Tuesday, November 02, 2004


nematode

before i became acquainted with the scaa, i have to admit i knew little of coffee agriculture. i drank beautiful coffees for years scarce thinking about the farmer, where beans came from, how they were grown, how that affected the environment.

and in turn, how all that affected me. in my silliness, i acted as if coffee just somehow magically appeared.

thus, to my mind, "nematode" was an artsy short film from the 70s (why can't i find a link for this classic that featured a toy train going round a christmas tree?), but i've since begun to dent my ignorance.

coffee farmers are the natural friend of the coffee lover. we all need to know each other better.

and as i've had the privilege to meet coffee farmers, be it from kona (hiya cea! hiya suzanne! hiya john!), from colombia (hiya christina! hiya oswaldo!), from brazil (hiya marcelo!), or from guatemala (hiya chuck and maireya!), i've come to be aware of their problems. and how those problems are my problems.

long-time readers are aware of the world-price depression known as the coffee crisis by now, so let's take the example of the coffee borer. this is a huge problem for farmers, and thus for consumers.

because those ugly-wuggly bugsies are chewing on our nice lovely coffee!

they are lowering coffee quality, and these nasty worm-nibbled beans get shipped to us, where we often unknowningly are stuck drinking such defective beans (unless we are buying only whole-bean specialty coffee from our local roaster or coffeehouse). . .

in this light, it might begin to make some sense when i confess to perusing this article about, yes, nematodes. . .

posted by fortune | 10:49 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments