Alex Faug

Pizza delivery is a job for desperate men. Five years ago, I was one of them. My wife and I had just come back from a half-year internship with one of my favorite authors. I was an aspiring writer, with few hireable skills. I applied for 60 jobs out west, but just couldn’t find work. I returned home demoralized, broke, and I went to work for Domino’s.

In the modern world, coffee is a necessity. Not only is it a lifeline for students struggling to finish their late-night papers and professionals fighting to stay awake through dry meetings, but coffee is one of the largest trade industries in the world, valued at $20 billion. An estimated 500 billion cups are consumed every year, 146 billion of which are consumed by the United States alone. But our venti triple lattes with eight pumps of vanilla syrup and almond milk caramel macchiatos with extra whip today would be unrecognizable to the earliest coffee users of the past.