Brochure for Colombian coffee, ca. 1940. WPA Federal Writers’ Project collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
New York City runs on coffee, a fact that all of the java-toting subway riders prove every day. That’s not a new custom.
The opening of a 1940s article on coffee written by Parker Tyler for the Federal Writers’ Project ‘s (FWP) Feeding the City touted the City’s reliance on coffee. “Every citizen of New York knows that the smell of morning coffee sets him up for a day of honest effort and things accomplished.”
Coffee was imported, chiefly from Brazil, Columbia, Venezuela, and El Salvador. Facts assembled by FWP staff writers show that imports of coffee grew from 66,666 bags weighing 132 pounds apiece in 1800 to 15,259,693 such bags in 1939—over 2 billion pounds of coffee! It was estimated that New Yorkers consumed 1,000 cups of coffee annually, half of it at breakfast, or nearly three cups daily. In 1939, the average price per pound of Colombian coffee was $11.84 in New York City.
Brochure for El Salvador coffee, ca. 1940. WPA Federal Writers’ Project collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
According to the FWP, coffee consumption began early in New York: “The Dutch in New York stopped drinking beer for breakfast and changed to coffee about 1668. They added honey and cinnamon to the beverage. A pound of coffee cost eighteen shillings, nine pence. As in London, coffee houses sprang up, the Kings Arms and the Merchants’ being two of the best known.”
Unloading cargo of Brazilian coffee at Gowanus Bay pier, Brooklyn, ca. 1940. WPA Federal Writers’ Project collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The largest coffee processing plant in the world opened across the Hudson in Hoboken NJ in October, 1939. More than 400 workers handled the production of Maxwell House Coffee and Sanka, bringing 50 years of experience to provide the “good to the last drop” brand of coffee to households around the country. The particular blend was created in the 1880s for the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville, TN. Its sister brand—Sanka—was described as, “The Immigrant that Brightened Millions of Lives.” Created in 1928 for the New York market, it initially was a luxury item retailing at $1 per pound. By 1939 the price had dropped, providing relief for people who wanted to both sleep and drink their coffee.
Maxwell House Coffee canning factory, ca. 1940. WPA Federal Writers’ Project collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
A news article from 1940 reported that the Quartermaster Depot based at the Brooklyn Army Terminal was planning to purchase 40 million pounds of coffee annually, up from 10 million pounds. And, that would only fulfill half of the Army’s needs. This is the first indication of possible difficulty ahead for coffee consumers.
The FWP wrote about substitute foods in July 1941 stated that the rationing procedures adopted in England provided a clue to the foods likely to be scarce in the United States. These foods included tea, but not coffee. “Moreover, what England may be deprived of in the present emergency is not necessarily a guide to what we may be in America, as for example, coffee, which is not rationed there, chiefly the British, as a people are not great coffee drinkers.”
Early in November, 1942 Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia tackled the topic of coffee rationing on his radio program, with the goal of explaining why coffee was facing restrictions. He acknowledged that coffee was ample but mostly in South America and the Caribbean. “The supply is plentiful, but the rub is shipping it. We are losing ships and besides that we require all the ships that we have for carrying supplies, ammunition, and troops to various parts of the world where we are fighting for our very existence.”
A&P warehouse loading cases of coffee, ca. 1940. WPA Federal Writers’ Project collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
He went on to chide New Yorkers. “Please don’t be silly about this and start chiseling and buying more coffee than you need. A great many people have done that and that just isn’t nice, it isn’t patriotic and it shouldn’t be done….Let’s take the rationing in stride, be sensible in the making of coffee, let’s not be wasteful, and I’m sure there will be no hardship.”
On November 29, 1942, the Office of Price Administration (OPA), which was responsible for setting prices and rationing food and other items to ensure there were sufficient supplies for the armed forces, announced the coffee rations. Basically permissible purchases were cut in half from 20 pounds to ten pounds annually.
During the rationing period, people who wished to stretch their coffee allotments pursued a few strategies including re-using coffee grounds and supplementing with another substance. One of the chief supplements was chicory roots that were roasted, ground and blended with the coffee. Some people used acorns. Others just consumed less.
Men being fed coffee and bread at Tom Noonan's Mission (Rescue Society) in Chinatown, ca. 1940. Photo by Treistman, WPA Federal Writers’ Project collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
Mayor LaGuardia suggested: “I wouldn’t throw the grounds away if anyone in the family is accustomed to having coffee for their midday or evening meal, just adding a sprinkle on the top of the old grounds will make a very good cup of coffee for the evening.”
WPA Federal Writers’ Project collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
He also suggested changes to the method of making coffee. “Perhaps we will have to put our percolator away for the duration and use coffee just as people of my generation used to. I strongly recommend the brewing of coffee. Just take a spoonful to a cup, that’s pretty strong, and then brew it. Let it come to a boil for a very short time, then set it aside and let it settle and also strain the coffee in serving it.”
Apparently he received some pushback because in his November 29, 1942 radio address he told the audience to “take the recipe I gave you and stick it away someplace because we’ll need it before long. We’ll have to go back to the old style method of cooking coffee as our mothers did and not be silly about this whole thing. There’s enough coffee to go round if we use it wisely.”
Recently New York was rated the Number One coffee city in the country with more coffee shops here per capita than elsewhere in the country. And apparently NYC residents consume seven times as much coffee as other people. What would we do in a coffee shortage? Let’s hope we don’t find out.