Whole Bean Chronicles, Part One.
One of the reasons we love eating is that it engages most or (if you're lucky) all of the physical senses. With a little willful exploration, it can also engage one's imagination: What are the common experiences of the people who brought me this food? What must the seasons be like in that country for them to yield so much of a certain crop, and how cooperative is the soil? What kinds of traditions and celebrations have grown out of the predominance of a particularly versatile edible?What's it like to farm this crop?
This last question becomes very important when it comes to coffee beans, and we stand firm in our decision to support only Fair Trade certified beans when buying our home stash. If you're interested in why we choose to pay more for beans which may simply be equal in quality to that of some commercial products, please do some research of your own so that I can get off of this pedestal before the end of the post.
Okay, now.
One of my misconceptions about Chicago involved a highly increased cost of living, and the Coffee and Tea Exchange has gone a long way toward shattering that notion. In fact, they have something I haven't seen anywhere else in Chicago: Reasonably priced brewed coffee. $1 for a small, $1.25 for a medium, $1.50 for a large.And.
It's.
Good.
So good, in fact, that we have occasionally forgone the fresh ground in our home for a cup around the corner (right across from the Nettlehorst school). And now that it's summer, they're serving amazing iced coffee from a cold-brew process that uses more beans, but packs quite a silky-smooth punch and doesn't noticeably weaken in flavor when the ice cubes melt. Coffee brewed to be served cold. Who woulda thunk it?
Don't call him a barista: Meet Peter, our usual beanologist. Pete, if you use a title that doesn't sound goofy, then I sincerely apologize for "beanologist". Peter was the very first employee of the Exchange to hear my plea for more Fair Trade beans, and a month later, CTE was carrying 3 new varieties. It's gotta be the Pete. Actually, all of the java slingers in that shop are extremely pleasant and knowledgeable, only adding to my puzzlement over the low prices.
Finally, here is a picture of one of the awe inspiring walls of tea, bulk spices, and useful coffee gadgets, Christa's favorite visual feature of the store.Buy Fair Trade!
posted by Dan and Christa @ 10:57 PM
5 Comments:
love your commentary and I,m not just saying that because I know you. Its authorative, original, well stated and entertaining. finally something interesting to read. I'm actually learning stuff. nuff said, you get the message. happy un-birthday to you. miss you.
wow!! you guys are awesome. what a beautiful blog!! Happy Early Birthday honey!! I am missing the both of you tremendously,and I am so proud of you too. Wishing we could be together on your most important birthday the big 30!!!!! sounds so exciting to be in Chicago,tasting all that delicious food that we don't have here in Zambia!!!I am jealous!! :) love you, momxxoxoxo
hey mom, whats new in zambia, perhaps you should start your own blog and reveal the secret eating spots there. perhaps you could write up some recipes for some specialty food creations. what kind of smoothies do you have for instance, noodle dishes and spicy vegetarian platters. eh. looking foward to hearing from you, love you too. xxoxoxo
Okay, I don't know who left that last comment, mom, but it wasn't me... i can only presume it was your brother. You see, when WE post, our name shows up. Hope you are doing well, i am going to go email you now that i have internet access again.
One of the things to be careful with regarding fair trade is the fairly reasonable point that it encourages the production of uneconomical goods, and can have more harm than benefit to a local economy.
The reasoning goes that instead of having local farmers getting out of coffee (and Vietnamese coffee can be grown on plantations that undercut the price of Central American and African beans), they continue to make subsistence wages by farming Fair Trade coffee rather than switching to other crops. That continues to flood the market, which keeps overall coffee prices low (which hurts everyone who's not fair trade).
All of that can be a fair criticism (no pun intended), depending on the fair trade operation (which, despite common belief, aren't all the same). For the most part, coffee fair trade groups aren't collectivised and don't reinvest anything from the proceeds. Or, to simplify, not all fair trade coffee is created equally.
This is opposed to fair trade chocolate, which tends to have better infrastructures for the growers. The chocolate grown in Ghana is almost entirely fair trade anymore, with a state-run board (which "free trade" advocates are trying to do away with) both ensuring a high degree of quality and working to reinvest the profits through both microloans and grants to allow workers to diversify (as well as infrastructure improvements like roads and electricity for rural areas).
So while fair trade is good in theory, if you want to truly be an ethical consumer, it requires even more research (especially with coffee).
(And that's what you get when you have to write papers on political economy in developing nations class... Only the paper has fewer spelling errors and more cogent arguments).
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