Coffee Is More Than Just A Beverage?
Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden recently published an evidence-based review study that concluded that drinking one cup of coffee per day was linked to a 6% lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
A dark liquid circulates around the globe, lubricating the gears of every economy. It is also one of the world’s most traded commodities. There is also concern that, if present consumer demand does not decrease, our resources will be depleted one day.
We’re not talking about oil here; we’re talking about coffee.
Every day, more than two billion cups of coffee are consumed by humanity. Many of them are aware that they would be unable to work without it. Even countries with a long history of tea consumption, such as China, are increasingly enthralled by the allure of coffee.
Coffee will soon overtake tea as the most popular beverage on the planet.
But, in the end, what is it that feeds humanity’s unquenchable desire for coffee, and how has the dark beverage overrun the globe? Is it the perfume of coffee combined with the sensation of worn teeth, the psychotropic effects of coffee, or the culture that surrounds it?
What can coffee producers do now, in the face of man-made climate change, to conquer and conserve espresso for humanity?
The origins of coffee
The story of coffee begins in Ethiopia’s verdant highlands, where the thin Coffea Arabica tree grows. Arabica is not a legume, despite the fact that it is called coffee beans (beans).
When freshly plucked, its fruit resembles cherries. The farmer next isolates the seeds within dries them and roasts them into a hard form — the very last seed you put in the mixer.
The Ethiopian highlanders’ Oromo people are thought to have been the first to discover the stimulating properties of this “pea,” and coffee remains an essential component of their culinary history to this day.
When and why coffee spread outside the Ethiopian community is still a source of stories. The Sufis of Yemen were the first to carry coffee beyond the confines of Africa in the Middle Ages, according to historical documents; coffee was then closely associated with the mystical rites of the surname.
“There isn’t a single [Sufi] religious ceremony that doesn’t include coffee,” says Claudia Roden, a cultural anthropologist. The caffeine in the drink allowed them to continue the ritual well into the night, and the roasting of the beans was interpreted as a metaphor for the transcendence of the human spirit.
Coffeehouses sprang up all over the Middle East and the Ottoman Empire by the 17th century, attracting the interest of Western traders who transported the drink back to their homelands.
People who believed in coffee’s medicinal powers were the first to drink it. According to Roden, a newspaper advertisement dated 1657 describes coffee as a beverage with “many marvelous virtues such as curing gastric ulcers, strengthening the heart from the inside, aiding digestion, and spiritual awakening… ”
Recent research has verified these discoveries on coffee’s therapeutic effects, demonstrating that the beverage can actually protect us from a variety of ailments.
Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden recently published an evidence-based review study that concluded that drinking one cup of coffee per day was linked to a 6% lower risk of type 2 diabetes.
Laura Van Dongen of Wageningen University in the Netherlands discovered that regular coffee drinkers had a 20% lower risk of dying from heart disease.
Aside from serving a healthful beverage, Europe’s first coffee shops became popular gathering locations for business people, with some cafés even being pioneers. gave rise to the modern-day financial institutions that we know and love.
For example, the insurance business Lloyds of London developed from the Lloyds coffee cafe in the 18th century, where sailors and merchants gathered to discuss their issues.
Later, European colonists in Asia and South America carried this crop to their colonies: the Portuguese took coffee to Brazil, the French to Vietnam, and the Spaniards to Vietnam. Colombia.
The coffee trade was inextricably related to the slave trade, which was permitted in Colombia and Brazil until the 1850s and 1880s, respectively.
Coffee continues to be a significant contributor to the economies of these countries. The three largest producers of raw coffee beans in the world are currently Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia, with the United States, Germany, and France as the top importers.
A fragile equilibrium
Coffee is still regarded as a tough crop to grow, even with today’s agricultural technologies. Arabica bean varietals — the most aromatic coffee preferred by most drinkers – are extremely climate-sensitive, thriving only in a restricted temperature range of 15-24 ° C and requiring a lot of moisture.
The flavor of each cup of coffee is shaped by the conditions in which the beans were produced, much as the quality of wine is determined by the terroir of the grape.
