An Ode to Coffee: A Story in a Cup
Sometime in the mid-2000s, while at a Portland Stumptown Coffee shop trying to make sense of the information on the coffee bags, a barista walked over to me asking if I had any questions. I’m not sure I knew what to ask, I just knew that I wanted something “direct trade” as that was a wholly new concept to me, where the buyers bought directly from the producers.
“Well, that guy over there,” he said pointing at the man working the coffee roaster in the back corner of the shop, “he grew those Nicaragua beans right there.”
Well, of course I was going to get those beans! It was a story that I continued to repeat to friends and family (embarrassingly, probably for many years after that). I was so struck by that very direct connection between the coffee I was drinking and the person who had grown it. That was one of the major moments that made me realize that coffee as more than just a delicious, caffeinated beverage, it was a link to a deeper story.
That light-bulb moment many years ago illuminates what I love about the beverage. Coffee is a story in a cup.
Over the last couple decades of the “third wave” of coffee culture—where the focus is on the craft of making the coffee, the coffee growers, and the connection to the place the beans were grown—the average specialty coffee consumer’s connection to coffee has evolved exponentially. This closer connection to the coffee in our cups encourages coffee drinkers to think about the people and the chain of events that align in order for that coffee to make it into your cup. You have the growers and the communities in which they live that create the distinct flavor profiles (terroir you might call it in wine-speak). You have the coffee buyers building relationships with the growers directly to bring the product across continents. Then the roasters seeking to do the beans justice by roasting them to perfection that highlights those specific flavor profiles. Once those beans are roasted, the baristas craft a perfect cup of coffee regardless of your preference, always in homage to the beautiful beans. And finally, the consumer gets to benefit from the journey these beans took.
2 year-old Finch checking out the drying beans at a coffee farm near Kona, Hawai’i
There is such love and care along that entire supply chain that has, at least in a lot of the speciality coffee industry, more transparent over the years. It’s the reason many people who can afford it are willing to pay more for a cup of coffee. It’s also a part of an appreciation for the fragile nature of everything and everyone along said supply chain. By knowing where our beans come from and having even a distant connection to the grower, the average coffee consumer has a closer connection to the people who make up that supply chain. This is a connection that runs counter to the way we perceive all other product supply chains.
What this journey says is not just about the bean, but about the people. People are at the heart of what is so cool about coffee. So many cultural rituals revolve around coffee that somehow connects people across borders.
People are also the ones who will experience the great challenges that the industry faces as a whole as climate change and other global disruptions in agriculture and trade occurs. People are why we love coffee and can also be the conduit to caring more deeply about the people who depend on coffee as an industry.
To say I love coffee is an understatement. I love all the many stories the cup you’re drinking involves. On this National Coffee Day/International Coffee Day, I encourage any of you coffee drinkers out there to use your morning coffee as inspiration to reflect on who was involved in getting that coffee which has ended up in your lucky hands, warming your fingers on this cool, fall morning and brightening up the beginning of your day.
Here are a couple stories I’ve written about coffee for The Specialty Coffee Association’s industry magazine 25:
Baristas, Coffee Culture’s Ambassadors
A Refugee Tells His Story Through Coffee