Long before video calls and livestreams were ordinary, a camera in a Cambridge computer lab solved a very local problem: was there any coffee left?
The problem was not glamorous
Researchers at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory shared a coffee pot in the Trojan Room. Walking over to the pot only to discover it was empty was a small but recurring annoyance. The solution was to put a camera on it and make the picture available to colleagues on their computers.
From office convenience to internet curiosity
The original monitoring system dates to 1991. It delivered a regularly updated view of the pot within the laboratory. In 1993, the image was made available through the World Wide Web, turning an inside joke and useful office utility into an early public webcam.
An unlikely piece of history
The camera was not initially invented to create a global phenomenon. It was a practical response to a mundane inconvenience. Yet the image attracted attention well beyond Cambridge and became a memorable example of what connected computers could do.
The lesson
Sometimes major technologies become familiar through tiny experiments. In this case, one of the web’s most recognisable early images was not a planet, celebrity or landmark—it was a pot of coffee.
This is an original explainer based on sources linked below. The image is stylised graphic artwork, not a documentary photograph. How we verify stories.