Machinesworking wrote:A suggestion for people in general on coffee, buy organic!
It will maybe take you a while to find a brand you like, but IMO you don't want the chemicals and coffee is picked by hand.
Some person picks each freaking bean! So if they aren't wading through whatever version of DDT they spray now it's a good thing for you and them.
Plus unlike a lot of organic stuff, organic coffee and gourmet brands are about the same cost. Also not saying that organic companies are all super cool, but it's far more likely that they will be, so the minimum wage worker may have some basic things like a good benefit package etc.
This is not completely true. My profession is a specialty coffee roaster and wholesaler for a very small operation in Vermont. I've been working in the specialty coffee business since 1998. I've been to source farms throughout Central America on multiple occasions, one of which was a six week field study into the relative merits of Conventional / Organic / Fair Trade coffee farming practices. What I found was surprising.
You are absolutely right that the biggest issue around Organic Coffee is the health of the workers who pick the coffee and work the trees, and the land and environment itself. Because of the processing that coffee goes through before it gets into your cup there is little to no health benefit in drinking Organic over Conventional. However, what I found so interesting and surprising is that if you are drinking really good specialty coffee most of this is coming from small farms, in many cases single family farms (often pooled together at processing with coffee from other farms to create a "regional coffee," ie Guatemalan Antigua). These small farmers are often prevented from achieving Organic Certification because of the cost of the certification itself -- it's way more expensive than the increased price per pound it fetches at Market (The "C"). As a result it is a net loss for many small farmers to obtain the Organic Certification. But the other interesting part is that these small farmers are NOT using chemical fertilizers and pesticides either, which are also expensive. There is a great deal of composting that is done, and in addition because coffee yields one crop per year these farmers are diversified into other agriculture such as macadamia, fast growing firewood (Chaul), Bananas in some cases, and Mangoes and so forth. These other trees provide shade and equal dispersion of rainfall required for by high elevation, higher quality Arabica coffee trees, in addition to more diverse revenue streams for small farmers.
My point is, do not assume that because a coffee is not Certified Organic that it is laden with pesticides and killing the land and the workers who pick it.
There are lots of AMAZING coffees out there. If you can, and if it matters to you, try to find one you like that is a single origin, preferably from a small farm.
Other notes:
Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after Petroleum. It's worth taking a look and knowing where it comes from.
My preferred brewing method:
Melita pour-over. Not too fine a grind, the natural sugars and sweetness come out best with a courser grind (obviously this does not apply to espresso, but grind is equally important with esp for different reasons). Heat water to 202 degrees, pour over grinds and let sit for 20-30 seconds to "prime" the coffee and get it ready for extraction. Water should be 198 degrees while brewing.
Most important:
Drink coffee the way you like it.
Cheers
Chris
either i don't see the part where these people (myself included) aren't into coffee, personally i love it, or you're a little too into coffee. to put it another way; i don't see any 'LMAO U GIZE R SUCH IDIOTZ posts'. even if there is a post like that, i definitely am not seeing 2 or 3 pages of them. so where is all this frustration of yours coming from?
