In the German Democratic Republic, the one factor extra bitter than the “coffee mix” created by the management and rejected by the populace have been the jokes about it.
“What’s the difference between coffee mix and the neutron bomb? Nothing: The cup stays whole, but the person goes to pieces.” Others slammed it as “pure rat poison”.
The combine – half espresso, half different merchandise – was created when East Germany ran wanting the black gold within the late Seventies after a poor harvest and unstable commodity costs.
Prices have been rising quick and East Germany was wanting overseas foreign money, stopping the federal government from shopping for espresso.
By 1977, the shortages that sparked the espresso crisis have been inflicting such hovering resentment that even the repressive Ministry of State Security sounded the alarm.
So the East German management got here up with a plan, introducing what was often known as a “coffee mix”, a mix containing simply 51% roasted espresso.
Outrage ensued. Coffee drinkers have been incensed, whereas the combination gummed up espresso machines, inflicting some to blow up – and triggering a political crisis that occupies historians to at the present time.
Coffee enjoys an necessary place in German society. It’s extremely common, with individuals ingesting a mean of 169 litres a 12 months.
It’s additionally extra than simply a scorching drink. Many Germans recall solely getting access to ersatz espresso after World War II, which means common espresso got here to face for prosperity, in line with historian Volker Wünderich.
Coffee additionally spelled a social life, he says of the German custom of assembly for espresso and a chat. “You can’t just invite people, then serve them malt coffee.”
Luxury good
Across the border in West Germany, espresso was additionally costly within the late Seventies. And even earlier than the crisis, it was a luxurious good within the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
While a kilo of grain espresso value 1 GDR mark, a kilo of roasted espresso value as much as 80 marks.
People nonetheless drank it, seeing it as a deal with, even when it meant they’d to economize on bread, butter, sausage or cheese, which have been low cost anyway, because of subsidies.
Real espresso was not simply a pleasure however a image and the GDR’s management knew of its significance.
They had already tried barter offers, working extra carefully with coffee-producing nations in change for provides. Under one deal, the GDR leaders tried to acquire the coveted commodity by way of delivering weapons to Ethiopia in 1977.
In return, as much as 10,000 tonnes of espresso have been to be despatched to the GDR – which had an estimated annual demand of about 50,000 tonnes.
Obviously, that wasn’t sufficient. And whereas the GDR’s management got here up with ingenious methods to obtain laborious foreign money, East Germany suffered from a power lack of overseas foreign money.
Its personal foreign money didn’t depend on the world market and Deutschmarks and {dollars} have been laborious to come back by for the communist state.
So the GDR tried every little thing, from overpriced rents for West German correspondents to charging charges for fireboats that accompanied West German barges in transit, in line with experiences. Mainly, although, West German Deutschmarks entered East German coffers by way of the obligatory minimal change and the Intershop outlets, a chain of government-owned and operated retail shops.
But because the espresso worth rose, the GDR’s overseas foreign money reserves dwindled. Leader Erich Honecker complained: “I would just like to mention again that the import of green coffee alone costs us around US$300mil a year. Spending it is not easy for us,” Die Zeit newspaper reported.
All that culminated within the hated espresso combine, a mix that was half roasted espresso, and half substitutes starting from roasted peas to rye, barley or beet pulp.
While costly roasted espresso varieties remained available on the market, the brand new, unwelcome mix was additionally to be served in canteens and cafes regardless of the issue that the machines weren’t prepared for it.
The style left clients outraged, whereas the espresso machines that blew up left waiters fearful.
Something was brewing and it was not espresso.
Consumer revolt
The feared Stasi secret police was pressured to acknowledge that the brand new espresso was “rejected by broad sections of the population,” in a report dated Sept 1, 1977.
East Germans refused to purchase the combination, the Stasi famous, leaving extreme shares left over. Some 14,000 complaints from outraged residents are nonetheless held in archives in the present day.
People complained not solely that the espresso combine didn’t style good. They additionally felt outraged as solely half of the product consisted of espresso however the worth remained just about the identical. State media supplied no solutions.
In the top, tons of the unsold espresso combine needed to be destroyed and the experiment was referred to as to a halt.
That second was a caesura, in line with social scientist Anne Dietrich, who is predicated in Leipzig, which was within the former GDR.
It was the second when the federal government’s lack of credibility, the lack of knowledge obtainable, the poor high quality of products and hidden worth will increase all got here collectively to create “a crisis of legitimacy” for the communist state, she writes in an essay on the interval.
This was not a political protest, however a client revolt, says Wunderich. “The whole thing was an economic disaster.”
The GDR’s management finally bought fortunate as espresso costs started to fall worldwide.
Meanwhile East Germany made a cope with socialist Vietnam to develop espresso manufacturing there, in a bid for affordable provides.
And East Germans who have been fortunate sufficient to have kin within the West acquired parcels of espresso from throughout the border. Those care packages lined 18% of espresso consumption within the socialist German state. – dpa/Verena Schmitt-Roschmann