Minas Gerais is a Brazilian state with nearly ideal growing conditions for coffee. Agronomist Joo Reis, who works at Daterra, one of the farms here, shows how coffee beans are produced from the ground up in bags loaded with nutrient-rich compost and manure.
Minas Gerais’ elevation of 1,000 meters above sea level provides the farm with a cool and humid atmosphere, ideal for seed germination. Even yet, because immature coffee leaves are made up of as many delicate plant tissues as possible, they must be kept in the shade to avoid sunburn.
The young coffee trees are large enough to be placed in the ground six months after sowing, but they still require careful attention to ensure they receive adequate water. When the coffee tree matures, it will begin to produce white blooms, which will eventually fall off, revealing cherries with ‘peas’ within.
From seeding until the first harvest, it takes roughly two and a half years, so coffee farmers will have to wait a long time to repay their investment and reap the benefits.
Coffees’ entire crop can last up to two years, which means they only achieve their full production after each of those times. A year that alternates between two good years will almost certainly be a dismal year.
Only once the farm manager and quality control have sampled the beans and determined that they are of the highest quality can harvesting begin. After separating the seeds from the fruit, they are processed, washed, and finally selected before being put in a big yard to dry.
After that, the beans are vacuum-packed and put into trucks for shipment.
Coffee farming and production support the lives of farmers and their families in more than 120 million jobs throughout the world. Suely Di Souza of the Daterra farm is one of several coffee growers that is passionate about what they do.
Souza’s spouse worked at this location for seven years before she did. When their daughter graduates from college, she will be able to return to Daterra and work. ” Ever since I had my baby in my arms, I’ve been staring out the window. “Out there, among the coffee beans, lies my lifetime ambition,” Souza remarked.
She has created a community for herself on the farm with 300 other workers, and if she is hesitant to give up and go to another job, Souza will feel extremely lost without them.
It’s more than a drink
Coffee farming is only a small part of the narrative. Raw coffee beans must be roasted before they can be consumed. Coffee roasting is regarded as a major art in countries with a long history of coffee culture, such as Italy, which dates back to the 16th century.
“I used to think I was an alchemist because what I do is almost magical,” said Leonardo Lelli, a Bologna coffee craftsman.
Lelli explains that he has to pay attention to every minute change in the coffee during the roasting process, which happens every second. ” I hear the cracking sound of seeds, see their color, and smell their perfume. “I only pour out the beans and refrigerate when I’m feeling okay,” he explained.
Before delivering his coffee to his customers, Lelli personally samples each batch.
Espresso machines, which extract more flavor from the beans after roasting, are also famous in Italian coffee culture. Espresso is created by forcing a little amount of steam through the beans under high pressure, unlike conventional filter coffee.
This brewing method produces a stronger cup of coffee with a characteristic honey-colored foam on top.
Espresso coffee can now be found in tens of thousands of places all over the world. Thanks in part to Howard Schultz, who used to work as a manager at a small coffee shop in Seattle, Washington.
Schultz fell in love with Italian Espresso after a business trip to Milan and returned to convince the owner of the cafe where he worked to put the drink on the menu.
With Espresso’s presence, Schultz’s business has grown steadily, transforming the coffee shop into what was previously a Starbucks – now one of the world’s most known coffee companies.
But it wasn’t the taste of the espresso that drew Schultz’s interest in Italy; it was the community of diners he watched in the bar. A coffee shop is a “third” space – both at home and at work – where people may gather and gossip while enjoying a delicious snack.
Unlike a bar, a coffee shop is ideal for daytime meetings with people of all ages.
Schultz once remarked, “The Italians invented the theater, the romance, the art, and the beauty of the espresso experience.” ” I was so taken aback by the behavior of individuals in them that I realized it was something we should do as well.”
As a result, he aimed to establish a peaceful and friendly ambiance comparable to that of Italy within his retail business.
Of course, whether Starbucks succeeds in reproducing the Italian experience is debatable. However, the popularity of artisan coffee shops today owes a lot to Schultz’s idea, when he recognized coffee could be used for more than just a caffeine fix.
