Long before Zoom meetings and TikTok streams, the first webcam in history had a surprisingly humble mission: to monitor a coffee pot.

In 1991, researchers at the University of Cambridge grew tired of making trips to the break room, only to find the coffee pot empty. So they rigged up a camera pointed directly at the pot and linked it to the internal network. It refreshed every few seconds, allowing researchers to check the pot’s status from their desks.

This clever hack became known as the Trojan Room Coffee Pot, and in 1993, it was connected to the early internet, making it the first webcam accessible to the public.

People from around the world logged on just to see if the coffee was ready. It was a weird yet captivating glimpse into someone else’s mundane reality — and oddly addictive. The stream lasted until 2001, when the coffee pot was finally retired (and later auctioned on eBay).

What began as a lazy shortcut ended up sparking the webcam revolution — proof that not all tech breakthroughs come from boardrooms or labs. Sometimes, it just takes a little caffeine and creativity.