Coffee Floats Tea Sinks: Through History and Technology
Social History Culinary History Antiques & Collectibles Beverage History Food Technology Non-Fiction Adventure
Coffee Floats Tea Sinks: Through History and Technology is the cult-classic hardcover that caffeine collectors and culinary historians fight to find. Ian Bersten―a globe-roaming tea-and-coffee merchant turned scholar―packs 284 oversized pages with rare engravings, period advertisements, and his own on-site photographs to trace how two simple beverages steered wars, sparked piracy, financed fleets, and even altered porcelain design. Out-of-print since the mid-1990s, this first-edition dust-jacketed copy is the one serious drink libraries want on display: clean, tight, and showing only light foxing on the top page edge―a fault so minor it actually reassures buyers the book is genuinely unread.
What makes the title special is Bersten’s hands-on research. He tracks 1,000 years of liquid history from Yemeni mountain terraces to London coffee-house culture, then on to the Industrial Revolution when “tea sinks” became a nautical test for porcelain quality while “coffee floats” revealed bean density and roast style. Along the way he unearths forgotten patents, explains why the British Navy switched from beer to rum-laced tea, and shows how espresso machines evolved from 19th-century French steam levers to Gaggia’s 1948 piston―stories no other single volume covers in such illustrated depth.
For modern baristas, tea sommeliers, or anyone who loves food-centric true stories, this book is both reference and conversation piece. Young adults enjoy its adventure narrative; adults appreciate the meticulous footnotes and valuation tables that help date antique grinders, teapots, and advertising tins. Because pristine copies now trade for triple-digit sums, acquiring this gently foxed but otherwise immaculate copy is a low-risk entry point into an asset that typically appreciates every time specialty coffee or craft tea trends spike.
Refer to our eBay listing for a full condition report and many more high-quality pictures of this item.
Buy Now