People are more concerned than ever before with the origins of the beverage they’re drinking, its distinct flavor, and the surroundings they’re sitting in to enjoy it. And they see it all as a means of connecting with others.
According to Jose Sette, executive director of the National Coffee Foundation, “it is the combination of these encounters that is propelling coffee to worldwide success, not just a beverage.” economics stated “Coffee has become so popular because it is a social currency,” he explained. “It’s what pulls people together,” says the narrator.
Of fact, Sufi rites in the Middle East are where the culture of sipping coffee originated. “Coffee is a sign of hospitality in this regard,” explains cultural anthropologist Claudia Roden.
Since the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, when instant coffee products were introduced, people in the United States and the United Kingdom may have forgotten the social glue that coffee provides. However, it appears that we are now turning around to rediscover that cultural glue.
There will be a challenge ahead coffee consumption motives
Even tea-drinking countries like China are succumbing to coffee’s allure. Consider the fact that Starbucks established its first outlet in Beijing in 1999 as an example of that growth. They have one every 15 hours now. In China, a new store has opened.
While most Chinese middle-aged individuals used to consume instant coffee at home, their youth increasingly prefer to meet for coffee. They are, however, growing more opulent, with superb coffees prepared by artists at specialty shops.
Sally Wu, the creator of Seesaw Coffee, a Chinese network of 22 specialized coffee shops, claims that the country’s coffee is now being advertised like a good wine.
Coffee consumption in Asia increased at a constant 6% per year between 1992 and 2017, over three times that of the rest of the globe. “It’s a fascinating market,” Sette stated.
However, Asia’s coffee demand still lags behind that of regions with a long history of coffee use.
In 2017, Japan was Asia’s greatest coffee consumer, consuming 4.5 percent of global coffee production, while South Korea, which imported 2%, and China and Hong Kong trailed. level 0.76 percent In comparison, the United States imports 20% of the world’s coffee, while Germany imports 11%.
However, there will be one stumbling block in the way of this coffee addiction: climate change. Keep in mind that Arabica is particularly temperature and rainfall sensitive, which means that global warming and the inconvenience of unpredictable weather could jeopardize the coffee’s survival.
According to a simulation conducted by Oriana Ovalle-Rivera of Colombia’s International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Brazil will lose 25% of its territory suited for Arabica production by 2050.
Managers at Daterra have discovered that maintaining both yield and quality of coffee beans for more than ten years has proven difficult. Climate change is having an impact on them as well.
Aaron Davis, a researcher at Kew Gardens in London, feels that this is a severe issue. Because coffee plants develop slowly, any odd changes in the weather can have a long-term impact on their growth.
“So simply a few or even one disturbance is enough to have a significant influence,” he explained.
Rising temperatures have made it feasible to grow coffee in some places, such as Ethiopia when areas at higher altitudes were previously thought to be too cold to cultivate it, Davis adds. ideal for agricultural use
Unfortunately, this isn’t all good news, because that opportunity comes with a big setback.
“It will put farmers in a predicament where they will have to give up sites where they have grown coffee for generations, while others who have never grown coffee will suddenly realize they can,” Davis said.
In some cases, this has occurred. “People are now producing coffee at altitudes where the tree couldn’t produce it, and the altitude where it was previously grown is no longer fit… “Coffee is on the move.”
Altering the coffee kind is another option. There are numerous other coffee kinds besides Arabica, some of which are more tolerant of harsh environments. Coffea Robusta, the most well-known coffee variety after Arabica, was long thought to be overly bitter, but it is now utilized to manufacture drinks, including instant coffee.
There are many other coffee kinds that are appropriate. We may one day be able to generate new types of Arabica using breeding procedures that keep the flavor of present Arabica but are more resistant to harsh circumstances.
Even when farming in insecure areas, farms like Daterra are experimenting with different coffee kinds to try to acquire the best yield.
The best thing we can do now places an order for the millions of individuals who work in the coffee industry, and for us, everyone who wants to start the day with a cup of espresso. their aspirations for success