Although the taste of place, or terroir, as was said at Olympia Coffee Roasters is the least important or recognizable thing about the coffee they produce and serve terroir as a business strategy is very important to reflect not only where the coffee beans came from, but also their fermentation style used, which is one of their biggest selling points to the general public. Olympia Coffee Roasters’s video that they showed our group was was about their direct trade system is not only a kind-hearted business model, but also a business strategy that allows them to advertise their companies beliefs in a beautiful way that if a potential customer saw would likely draw them to their brand. Due to this direct trade model though their prices are fairly high (up to $19.50 for a bag of whole coffee beans), which limits their consumer poll of regular customers down to only those who budget accordingly for their products or, more likely, to those who are finically “well off”. Although the majority of Americans might find their direct trade model appealing the average middle to lower class consumer might find it endearing enough to offset the high price tag and unbalanced their check book.

Consider how cafes may serve as places to educate coffee drinkers about coffee terroir. Create a post that includes a table of your group’s 4 favorite coffee cafes (eg. places) that offer customers information related to different aspects of terroir. In your table include: business name, business address, any particular resourceful people, and the aspects of terroir you can learn about at this place. At least three of these places should be other than Olympia Coffee Roasters or B &Bronson.

The coffee itself at both of the field study sites were rather favorable. In “The Pale Yellow Glove” in The Culture Reader by Escher, it reads, “it is, I am sure, as much a matter of spirit as of body. Everything is right; nothing jars. There is a kind of harmony, with every sensation and emotion melted into one chord of well-being” (325). That quote had been running through my mind constantly throughout the entirety of both of the tasting. I personally am not a coffee drinker and I did not know what to expect honestly. I found myself in a similar situation when doing the wine tastings: not having much experience. I was trying to find what I enjoyed in both cases. For coffee, I had somewhat an idea of the kind of coffee I enjoyed. But come to my surprise, the tastings lacked the very things I enjoyed (the sugar, cream and drizzle of chocolate on top).

It was really interesting to taste the different regions of the world. Although during the tasting at Olympia Coffee Roasters, they believe that the terroir came from the different fermentation processes that each region uses. As there are only a handful of varieties grown, and a narrow selection of environments they are able to be grown in. Along with that, the reason why different regions do different things is due to historical content and different environments in which they have to deal with. All of those factors never left my mind and forever changed my perception of terroir. To think that it is not the taste of the origin, but rather the taste of how it traveled.