Sawdust Found in Ground Coffee
Poets involved
What happened
Frederick Accum's investigations revealed that ground coffee was frequently adulterated with sawdust, roasted grains, and other fillers. This practice allowed merchants to increase profits by bulking out expensive coffee with cheap materials. The adulteration of coffee was a common fraud in the 19th century, as coffee was a popular and relatively expensive commodity.
Literary impact
The adulteration of coffee with sawdust became a recurring motif in Victorian social commentary, symbolizing the deceptions of the marketplace. Poets and satirists used the image of 'sawdust coffee' to critique the greed and dishonesty of merchants. The theme of contaminated coffee appears in the works of writers like Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray.
Source: Wikipedia
