Coversations over coffee...
Is this the next era of enlightenment?
As you might have guessed, I am an avid collector of coffee literature. A cup a day and a chapter a night is a practice unbroken for quite some time.
During my short time operating in this caffeinated haze, I have had the pleasure of meeting some fascinating people. Coffee is such a great human connector, and sharing good conversation over a cup is the one thing I would miss if this were all to end suddenly.
Last week was a bit of a blur, amongst late deliveries, roasting curves, zoom calls with Colombia and the landing of some very special seeds, I managed to sit down, brew some great coffee and have a very enlightened conversation with a friend from Brazil.
The act of brewing and sharing coffee is something that humans have been doing for a very long time. Culturally significant and historically relevant, coffee has played a significant role throughout history in everything from religious practices, to fueling revolutions, creating commerce, and shaping societies since its first accounts in the 15th century. Coffee also has a dark side and has been banned and reinstated numerous times over the course of its existence and is believed to have given birth to the age of enlightenment.
A quick quote from Stewert Lee Allen’s The Devil’s Cup sums this up very nicely.
“We all know how it went when Europe changed from a culture addicted to depressants to one high on stimulants [...] Within two hundred years of Europe's first cup, famine and the plague were historical footnotes. Governments became more democratic, slavery vanished, and the standards of living and literacy went through the roof.”
― Stewart Lee Allen, The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee
As my fascination with this beverage grows, I can only help but wonder, what will be coffee’s next historically significant period? The climate is changing but the demand is still increasing. A lot of work still needs to be done to secure coffee’s future. will the demand for quality help to raise the floor as well as the ceiling? I am forever the optimist, and I will say from the conversations over coffee I am having, I am still hopeful.
I feel like the coffee tides are turning, and as the world becomes increasingly unpredictable. Maybe, just maybe, coffee will enlighten us once again.
Burts.