Friday, October 10, 2003


mary, meet lou ann; lou ann, meet lindsay

as a native of tiny fort scott, kansas, where we regarded topeka -- a place that allowed public drinking and dancing -- as complete sin city, i am always amused by the local kansas papers.

and there today one lou ann thomas writes of her love for coffee. this is news in topeka, where the budget is so strapped they are trying to ban city workers from spending money to buy office coffee, all US$705.75 of it. fraud and waste!

lou ann drops an interesting point on her relationship to coffee: "is it the taste of coffee that's so appealing? probably not."

mary williams, an awesome coffee goddess in her own right, rebuts this notion in another article today: "many people don't realize coffee can taste fantastic. it's not just fuel."

what's surprising is that she's speaking in her capacity as the head of the national coffee association, trade group for the dread "big four" food mega-multi-nationals who are responsible for that vile-tasting stuff in the supermarket cans.

this is probably what poor lou ann is drinking as she correctly notes the horrid taste.

naturally, mary's correct: but the nca coffee isn't the fantastic tasting stuff. . .lou ann, you're not drinking the right coffee! i should send her a pound of don schoenholt's gillies legendary blend.

but another point of interest in mary's article is that the world bank has suddenly discovered sustainability and fair-trade! and that this idea could help alleviate the world-price depression known as the coffee crisis.

this is wildly funny, since many in the coffee industry argue that it was the world bank's decision to push vietnam into the low-end of the coffee market that precipitated the current problem. but i'll let bygones be bygones.

as long as we're all moving in the right direction now. are we?

and thanks to incredible altie and c-member marshall fuss, here's a great article on another solution to the coffee crisis -- relationship coffee.

it features such pals of bccy as current scaa (the good cofee people, as politely contrasted with you-know-who above) president david griswold; another coffee goddess, lindsay bolger of green mountain; and of course larry challain of batdorf, who makes mr. right's favorite coffee, the dancing goats.

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