Coffee and The Berlin Wall

Originally Published: 27 December 2020

As the Trump administration scurries to build the remainder of Trump's Wall during its last days in office, the memory of the Berlin Wall remains more significant than ever. It stands as a testament that that solidarity, rather than a barrier, leads to peace...with a caffeinated twist.

"The Wall has fallen," coffee cup in hand, a mother said awakening her child. It was the morning after the Berlin Wall fell. A mother holding a coffee cup in her hand as she makes this announcement may appear to be an insignificant event - if it weren't for the Berlin Wall's history with coffee.

The Berlin Wall: A Brief History

Between 1949 and 1961, an estimated 2.7 million people fled East Berlin for West Berlin. This drained the East Berlin economy of highly skilled workers and became a national embarassment for Soviet Premier Khrushchev. Then, as East Berliners slept through the early hours of August 13th, 1961, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) began constructing fences and barriers; the Berlin Wall appeared overnight. In one of the most famous speeches of the Cold War Period, in 1946, Churchill proclaimed that an "iron curtain" had "descended across the Atlantic." This metaphorical curtain separated the Communist East from the Capitalist West. The Berlin Wall became the physical symbol of this stark ideological divide. Many people attempted to cross the border and a new study claimed that 327 people died as a result of the Berlin Wall. Throughout its existence, it helped accenuate the constrasting lifestyles on each side of the wall. East Berliners had long looked upon West Berlin as the better way of life. Of the many food shortages in East Berlin, the period that left a significant stain was the East Berlin Coffee Crisis of 1977.

East Berlin Coffee Crisis (1977)

In their book 'Communism unwrapped: consumption in Cold War', Paulina Bren and Mary Neuburger quote an observation of a British journalist visitng Berlin in 1955:

"Every Berliner starts his day with coffee. Of all the hardships which the years of war and its sequel brought upon them, the lack of coffee was probably the hardest to bear. In those days the Berliner, in common with every other German, was prepared to give anything for coffee, and he is still prepared to do so."

The authors also mention that during the hunger winter of 1946, a mayor in the British Occupation Zone suggested that in order to boost the population's morale, small quanties of coffee should be distributed as a "psychological restorative." Apparently, East Berliners spent more on coffee than they did on clothes and they weren't aiming for the minimalist lifestyle. Clearly, Berliners loved their brew.

In 1975, "black frost" spread through Brazil, severely hampering the coffee harvest. In 'The Coffee Song' Frank Sinatra sings, "They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil." However, 1975 - contrary to this contention - really wasn't a year to brag about. The destroyed harvests had dramatically increased world coffee prices, with the GDR having to pay quadruple the amount they usually did. As a result, the government removed popular coffee brands from the shelves and replaced them with the infamous 'Kaffee-Mix'. Bren and Mary describe this as "51 percent real coffee, combined with chicory, malt, dried sugar beets, peas, rye, and barley." Despite living under a communist regime and the ever-looming threat of nuclear war, this, this is where East Berliners drew the line.

During the October Revolution (1917), Vladimir Lenin glorified the Bolshevik slogan, "Peace, Land, and Bread." Had he been alive in 1977, chanting "Coffee" would have sufficed. For a generation who spent lockdown whipping up Dalgona coffee despite food-shortages, it's easy to understand how the GDR's decaffeinated act would have provoked protests. It didn't help that Kaffee-Mix also clogged people's coffee machines, Bren and Mary mention. Diplomats from East Berlin who access to West Berlin products in their special stores would distribute coffee amongst their friends. That became one means by which people were still able to drink their usual morning brew. Though discontent became widespread as eyes yearned for West Berlin's better brew. The GDR had to step up their barista game and decided to raise arms. Literally.

The GDR began to deepen its relationship with the Global South by trading munitions and arms in exchange for coffee. They even exchanged 580 lorries for 15,000 tones of coffee, which per lorry, cost almost $100,000.00. The GDR increased trade with Vietnam but the fruits of the enterprise would only truly arrive after the dissolution of the GDR. Today Vietnam is the world's largest producer of Robusta beans (used for instant coffee), with Germany being its largest import market.

The Fall Of The Berlin Wall

The actual fall of the Berlin Wall was merely an accident. In a press conference, GDR officials had discussed that travel permits across the border would be allowed immediately. People misinterpreted this to mean that the Berlin Wall was no longer a barrier and thousands headed for the border. While guards initially tried to control the crowds, this historic moment was unstoppable and the guards gave in. People from both sides were reunited with family and friends, some for the first time in years. "To set foot in a forbidden zone: who wouldn’t want to do that? This zone is filled with the aroma of coffee and laundry detergent, everything smells fresh and looks pretty and wholesome," described an East Berliner as they headed into West Berlin.

While better coffee in West Berlin was definitely not the only reason for why the Berlin Wall fell,

it illustrates a magnified example of growing dissatisfaction with the GDR, eventually leading to its collapse in 1990. The Cold War ended soon after in 1991, corresponding with the collpase of the Soviet Union. Many modern day conflicts have Cold War roots and the effects of US imperialism continue to impact people's lives today.

The East Berlin Coffee Crisis revealed how much we truly rely on the rest of the world and that walls only further division to the detriment of the constructor. Most importantly, it showed how no matter what is going on in the world, there is no compromising our relationship with coffee.