Coffee

I like coffee. I like coffee a lot. But please don’t call me an addict, I know my limits.

Growing up, my parents were both coffee drinkers, who, after their divorce, married other coffee drinkers, so my childhood was filled with coffee-drinking adults. And not just any coffee drinkers were they, but strong coffee drinkers. My stepfather’s coffee was known to be so strong you could chew it, although this, in reality, was not the case. All of my parents knew the best way to enjoy coffee was at full flavor, which is to say, they roughly used 2 tablespoons of grounds per 6 oz of water, a strategy I continue to employ.

Now, some of you may say that is too strong for your tastes, but I guarantee that you’ve probably had a full-bodied coffee before and said it was the best. I remember a Christmas Eve not too long ago when my Grandma Carol said she couldn’t wait for my dad to get off work so he could make coffee. I offered, stating I knew how and spouted the ratio, to which I got the response, “Oh Cory! That’s too much!” Sure enough, when my dad walked into the door and was asked to go straight to the kitchen to put on a pot, I walked with him and noted he used the same ratio, and yes, it took two batches in the coffee grinder for enough grounds for the 12-cup pot he started. I don’t remember the exact comment I made to him, or his response, but I do believe it was something along the lines of ignorance being bliss. Which got me thinking, do people really know where their coffee comes from?

The coffee bean is one of world’s most traded agricultural commodities, yet a majority of it comes from farms that practice clear cutting of endangered lands, leading to the extinction of many plant and animal species. This is because the traditional “shade grown” method, while creating a much tastier brew, does not yield as many beans as “sun grown” coffee plants do, and thus, the more-bang-for-your-buck rule has been adopted. Also, many large coffee companies, in an effort to keep their prices low and their profits high, pay so little for their coffee beans, many would consider it slave labor. There is a reason a majority of developing countries rely on their coffee crops, and why they are still Third World countries. It takes a lot of land and a lot of people to cultivate, but many companies simply are not willing to pay fair prices for it, and sadly, neither are a majority of consumers.

Our church has been vital in my education of coffee farm practices, and only serves and sells fair-trade coffee. What is fair-trade? It is basically a market-based approach to help developing nations toward sustainability. The farmers get a better price for their crops, which, in turn not only improves the lives of those farmers, but also the community at large through infrastructure and development. Many times, the middle man is cut out of the equation, which allows the prices of most fair-trade products to remain only marginally higher.

Getting back to farm practices, it should be noted that many fair-trade coffee growers are also getting into the business of environmental sustainability as well. Many companies work with farmers to teach them farming practices that will help with biodiversity and sustainability, such as companion cropping to reduce or eliminate the need for fertilizers and pesticides. This makes their coffees more marketable to the very people it is intended for… the environmentally and socially conscious consumer.

I apologize for getting a little preachy here, but sometimes I gotta get on my soap box and say what’s on my mind. That, and this is my blog. My hope is that I at least got you thinking about where your coffee, and for that matter, your food in general comes from. Buying fair-trade, organic or shade-grown coffee is not only better for the environment, it is also helping the very farmers who produce it and their communities. And if you find a variety that is all three, well that is even better.

Here is a list of some of the coffee companies who promote one or more of these practices:

Thanksgiving Coffee Company - http://www.thanksgivingcoffee.com
Rogers Family Company - http://www.rogersfamilyco.com
Starbucks Coffee Company - http://www.starbucks.com
Equal Exchange - http://www.equalexchange.coop