Surrogates: Anything but the coffee

What happens when coffee disappears?   This is not a thought experiment! It’s happened many times in history: War, blockades, tariffs, ideology, health panics, sanctions, supply shocks.    When coffee is not around, people still need something warm, comforting, and familiar. And throughout history, people have reached for coffee surrogates: roasted plants and grains engineered to look like coffee…but do they actually taste like coffee?    In this episode, Jonathan and James time-travel by taste testing a truly alarming number of coffee substitutes.    Spoiler: you will hear a lot of spitting!    Which leads to the bigger question: can anything actually replace coffee—or will we always come crawling back?     Please spread the word about A History of Coffee!   Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast)  and Jonathan (@coffeehistoryjm) - and tag us in an Instagram story.    Write a review on Apple Podcasts   Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify     This free educational content for the coffee community was made possible by Mahlkönig, manufacturers of world-leading coffee grinders for 100 years for your home and cafe.      Read Jonathan’s book, ‘Coffee: A Global History’   Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories   Read James’ article on the history of decaf technology in Standart   See Colin Smith’s amazing coffee museum at Smith’s Coffee in Hemel Hempstead, UK   Get nerdy about the intersection of AI and the occult on Karin’s Subtack, Mercurial Minutes     Do your own surrogate taste test!   Postum Atomo Orzo Fig Dandelion root Dateseed Acorn Chickpea Chicory Root Camp Coffee   Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here. See the Mikafi countertop roaster at the Thermoplan stand (6637) at World Of Coffee Brussels. Not attending? See it here. What does the Marco MilkPal look like to you? WALL-E? Something Steve Jobs would be proud of? Check it out here. "Seize the Moment", the tabletop device from DiFluid that guides your customers through their coffee as it cools. Use code FILTER and this link to get 10% off.