S2 E2: The East German Coffee Crisis

Wanna have a coffee? Well, I hope you're not an East German in the '70s & '80s, 'cos it's gonna be tough (and taste like wood).

On this episode of History Flakes Pip & Jonny dive deep into the lukewarm cup of coffee that is East Germany's struggle to procure the brown stuff for its people. To do that we've enlisted the help of TikTok's own Call Me Steve. If you follow Jonny on various socials you may have bumped into Steve's excellent, deep, engaging, and humorous East German/Cold War content. He takes us on a ride through East Germany's economic woes as we sit and sip our own coffee (Jonny had tea...) in East Berlin's Café Sibylle.

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Jonny's idea (sorry) to record this in a café was perhaps a little ambitious. Bear with us through some robotoic AI-sounding audio.

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LIVE LIVE LIVE!!!! Come see us LIVE on the 29th March 2025 at the Comedy Cafe Berlin at 8pm, 🎟️GET YOUR TICKETS HERE🎟️

Want more Steve? You got it:

• YouTube
• TikTok
• Instagram

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LIVE LIVE LIVE!!!! Come see us LIVE on the 29th March 2025 at the Comedy Cafe Berlin at 8pm, tickets available here: https://www.comedycafeberlin.com/event/history-flakes-live-2/

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Tours
Want to book Pip & Jonny for tours you can get in touch via the Whitlam's Berlin Tours website.

You can follow Jonny online on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and more!

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Sources

Books
Brewing Socialism: Coffee, East Germans, and Twentieth-Century Globalization by Andrew Kloiber

⁠Communism Unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe edited by Paulina Bren and Mary Neuburger

⁠Illustrierte Konsumgeschichte der DDR by Annette Kaminsky

⁠The Plans That Failed: An Economic History of the GDR by André Steiner

Stasi Files
https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/reaktionen-auf-die-versorgungsprobleme-mit-kaffee-1/

https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/tendenzen-der-unzufriedenheit-in-der-bevoelkerung-1/

https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/tendenzen-der-unzufriedenheit-in-der-bevoelkerung-2/

https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/reaktionen-auf-die-versorgungsprobleme-mit-kaffee-2/