Know What’s In Your Cup
Coffee is sometimes so good, that we forget to look at what is going on behind the scenes. The coffee industry, especially, is in a peculiar place right now. This is linked to fair trade policies, corporations moving into poorer countries and disadvantages that are slowly tearing apart communities in other areas of the globe. Before you start drinking your coffee, you may want to make sure you are getting it from a place that is going to truly benefit from it.
You may have noticed fluctuating prices on coffee in the past few months if you are buying it in bulk from the store. But, that is just a back lash from a problem that has been going on for years. When coffee started to become popular in the US, especially with Starbucks, everything changed. Corporations started moving into coffee areas and working with larger farmers that could supply them more for less.
What’s happening outside of the coffee cup are questions on ethics. Smaller towns in Mexico, China and around the world that grew coffee from their ancestors are being put into poverty, out of business and are being run over by the monopoly of coffee. (Yes, this includes Starbucks). Those who are surviving off of the coffee industry are not making enough to survive, mostly because of the unequal trade that is happening with the open trade. Corporations are buying coffee for very little, and in return, selling it for very high.
This is all based on fair trade policies as well as economic demands that are moving throughout the country. If there are individuals or farmers who don’t want to see their farm move this way, they are simply being shut down. The result is not only hurting the economy in other places of the world, but is also hurting the type of coffee that is available - leaving the more specialized forms unable to make the complete gourmet.
So, before you start drinking, know where you are drinking from. As good as the coffee may taste, there is always something behind the cup.