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Why is conventional coffee so bad?


“While, today we have the possibility to pick a coffee that could potentially dignify farmer’s lives and at the same time coexist with biodiversity or/and taste better than any other coffee in history, most coffee consumers choose not to do it.”

Centuries ago, humans discovered coffee and with it the benefits of caffeine; immediately after mythological Kaldi noticed the magic effects it had on his goats, coffee popularity spread like wildfire, from monks who consumed it to stay awake during long prayers, warriors who required enhance performance during battles to visionaries who furtively gathered centuries later to write our laws and constitution.

Coffee has always been present in our lives, either comforting us, helping us to wake up every morning, keeping us aware during extended working hours, or simply enriching our daily routine. Coffee has been for a long time our trustworthy companion, the fuel of modern creativity and productivity and therefore partially accountable for our modern personal and collective success.

Surprisingly, coffee was initially chewed or consumed as tea; while it is still chewed in parts of Uganda and coffee leaf tea (Kuti Kela) is a local tradition in Harrar Ethiopia and parts of Yemen, the ubiquitous roasted coffee bean brewed beverage, is definitely the preparation method we unanimously recognize today.

Before Colonial times, Yemen enjoyed exclusivity over global coffee supply for more than three hundred years, during that time, it was punishable by death to trade viable coffee plants or seeds. However, the coffee demand was so great in Europe that it didn’t take long before the Dutch and then the French get hold of some viable coffee plants and seeds.

SEE ALSO: Is organic coffee better than traditional coffee?

These plants were immediately distributed among the occupied territories, suitable for coffee growing, the Dutch, the French and later on the British, have previously conquered, giving birth to modern coffee industry.

How was coffee processing in those days?

Initially, coffee processing was born out of necessity; by removing excessive moisture content through drying and any leftover from the fruit, coffee could be compacted exclusively into seeds, facilitating transportation and extending storage time. Although coffee washing technology was introduced later on in the second half of the 19th century, sun-dried natural coffee remained, even to this day as the default coffee processing method for conventional coffee.

During that early period, coffee labor was comprised of slaves who were brought from Africa and/or local natives who were forced to work in the plantations, either processing or harvesting coffee. Unsurprisingly, human suffering was high, motivation was low and consequently coffee quality as we understand it today, essentially nonexistent. This poor coffee seasoned with hints of human misery became the foundation of our current coffee industry.

How was coffee quality during that time?

In those early days of the industry, we can only imagine how early baristas struggled to achieve a bearable and pleasant experience for their customers, the raw material available in the market was so bad that hiding defects should have been their main role. Adding milk, sugar or cream to coffee certainly arouse more out of necessity than a luxury giving birth to modern Barismo as we know it today.

While, we have acknowledged the effects of caffeine in our bodies for a very long time, only recently we have started to appreciate the actual taste and complexity of coffee and the valuable role farmers play in order to achieve it.

SEE ALSO: Does coffee processing affect final coffee quality?

What is the problem with this legacy?

Although high quality coffees are nowadays plentiful and we are not required to drink bad coffee or disguise it with milk and/or sugar anymore. The coffee industry legacy is so overwhelming, that bad coffee is everything most people would ever know and the pressing need to add sugar, milk or cream frequently doesn’t originate from a real necessity but rather as conditioned response, forged in our collective subconsciousness after longtime exposure to a mediocre product; ritual most people perform even before taking the first sip.

Why is this important?

While the global consumption of coffee drinks is on the rise, the actual demand for coffee beans has stagnated, this phenomenon is partially credited  to the popularity of milk based coffee drinks. Starbucks recently revealed that more than 80% of their sales come from milk based drinks. Some of these drinks don’t even contain 10% of coffee while the rest is mostly milk, cream, syrup, eggnog, ice-cream and who knows what.

This is particularly important in a time where the global coffee industry is experiencing a severe crisis due to low coffee prices result of a massive surplus that can only be overcome by encouraging consumption.

Even if we succeed stimulating consumption in huge new markets like India and China, it wouldn’t represent much improvement if we do not address generalized people’s approach to coffee first.

Low global coffee prices combined with the rising popularity of low ratio coffee drinks is definitely a losing formula for coffee farmer’s future and the coffee industry in general.

A significant change could only be achieve through customer education and Baristas and coffee shops are key, because they have exclusive, direct and intimate access to the final customer

I was gladly surprise when I read this article and realized my concerns were also shared by other people, who decided to do something about it regardless customer’s immediate discomfort.

See the article here:
These coffee snobs ban milk and sugar

Only through education we would be able to change the existing conditions and in the near future potentially enjoy a fairer, dignifying and more eco-friendly coffee industry that could include all of us.

 
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