Tuesday, June 17, 2003


vietnam to eliminate robusta production?

could this be true? today finds a new story in which a vietnamese coffee industry spokesman says the country "will not export low-grade coffee anymore."

long-time readers know that many people feel the world-price depression known as the coffee crisis (acrobat reader required) was precipitated by vietnam's entry into the low end of the coffee market at the urging of the world bank. how much blame can be assigned to vietnam is difficult for even expert economists to calculate, so i won't certainly try!

however, i will greet this announcement with happiness. support for the i.c.o. and oxfam proposals is all good here in the bccy book, which is why i have urged the u.s.a. to rejoin the i.c.o. ad nauseum for a while now.

and the vietnamese statements are fully in accord with the i.c.o. plan. "the new mantra is quality instead of quantity, premium arabica bean instead of run-of-the-mill robusta," according to the article.

and we all know what happens when focus changes to quality! here's another mantra i've adopted from someone who really knows the score: "quality begets price begets quality."

in the end, that's the ticket: we consumers deserve the highest-quality specialty coffee, nothing less. it's out there; we should seek it out and demand it at every opportunity! the market does work -- if we start paying for it, it will come. . .and the competition will then be on to constantly improve the delicious and complex beverage that fascinates us all so.

complex. don't laugh! many wine articles say that that liquid has between 200 to 400 flavor components. sounds like a lot until you learn that coffee has more than 800 flavor and aromatic compounds; some experts say more than 1,100!

with all due respect to my wine-lovin' readers, that fancy juice is kool-aid in comparison. . . (lest you think i'm a wine-hater, i hasten to note that those who know me will immediately object that they have never, ever seen me reject a good champagne, and i cop to this!)

perhaps this is why wine spectator often runs coffee articles like this one? and let me slip in here for those tea drinkers: one expert says tea has but 10 primary flavor compounds!

but hey, it's all good, right? whatever you're drinking, i raise my yrg to you today, dear reader. . .

posted by fortune | 4:42 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments