Coffee

Who would read a 323-page thick book entitled "Coffee", if he is not an agronomist, a planter or an academic??

I am none of the above no more. I am only a coffee drinker but this book by Anthony Wild gave me a few surprises on the dark history of the coffee development and its trade.

I shall share with you only those that interest me and some in my own words....

Coffee is the world's most valuable trading commodity after oil.
It is also a perfect example of "Unfair Trade" in this world where the coffee farmers are struggling to survive and the capitalist institutions based on the same commodity flourish. The coffee trade is an inheritance of the colonial system, produced by poor tropical countries and consumed by rich temperate ones...Today the USA is the top consumer of this brew.

Vietnam has now emerged as the World's No 2 top producer of coffee (after Brazil), having come up from their 42nd position in the 1980s. As a result, the trade is blaming Vietnam's large production for the depressed price of this commodity. An excuse? Typical of the masters, they have criticised Vietnam's variety of Robusta as coarse flavoured, low quality (as compared to Arabica) and yet many manufacturers must have used plenty of this Robusta in their blends!! On top of that they are saying that because of the 72 million litres of Agent Orange (2,4,5T herbicide) sprayed during the Vietnam war, the coffee could still be contaiminated with dioxin?!

This reminds me in the 70s when Malaysia was the top 4 producers of cocoa in the world and the trade circle or circus was complaining that the Malaysia cacao was too acidic and therefore of lower quality!. To the Masters, semua tak kena! Just finding excuses to suppress the prices at the farm/country level.

The World Bank has estimated that over 500 million people globally are directly or indirectly involved in the coffee trade. I would say this is an underestimation, particularly with the mushrooming of the Starbucks outlets globally and all the Kopitiams in Bolehland!

The key reason why Starbucks (they project their outlets as the "third place" between home and office) and the other kopitams are doing such good business, is that it is difficult and costly to make good expresso at home.

By the way, "Instant Coffee" is not real coffee... it is a "convenient, sometimes pleasant, caffeinated coffee-style hot beverage." Sounds painful for many (like me) who have to stick to Instants!!