ABSTRACT
The novelty associated with the Coffee House and the sociability that it generated concealed the fact that the ICH was conceived in order to aid the process of accumulation. Devoid of its export market in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the coffee industry was facing a crisis and an immediate solution was imminent. The intervention of the state and brainstorming between the members of the Coffee Cess Committee on the one hand and the JWT on the other resulted in the creation of the world’s oldest surviving coffee house chain-the India Coffee House. As we have seen above, from the very conception the outlets became a favourite spot in urban India during the 1940s and at least for a section of the middle class a regular visit to the place was an indispensable part of their daily routine. Yet, already by the by the end of that decade the Coffee Board was thinking of closing down many of the outlets,1 and by 1955 it was officially announced.2 This chapter will focus on the process that saw the Coffee Board withdrawing from the ICH, ultimately leading to the setting up of the regional Coffee Workers’ Cooperatives that took over the management of the outlets. Why did the Board set up over forty outlets for one and a half decades before it decided to withdraw itself from the ICH? To what extent did the measure of opening the Coffee Houses meet the goal of aiding the sick industry and what
did the change in the name imply for the institution that continues up till now? Finally, since the chain of the ICH is the world’s only example of coffee houses run by the working class, we shall have a close look at the management and functioning of the outlets.
