the 70s even _caring_ about sobering up for the drive home, just staying awake. But that also could have just been the people I knew. Yes, driving drink wasnt taken very seriously at the time. But even if drinking the coffee didn’t help you get sober, waiting around for the coffee to brew, Ave then chatting with the other guests over coffee probably made a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/149 "2026-01-05T23:29:00Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I don’t remember people in the 70s even _caring_ about sobering up for the drive home, just staying awake. Anybody in the 70s knew that’s what cocaine was for; not coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/150 "2026-01-05T23:34:49Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > > > That’s still standard in full service restaurants, i.e. any restaurant where they seat you and bring everything to your table as the meal progresses. > > Also often soft drinks. And hot water for tea, but generally no more tea bags. Bottomless soft drinks are a relatively recent thing (Taco Bell, 1988). Free refills for coffee goes back a hundred or more years in the US. Somewhere along the line because tea was “coffee adjacent” free refills of iced tea began being offered, which opened the door to the rest of the soft drinks. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2026, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/151 "2026-01-05T23:52:49Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Bottomless soft drinks are a relatively recent thing (Taco Bell, 1988) Taco Bell may have kicked it off for fast-food restaurants in 1988 but some sit-down restaurants had free refills on soft drinks earlier . And some still don’t. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/152 "2026-01-06T00:20:06Z")
The first I remember was in 1982. Islands which is a small regional chain now. 19 year old me was thrilled. ---
**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:** [January 6, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/153 "2026-01-06T00:23:21Z")
Fountain pop is dirt-cheap compared even to grocery stores’ bargain brand soda, because the soda gets shipped to the restaurant in condensed syrup form and cylinders of CO2, reconstituted with local tap water. The profit margin on pop more or less keeps the fast food restaurants open. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/154 "2026-01-06T00:33:45Z")
When I worked at McDonald’s in 1980 or so, it was still in the era of people behind the counter filling the cups of soda. At some point, some accountant figured out that it they put the soda machine in the seating area and let people make their own drinks, they will go through more soda but they could have one or two fewer people working at any given time and it would save a lot of money over time. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/155 "2026-01-06T02:44:16Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Bottomless soft drinks are a relatively recent thing (Taco Bell, 1988). Free refills for coffee goes back a hundred or more years in the US. I wont argue with that altho i doubt Taco Bell was the originator. Free Coffee refills were almost an American institution. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/156 "2026-01-06T03:49:15Z")
I wonder what the reasoning is as to why some newer McDonald’s _not_ having self-service soda machines. Theft by non-paying customers? Keep out loiterers and homeless people? Regardless, the staff will give you a refill if you ask, but you have to find someone working there that will make eye contact with you. We have a group that goes to a local Denny’s once a month. They still give free refills on coffee and sodas, although at $3.50, are refills really free, or just prepaid? One member of the group orders hot chocolate, and they even give him free refills. But it helps that he knows the owner/manager, and they our group shows up when they are otherwise not busy. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/157 "2026-01-06T03:49:31Z")
According to the searches I’ve done, Taco Bell was apparently the first major restaurant chain in the U.S. to offer free soft drink refills. It’s possible that there was a restaurant that wasn’t a part of a chain that offered them before then. It’s possible that a small restaurant chain offered them first. Free refills on coffee happened in the U.S. by the 1890s. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/158 "2026-01-06T03:54:41Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > I wonder what the reasoning is as to why some newer McDonald’s _not_ having self-service soda machines. Theft by non-paying customers? Keep out loiterers and homeless people? Regardless, the staff will give you a refill if you ask, but you have to find someone working there that will make eye contact with you. From what I recall reading when this first started being a thing, much fewer people sit down and eat in the restaurants anymore. They never got rid of the behind the counter machines because of drive throughs which are in the large majority of stores. So few people stay and eat inside that it’s not worth maintaining the machines that hardly anyone uses. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/159 "2026-01-06T03:57:00Z")
Some of the machines returned to the other side of the counter during COVID. I guess self-serve soda got lumped in with buffets at the time. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088/160 "2026-01-06T04:06:37Z")
No. This was post-Covid. [https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/business/mcdonalds-self-serve-soda-machines](https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/12/business/mcdonalds-self-serve-soda-machines) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1950s-1960s-what-was-it-about-coffee/1026088.md?page=9)