31 August 2018

Coffee Inequity




Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast, 1999, Excerpts

The coffee industry has dominated and molded the economy, politics, and social structure of entire countries. On the one hand, its monocultural avatar has led to the oppression and land dispossession on indigenous peoples, the abandoning of subsistence agriculture in favor of exports, over reliance on foreign markets, destruction of the rain forest, and environmental degradation. On the other hand, coffee has provided an essential cash crop for struggling family farmers, the basis for national industrialization and modernization, a model of organic production and fair trade, and a valuable habitat for migratory birds.

Coffee is inextricably bound up in a history of inequity in which the haves took from the have nots. The drink, primarily a stimulant that helps keep the industrialized world alert, is grown in regions that know how to enjoy a siesta. There is no question that coffee laborers have been oppressed in the past; even now they are being murdered by paramilitary groups in Chiapas.

The coffee economy itself is not directly responsible for social unrest and repression; we should not confuse a correlation with a cause. Inequities and frustrations built into the economic system nonetheless exacerbate conflicts. Compared with many other products developed countries demand in cheap quantity, however, coffee is relatively benign. Laboring of banana, sugar, or cotton plantations or sweating in gold and diamond mines and oil refineries is far worse.

The inescapable irony of the coffee industry is that the vast majority of those who perform these repetitive tasks work in the most beautiful places on earth, with tropical volcanic peaks as backdrop in a climate controlled heaven. Most live in abject poverty without plumbing, electricity, medical care, or nutritious foods. The coffee they prepare travels halfway around the world and lands on breakfast tables, offices, and upscale coffee bars of the United States, Europe, Japan, and other developed countries, where cosmopolitan consumers routinely pay half a day’s Third World wages for a good cup of coffee.



Coffee Series






This coffee series excerpts heavily from Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast, 1999, a Harvard graduate, investigative journalist, and independent scholar, also the author of For God, Country, and Coca-Cola, excerpted in the Coca-Cola Series. Coffee is a global industry that is rich in history and conflict, defining much of the recent history of Central America and Brazil. Coffee is so desired that it may have been, and could still become, a form of money. For coffee lovers, Uncommon Grounds is a fascinating read.


Uncommon Grounds by Mark Pendergrast, 1999, Excerpts

Coffee has assumed a social meaning that goes far beyond the simple black brew in the cup. The worldwide coffee culture is more than a culture – it is a cult. Starbucks outlets populate every street corner, vying for space with other coffeehouses and chains. A good cup of coffee can turn the worst day tolerable, provide an all-important moment of contemplation, and rekindle romance. And yet, poetic as its taste may be, coffee’s history is rife with controversy and politics. 

Beginning as a medicinal drink for the elite, coffee became the favored modern stimulant of the blue-collar worker during his break, the gossip started in middle-class kitchens, the romantic binder for wooing couples, and the sole, bitter companion of the lost soul. Coffeehouses have provided places to plan revolutions, write poetry, do business, and meet friends. The drink became such an intrinsic part of Western culture that it has seeped into an incredible number of popular songs [Find].

Coffee provides one fascinating thread, stitching together the disciplines of history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, medicine, and business, and offering a way to follow the interactions that have formed a global economy.

Coffee. May you enjoy its convoluted history over many cups.






Coffee and Central America



Artist: Renee Bolmeijer


Coca-Cola to buy Costa coffee for £3.9bn
31 Aug 2018
Coca-Cola is to buy the Costa coffee chain from owner Whitbread in a deal worth £3.9bn. Whitbread bought Costa, which is now the UK's biggest coffee chain, for just £19m in 1995. At the time, it had just 39 outlets. It now has more than 2,400 UK coffee shops, as well as some 1,400 outlets in 31 overseas markets. Costa Express has 8,237 vending machines worldwide. Coca-Cola chief executive James Quincey told investors that Costa “can go global". As well as being the largest UK coffee chain, Costa is also the world's second largest. It is looking to triple its presence in China, where it is second to Starbucks.