Army coffee culture topic of history talk

Residents of the Pacific Northwest might look to Seattle when they consider the roots of our modern coffee culture.

Little do they know that when the U.S. Army arrived in the Vancouver area in 1849, years before Seattle’s founding, those soldiers brought a love of coffee that continues to this day, according to a local historian and author.

Jeff Davis will discuss the long history of coffee drinking in the U.S. Army in a lecture Friday sponsored by the Vancouver Barracks Military Association.

Davis’ presentation will be at 6 p.m. at the 40 et 8 Chateau at 7607 N.E. 26th Ave., on the south side of 78th Street about a mile east of Interstate 5.

Davis, a retired Army major, also will discuss coffee’s links to the establishment of the Post Exchange system, which originated in the Vancouver Barracks in the late 1800s and continues to serve coffee and other commodities across the world.

The presentation in the Boxcar Room is free.