So I was reading this article recently…

http://modernfarmer.com/2013/10/caffeinated-revolution-drinking-good-coffee-columbia/

And it never occurred to me that Colombians were drinking bad coffee. When you think of Colombia, what do you think of? Coffee, right? (Well and other things, but that’s outside the scope of this discussion, and from what I’ve heard, not really relevant in Colombia nowadays)

The images of Juan Valdez and his burro offering you a cup of steaming (albeit, not really that good) coffee spring to mind when you think of Colombian agriculture, and yet:

“Pedro Echavarria: The crappiest coffee you drink is on coffee farm, it’s true: 99 percent of the time if you’re offered coffee, they give you a sugarcane beverage called agua panela with Nescafe added to it.”

And if you think about it, it kind of does make sense, all the work goes into the growing of the coffee, and yet, there is less knowledge about the process of roasting and brewing a good cuppa joe. Which makes you wonder sometimes about what else farmers around the world are missing out about their wondrous product because they are so focused on growing a product that they don’t actually have the opportunity to sample the best examples of how their product are enjoyed? What if Banana farmers never had the chance to sample a finely baked banana bread, or a banana cream pie? Come to think of it, maybe none of them ever have? What else would we be missing out on because we grew a certain crop?

Or maybe this is just a matter of local tastes and demand? When I lived in Costa Rica, they drank good coffee. Or maybe it’s because I was in an office full of gringos that liked to drink good coffee, that’s why we got the good stuff. I remember growing up in Asia, there wasn’t much in the way of a coffee culture, but then again, nowadays there is a booming coffee culture in the region, so perhaps its because of the boom in good coffee culture that has resulted in the increase in coffee quality. Or maybe it’s because now they can justify charging $5 a cup vs $1 a cup. Has profit margin driven the increase or is it because of quality increase?

Definitely points to ponder