Derived from the words Java and Mocha, where originally the best coffee came from.”, Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World, https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=cup_of_joe&oldid=60043766, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Another theory suggests that US soldiers in World War I (1914-1918) referred to a serving of instant coffee made by the. Why, though, is this drink referred to as ‘a cup of joe’? However, there are a few theories. Indeed, how did coffee get this nickname? Well, the origin of this phrase is uncertain. Though the true origin is unknown, "joe" as a synonym for coffee is theorized to either be a shortening of "jamoke" (a combination of Java and Mocha, two major suppliers of coffee beans), or as a reference to it being the drink of the ordinary man (i.e., the "average joe").

Of uncertain origin.

cup of joe A cup of coffee. Another theory derives the term from Josephus Daniels (1862-1948), the Secretary of the U.S. Navy who abolished the officers' wine mess and thus made coffee the strongest drink available on ships.

This page was last edited on 11 August 2020, at 09:07. Coffee. The Origin Of a ‘Cup of Joe’ After waking up in the morning, millions of people choose to drink a hot (or cold) cup of coffee. Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary, The manual states “Jamoke, Java, Joe. cup o' joe; cuppa joe; Etymology . Alternatively, perhaps a use of joe (“ fellow, guy ”), signifying that coffee was the drink of the common man. Primarily heard in US, South Africa.

Possibly a shortening of "cup of jamoke", from java + mocha: this origin was given in a military officer's manual from 1931, around when the term first appeared.

Moreover, “cup of joe” was first recorded as entering the English language in 1930, a full 16 years after the grumblings of disgruntled sailing men supposedly put the term into common parlance.