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/

 

         

 

 Coffee as we know it today dates back to the 13th century where Sufi monks would roast the beans and consume it for its stimulant effects.  The coffee bean however was originated in Ethiopia.  It is thought that the coffee tree did not exist outside Arabia or Africa tell the 1600s.  The drink reached Europe in the mid 1600s and immediately became popular in cafes.  Coffee didn’t reach America tell the late 1700s and wasn’t very popular tell after the Boston Tea Party (1773.)  From that moment on it became patriotic to not drink tea: so though America was slower to get the commodity, it took off just as fast as everywhere else.  By the late 1800s coffee was an item traded worldwide.  In 1864 the Arbuckle brothers started roasting and selling pre packaged pounds of coffee to the general public.  As the industrial Revolution started to kick into gear factory workers would survive mainly on coffee and bread.  Coffee would provide an illusion of nutrition and would be used as a substitute for food.  They also used the stimulant effect of the coffee to become used to the fast paced new city lifestyle.     

Written by Alex. (Sources cited on Bibliography page.)

 

 

It is known that coffee grows 25 degrees north and south of the equator, slightly similar to that of cacao and many other crops. This area is susceptible to many different climate hazards, as discussed by Abir during lecture. A few key examples are that prolonged rain can reduce flowering, affect fruit set, and lower photosynthesis. The opposite of that would be prolonged drought; which causes weaker trees, wilting, and increased mortality of young trees. In the journal article cited below,  Robinson points out how drought can create a build up of nitrate-N in the first six inches of soil, since heavy rainfall is not leaching it out. Ammonia-N will also build up in the soil in dry times. When it rains, these substance are essentially ‘flushed’ out of the soil, so a fertilizer is recommended during the heavy and short rain times in order to help coffee grow in the soil. “The sharp peak and rapid decline in the rate of coffee growth during the Long Rains period coincides with very low soil nitrate-N values although climatologically conditions for continued growth are still excellent. This suggests that low available soil nitrate -N may be at least partially responsible for this early and rapid decline in the growth rate.” (Robinson)

J. B. D. Robinson (1960). Nitrogen studies in a coffee soil I. Seasonal trends of natural soil nitrate and ammonia in relation to crop growth, soil moisture and rainfall. The Journal of Agricultural Science, 55, pp 333-338. doi:10.1017/S0021859600023200.

19th century Coffee house in Vienna

It is well understood that coffee houses around the globe serve as a social hub through the consumption of wonderfully caffeinated beverages. In many ways coffee proves to have similarities to the social culture that revolves around alcohol consumption. It alters our state of mind and is very much a ticket to initiate conversation with others. During the seventeenth century, coffee was introduced to England and the Netherlands, then quickly gained popularity in Northern Europe and North America. Coffee shops were then a direct product of this movement and became important public institutions for the consumption of coffee and the gathering of people. It is largely argued that during prohibition times coffee consumption spiked. In a article titled, ” Coffee as a Social Drug”, Topik (the author) argues that, “coffee cultivation and trading have motivated empires, fueled armies, and provoked revolutions.” He claims that coffee was well suited as a commodity to inspire capitalism. Topik also addresses the dichotomy  that exists between illiterate plantation slaves who provided the coffee and coffee drinking intellectuals. Francis Bacon believed that coffee was similar to the consumption of opiates, however rarely was it outlawed as an intoxicating substance. In some cases, coffee consumption was considered a subversive behavior by rulers for it potentially created passionate discussion that revolved around overthrowing hierarchies. Today we have many means through which we can consume stimulating products such as energy drinks, sugary delicacies, etc, but the alkaloid, caffeine which is naturally present in the coffee bean is so full of conversational power we may just underestimate it’s potential to spark a revolution the next time we meet up with a friend over a cup of joe.

Written by Valerie. Edited by Ashley.

 

 

 

“Studying cultural change”  Jstor

“Coffee as a social drug”

image : history.org