Permaculture integrates three priorities: care for the Earth, care for people, and fair share.  Once a product becomes a commodity it is subjected to all capitalistic rule and  controversy. There are many attempts these days to start deconstructing the unethical framework that revolves around the coffee  industry including attempts made by Olympia Coffee Roasters. In their mission statement OCR claims to be a “quality of life” roaster and retailer. One of the biggest impacts they make in terms of embracing their mission is through their direct trade process. Now, considering that coffee is an import and commodity, and that this won’t change anytime soon, applying direct trade practice is the first step to take in terms of fair share practices and caring for the people. In an article entitled “Coffee with a Conscience” direct trade “seeks to provide fair prices for small farmers and encourages them to sustainable, ecologically responsible practices.” Efforts are being made with big corporations like IKEA and Mcdonalds to shift to more sustainable coffee sourcing but the standards can often be skewed when corporations like these intend to simply build their brand reputation.

If coffee was produced and consumed in a complete permaculture realm, ideally it wouldn’t be consumed far from where it was grown. Julianna Fox, author of sustainable revolution believes “A sacred way of life connects us to the people and places around us. That means that a sacred economy must be in large part a local economy, in which we have multidimensional, personal relationships with the land and people who meet our needs, and whose needs are met in turn.” With our complex coffee supply chain and existing history in commodity markets, as consumers we are largely disconnected from our coffee suppliers. So the bigger question is do we have that multidimensional, personal relationship with land and people who provided us with the beans used to make our morning cup of joe?

Written by Valerie, Ashley

Soldiers enjoying some instant coffee

Amongst third wave coffee consumers and retailers instant coffee has a negative stigma attached to it. It is often thought to be poor quality and a quick fix for our rushed mornings and afternoon crashes. When I think of instant coffee I tend to think of the American industrial era and the introduction of highly processed foods, but instant coffee dates much further back than that. Instant coffee was a product of the civil war. It was a way to fuel troops efficiently without using large amounts of brewing equipment and it was a product with a long shelf life. There were larger advancements made with instant coffee during the 1930’s involving  Nestle (sound familiar?). Nestle technicians worked with Brazilian coffee officials, who had vast quantities of coffee stock piles that needed to be utilized. Nestle had developed a a spray drying technology that they were using to powder milk and this same technique was used to powder coffee beans. During WWII instant coffee was directed more heavily towards troops and less toward a consumer’s market, but post war production and consumption of the product increased rapidly. Instant coffee was an expanding market. In the 1950’s the U.S. was the largest consuming market for instant coffee. Some of the larger instant coffee manufacturers include Nestle, Borden, and General Mills (Maxwell House). These three players were also competitively buying shares for the rapidly growing  and capital intensive market.

image: thevintagenews.com

Written by Valerie. Edited by Ashley.

From big coffee corporations to small time local favorite coffee shops, the way that each business keeps their doors open is because of how well they do at marketing to consumers and making them believe they have the greatest product that money can buy.  A traditional way that companies spread their product is by word-of-mouth from dedicated patrons, because who can people trust more then someone they personally know and not feel as though they are being bamboozled.  A way many companies market their coffee is through television, newspaper, and web advertisement like Folgers famous trademark slogan “The best part of waking up, is Folgers in your cup” where it shows people getting ready for their day and enjoying a cup of coffee before it all starts. A companies design for a package such as Starbucks recognizable logo. The quality of the product, what origin is it, or what it comes down to a great deal of the time for the consumer: how much am I going to have to pay and is it worth it; meaning does a customer want to pay a cheap price and get okay coffee in bulk or spend extra on a small bag but get amazing coffee.

picture image: http://www.faithfoodhealth.com/2014/12/present-christmas/