Theodore Roosevelt
Term: 1901–1909
Unlikely Legacy: Artisanal Coffee Shops
Teddy Roosevelt was a famous coffee fiend, known to tromp about the White House swigging from a mug “more in nature of a bathtub,” according to his son. Consummate leader that he was, Teddy instilled those pro-java values in his family, and in 1919, his daughter and her husband, his three sons, and a cousin opened a cozy chain of New York coffee shops called the Roosevelts’ Brazilian Coffee House—later renamed the Double R Coffee House—with four locations in New York City.
Those relaxed cafés were designed as an antidote to the cramped, get-in-get-out roasters that catered primarily to new immigrants in Manhattan. According to Roosevelt’s son Philip, the Double R intended to “provide a place for people to talk, write letters, eat sandwiches and cake, and above all, drink real coffee.” Imported beans were roasted on-site and prepared at a counter in the middle of the store, providing the template for what would become an American business staple decades later. Naturally, Teddy’s grinning portrait hung from the flagship store’s wall—a mark of approval from one of the White House’s biggest coffee-snobs-in-chief. Don’t miss these little-known talents of U.S. presidents.
