Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate

Coffee, tea, and chocolate were all the rage in Enlightenment Europe. These fashionable beverages profoundly shaped modes of sociability and patterns of consumption, yet none of the plants required for their preparation was native to the continent: coffee was imported from the Levant, tea from Asia, and chocolate from Mesoamerica. Their introduction to 17th-century Europe revolutionized drinking habits and social customs. It also spurred an insatiable demand for specialized vessels such as hot beverage services and tea canisters, coffee cups and chocolate pots.

This beautiful book demonstrates how the paraphernalia associated with coffee, tea, and chocolate can eloquently evoke the culture of these new beverages and the material pleasures that surrounded them. Contributors address such topics as the politics of coffee consumption in 18th-century Germany; 18th-century visual satires on the European consumption of tea, coffee, and chocolate; and the design history of coffee pots in the United States between the colonial period and the present.

Distributed for the Detroit Institute of Arts

Exhibition Schedule:

Detroit Institute of Arts
(11/20/16-03/05/17)