ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

East German coffee crisis

Okay kiddo, let me explain the East German coffee crisis to you in a way that you can understand.

Back in the olden days, when Germany was split into two, East Germany was not doing so well. The people there didn't have as much money as the people in the other part, so they had to make do with what they had.

One thing that they loved to drink was coffee. However, coffee was not easy to come by in East Germany. It was really expensive and the government couldn't always afford to buy it.

So, the East German government tried to fix the problem by making their own coffee out of a type of bean called roasted grain. It wasn't as good as regular coffee, but people still drank it because it was all they had.

But eventually, the government couldn't even afford to make the roasted grain coffee anymore. This led to a coffee crisis, where people couldn't get their hands on any type of coffee at all.

Imagine not being able to have your morning cup of hot chocolate or apple juice, it would be very sad!

So, the East German government had to do something and they ended up making a deal with the other part of Germany to trade some things for coffee. This helped to solve the crisis and people could finally enjoy their coffee again.

And that's the East German coffee crisis explained, in a way that even a five-year-old can understand.