
East German coffee crisis - smacktoward
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_German_coffee_crisis
======
propter_hoc
Man, this article implies that Germany, starting in 1970, was largely
responsible for Vietnam's coffee production industry, and remains a huge
international market for Vietnam's production. But this other article says the
French introduced coffee production to Vietnam in 1857, that the industry
peaked in the early 20th century, and that production actually crashed in the
1970s due to the Vietnam War--and it doesn't even mention Germany:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_production_in_Vietnam](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_production_in_Vietnam)

Pretty rare to see two linked Wikipedia articles contradict each other that
much.

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qubax
> Pretty rare to see two linked Wikipedia articles contradict each other that
> much.

It isn't contradictory. The french did colonize vietnam and force cash crops
on vietnam ( like all colonial empires did ). But during the indochina war (
1st and 2nd ), vietnam's coffee industry ( and all non-war related industry )
crashed due to the war itself and sanctions levied by the US/France. Vietnam
was pretty much barred from trading with the western world, their primary
market.

As the indochina war drew to a close and the coffee industry revived because
of friendly soviet-vietnam relations and the opening of markets in soviet
dominated europe. It wasn't just coffee, lots of vietnamese immigrated to
soviet dominated to work and study as well. At one point, the largest non-
white communities in eastern germany, poland, etc were vietnamese.

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latchkey
This is fascinating. I didn't know the history. I now live in Saigon. I can
vouch for the quality of the coffee beans here. I buy mine from a small farm
near Da Lat, who I've personally met, and I drink a cup or two daily. I even
spent a decent chunk of money on a proper burr conical grinder and I'm a huge
fan of the aero press. =)

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sempron64
I learned recently that acorns were commonly used as a coffee substitute in
the former Soviet Union.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_substitute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_substitute)

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mikemotherwell
This is why I love HN. This random WikiPedia article is great, and the flow on
affects of this one quirk of history are really fascinating.

I remember an article in the WSJ by a Pakistani man ~2006, saying "the entire
history of my country is a footnote in the history of US foreign policy", and
it always stuck with me how much some events can have wide reaching and odd
effects, disproportionately felt by specific groups.

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wortelefant
sidenote: in 1785 there was another coffee crisis in the German city of
Paderborn. When the prince-bishop restricted consumption to nobles, clergy and
officials, people protested successfully with noisy meetings where they drank
coffee in public. This tradition should be revived.

[https://books.google.de/books?id=QZovusQ1SjYC&pg=PA241](https://books.google.de/books?id=QZovusQ1SjYC&pg=PA241)

[https://de.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Der_Kaffee-
Lärm_in_Paderbor...](https://de.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Der_Kaffee-
Lärm_in_Paderborn_1781) (German)

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Theodores
I do like Wikipedia articles that change one's view of how the world works.
This is one of those articles, I didn't even know coffee came from Vietnam and
that Vietnam were number two in the coffee growing business. Most coffee I see
has the 'Nescafe' label on it with no mention of Vietnam. I am now wondering
what other commodity items I take for granted with no idea of the origin.

~~~
smcl
If you haven't tried Vietnamese coffee you're in for a treat! While many
people probably consume coffee from Vietnam in the "usual" way, I think if you
order a "vietnamese coffee" you'll likely be talking about this:

[https://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/travel-tips-and-
article...](https://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/travel-tips-and-
articles/a-guide-to-vietnamese-coffee/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d2761b3b)

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ccozan
A perfect example of the butterfly effect [1].

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_effect)

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brazzy
...No. Not, it's not.

~~~
ccozan
Care to explain why not?

Article describes how some probale unfavourable weather pattern derives in
coffee issues in Brazil, then is producing effects ( including political!) in
East Germany then in Vietnam. Which said effects might even now influence the
present.

