Cuando el Cafe Habla (When Coffee Speaks): Stories from Caficultores
Humanity of Commodity: Working Project Rationale Everything has a story. No one of us, no moment of anyone’s life, fits a template or follows a formula. We are all the … Continue reading
Ingenuity is Sustainable
I feel like I’ve written about this several times- maybe in former blog posts or on examiner.com or just in my own notes? But if it has made it … Continue reading
Worth
Coffee pricing anywhere along the line is pretty much guesswork, but comparing numbers up and down the production chain and from place to place gets even more dicey. The … Continue reading
The Lorax Takes His Coffee Iced
Maybe it’s because all the vegetation down here looks Seussical, but I’m having a Loraxy moment. The reason I support organic agriculture in the name of taking care of the … Continue reading
More on Juan
Life informs art informs life. And media being a form of art, albeit an emotionally and economically charged one, life informs media informs life. And one particularly emotionally and … Continue reading
Roya Problems
Right now, thousands of coffee growing families across Latin America are facing a crisis. The coffee leaf rust “la roya” swept the region and stripped thousands of acres of coffee … Continue reading
Eyelashes and Thresholds
In Spanish, the word for a tab on your internet browser is pestaña, which translates to “eyelash,” which I think is the best online language imagery I’ve heard in any … Continue reading
When Coffee’s Bitter
Or, “That Time NPR Stole All My Ideas and Ran “Coffee Week” on an Established National Platform Before I Could Independently Publish My Book.” NPR Coffee Week Me Coffee Quiz: … Continue reading
Juan’s World: Roya, Broca, y Sr. Castillo
Juan’s World: A 5 Part Mini-Series on the Inner Workings of Colombian Coffee Part 5: Roya, Broca, y Sr. Castillo Roya is on the tips of the tongues of everyone … Continue reading
Juan’s World: Factor 90
Juan’s World: A 5 Part series on the inner workings of Colombian coffee Part 4: Factor 90 When coffee speaks it says, “you have no idea what I’m worth.” When … Continue reading
Juan’s World: Risky Business
Juan’s World: A 5 Part Mini Series on the Inner Workings of Colombian Coffee Part 3: Risky Business Having a small family coffee farm and selling the coffee that’s the … Continue reading
Juan’s World: Organization of a Coffee Country
Juan’s World: A 5 part mini series on the inner workings of Colombian coffee 2:Organization of a Coffee Country Of Colombia’s 42 some million inhabitants, there are roughly 560,000 coffee … Continue reading
Juan’s World: A Sombrero, A Poncho, and a Mule
Juan’s World: A 5 part mini series on the inner workings of Colombian coffee Part 1: A Sombrero, a Poncho, and a Mule The story of Juan Valdez is the … Continue reading
Untranslateable
I spend a lot of time trying to unearth adequate translations for Spanish coffee words. Obviously I am by no means the first to do it, but something about the … Continue reading
The Efficiency of Common Space
I’m spending a year talking to coffee farmers in Latin America on a fixed budget generated by teaching summer school and selling my furniture, so renting a car is about … Continue reading
Trash in Your Face
When coffee speaks, it says, “hold on a second; I have to go take out the trash.” Ingenuity is sustainable, and in the past 7 months I’ve seen some of … Continue reading
Why It Would Be Really Hard to Kill Coffee
The climate might be changing, but coffee won’t go down without a fight. National Geographic put addicts on edge last November with its article “The Last Drop?” boldly stating that … Continue reading
5 Things To Do While Drinking Your Morning Coffee
1. Taste it before you put milk or sugar in it- just to see. Think of it like an experiment. Notice if it tastes bitter or burnt or sweet or … Continue reading
AgriCULTURE
Agriculture is termed as such because growing things is a way of life. When you earn a living for your self, and often your family, by growing things, you build … Continue reading
Amañada
Cuando el café habla en Colombia, habla Paisa si es cafe en uno de los municipios cual cultiva café en la montañas de Antioquia. En todos los lugares donde el … Continue reading
When Coffee Sings
When coffee sings it speaks Lugwere, Lugiso, Swahili, Luganda, Lugyole, . When coffee sings it tells stories of tradition and innovation, farming and community celebration; it teaches you how to … Continue reading
48 in Colombia
I arrived in Colombia last Thursday, and instantly fell in love with the people and the place just as much as Costa Rica and Panama. I’ve done quite a bit … Continue reading
Coffee with a Side of Scorpions and Christmas
Maybe there is something in this bajareque that rolls over the mountains of Boquete from the steamy Caribbean. Maybe there is more than water vapor in the mist that crawls … Continue reading
Putting Things in Boxes
Metaphorically, coffee defies boxes, being more than a commodity or a beverage, being a plant, a lifestyle of production and consumption, a competitive sport, a delicacy, a right. Literally, all … Continue reading
Folded Land
Disparate themes seem to converge in coffee more and more the further I continue on this odyssey. I’ve been following Costa Rica’s grassroots resistance to the entry of Monsanto and … Continue reading
