Imagine if you shopped for a few items, including your favorite brand of coffee, and found that coffee was rationed? That’s exactly what happened this week in 1942, because the war had interrupted shipments and people were hoarding coffee. But rationing only lasted until the next summer. It’s thought that coffee was introduced into America by Captain John Smith, one of the founders of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. Its popularity jumped after both the Boston Tea Party and the beginning of Prohibition. For those who don’t make their own coffee, there are just over 19,000 coffee shops across the country, and they sell more than $10 billion worth of coffee a year. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at <www.census.gov>.